Senior Applied Scientist

Come build a community, explore your passions and do your best work at Microsoft. This opportunity will allow you to bring your aspirations, talent, potential and excitement for the journey ahead.

The Microsoft Search, Assistant, and Intelligence (MSAI) team leads the development of cutting-edge AI solutions for Microsoft 365 Copilot, bringing natural language understanding and intelligent search capabilities to the productivity tools used by millions every day.

As a Senior Applied Scientist in MSAI you will be at the forefront of technological innovation, working collaboratively to bring research to life in our products and services. You will contribute directly to the evolution of Microsoft 365 Copilot, working on advanced conversation, search and recommendation systems powered by large language models (LLMs). You'll be part of a team that transforms how users interact with information, helping them work smarter and faster.

Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

• Advance the science: Design experiments, validate metrics, and build ML pipelines for reinforcement learning, advanced reasoning techniques, and LLMs while ensuring Responsible AI and Privacy-Preserving ML best practices.
• Drive product innovation: Collaborate with Engineering, Product, and Design teams to transform research insights into scalable Microsoft 365 Copilot features used by millions.
• Cross-team collaboration: Partner with Microsoft Research, Azure, AI platform teams, and product teams to integrate cutting-edge research into production systems.
• Champion customer-focused impact: Engage with customers, analyze user feedback and telemetry data to identify pain points and prioritize high-impact ML improvements.
• Technical leadership: Mentor junior scientists and engineers while establishing ML best practices across the product organization.
• Define and measure success: Create KPIs and success metrics that align with business objectives and track product performance in production.
• Stay at the research forefront: Contribute to the applied science community through publications, and internal knowledge sharing. Publishing is encouraged, though not required.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 4+ years related experience (e.g., statistics predictive analytics, research)
  • OR Master's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 3+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
  • OR Doctorate in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 1+ year(s) related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
  • OR equivalent experience.
• Excellent problem solving and data analysis skills, with expertise in developing or applying predictive analytics, statistical modelling, data mining, or machine learning algorithms, especially at scale. 
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to simplify and explain complex ideas.  

Other Requirements:

Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:

• Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 6+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
  • OR Doctorate in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 3+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
  • OR equivalent experience.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

#MSAI #Copilot

---