Principal Applied Scientist

Overview

The Principal Applied Scientist role is part of a team dedicated to strategic AI workloads within Microsoft 365, including applications such as M365 Copilot, Outlook, and Teams. The team drives innovations by integrating AI into productivity tools and develops next-generation engineering infrastructure and tooling. The environment offers extensive opportunities for deep learning, autonomy, innovation, and career advancement.

Scientists in this team undertake diverse challenges like data ingestion pipelines, data curation, prompt tuning, and model refinement. They focus on evaluation metrics to create specialized supervised learning models that augment AI-driven productivity scenarios. Collaboration across multiple AI platform and product teams within Microsoft is a key expectation, along with leading feature groups with a growth-oriented approach to rapidly advancing AI technologies.

Committed to Responsible AI and digital safety, team members adhere to frameworks ensuring ethical AI innovation with minimal supervision in a fast-paced setting. The Microsoft 365 organization significantly shapes user experiences by leveraging intelligent search capabilities within the M365 ecosystem.

Microsoft's mission emphasizes empowering individuals and organizations worldwide through innovation, respect, and inclusion.

Key Responsibilities

• Master and lead extensive research areas, staying updated with industry trends and technological advances to inform product development.
• Analyze business and product requirements to guide strategic problem-solving with scientific rigor, supporting new method development and maximizing business impact.
• Identify and mentor research talent, fostering relationships to promote research initiatives and collaborate with academia while contributing to recruitment efforts.
• Document experimental procedures and outcomes to foster innovation, provide guidance on process documentation, and uphold ethical and privacy standards in research and data usage.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related fields with 6+ years’ relevant experience in statistics, predictive analytics, or research;
• OR Master's degree in these fields with 4+ years’ relevant experience;
• OR Doctorate with 3+ years of related expertise;
• OR equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Over 5 years’ experience working in AI research labs or developing AI-integrated software products.
• Customer-centric mindset with dedication to delivering optimal solutions.
• Proven ability to build trusted relationships across diverse stakeholders and communicate effectively.
• Ability to adapt swiftly to rapid AI innovations and creatively tackle novel problems.
• Experience designing and implementing scalable classifiers and ranking algorithms.
• PhD or Master’s or Bachelor’s in Computer Science with Data Science focus, Mathematics, or Statistics with extensive data science experience managing structured and unstructured datasets and applying statistical analysis.

Additional Information

The role is open for applications on a continual basis until the position is filled. Microsoft values diversity and inclusion, providing equal opportunities regardless of personal characteristics and offering accommodations during the application process upon request.