Principal Applied Scientist
Role Overview
Microsoft Cloud Operations and Innovation (CO+I) underpins Microsoft’s global cloud infrastructure, driving the innovation, planning, design, construction, and operation of one of the largest data center fleets in the world.
We are seeking an exceptional Principal Applied Scientist to join the Data Center Applied AI team.
In this role, you will play a pivotal role in advancing and integrating cutting‑edge, multimodal agentic AI systems into core tools and operational workflows that power Microsoft’s data centers.
Your work will drive operational efficiency at scale and help advance Microsoft’s mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more through intelligent, multimodal AI agents.
As a Principal Applied Scientist t, you will bridge state‑of‑the‑art AI research with production‑grade engineering , delivering agent architectures that are reliable, secure, scalable, observable, and measurable .
You will collaborate closely with Business and Engineering to build and deploy agentic capabilities across workflow automation, information retrieval, retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG), tool and function calling, long‑horizon task execution, and multi‑agent orchestration.
This role blends deep AI and applied science expertise with strong engineering judgment, operational rigor, and a bias for action.
Success requires end‑to‑end ownership, a growth mindset, and strong customer empathy.
Join us to shape the future of agentic AI for data center operations at global scale.
Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
We work with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize shared goals—guided by our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to foster an inclusive culture where everyone can thrive.
Key Skills for This Role
Full Job Posting
Required/minimum qualifications
- Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 8+ 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 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 5+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research) OR equivalent experience
- OR 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 5+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
- OR equivalent experience
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
- PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, AI, NLP, or related field , OR MS with significant experience delivering production‑grade AI systems .
- 10+ years of hands‑on experience applying NLP, and/or LLMs to real‑world production problems .
- Strong foundation in Large Language Models (LLMs) , Generative AI, deep learning, and modern NLP.
- Proven experience building production‑grade LLM systems , including prompt engineering, RAG, and multi‑step reasoning pipelines.
- Solid expertise in chunking strategies and embedding selection , including tradeoffs in retrieval quality, context size, and downstream task performance.
- Experience designing and operating vector databases , including indexing strategies, similarity metrics, and retrieval optimization.
- Experience supporting production operations (AIOps/MLOps) , including monitoring, logging, quality metrics, and debugging live systems.
- Proficiency in Python and experience with modern ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow) and model serving/inference.
- Strong applied experimentation skills: defining metrics, analyzing results, and iterating based on data.
- Ability to collaborate effectively with engineering, product, and business stakeholders.
- Experience with Cloud technology Stack
- Experience with parameter‑efficient fine‑tuning techniques (e.g., LoRA) for LLMs or multimodal models.
- Hands‑on experience building agentic or tool‑augmented LLM systems , including function calling, planners, and API/tool integration.
- Experience with advanced RAG architectures , such as hybrid retrieval, reranking, grounding, and citation strategies.
- Strong AIOps depth , including quality drift detection, alerting, rollback, and telemetry‑driven optimization.
- Experience optimizing systems for latency, reliability, scalability, and cost efficiency at enterprise scale.
- Prior experience working on mission‑critical or large‑scale enterprise AI systems .
- Demonstrated mentorship or technical leadership within applied science or engineering teams.
- #COICareers | #EPCCareers | #DCDCareers
- Applied Sciences IC6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $165,600 - $296,400 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $220,800 - $331,200 per year.
- Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay
- This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.
- Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.
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