Principal Applied Scientist - Auction & Bidding

About the role

The Ads Monetization Algo team at Microsoft Advertising focuses on optimizing ad performance for all advertisers in our ecosystem by bidding on their behalf in real-time auctions across our marketplaces. We are also responsible for designing and optimizing the auctions for the long-term. Our work involves algorithm development, optimization, and experimental analysis of advertiser strategies and auction mechanisms.

Applied scientists on our team utilize platforms, techniques, and approaches including mathematical modeling and optimization, machine learning, optimal control, game theory, and general economics and operations research. We build and develop both online stacks and offline workflows to support our algorithms, using signals of user and advertiser intent as well as auction characteristics to determine in real-time or near-real-time which ads can enter the auctions. Our work directly impacts over 10 billion dollars in revenue annually.

We are looking for a highly skilled applied scientist with development and management skills and a background in quantitative fields such as statistical machine learning, decision theory, operations research, optimization theory, mathematical modeling, data mining, causal inference, information retrieval, game theory, mechanism design, and optimal control. This role will drive algorithmic improvements to online and offline systems, develop and deliver robust and scalable solutions, and directly impact advertisers' experience and the ad marketplace's long-term health.

Responsibilities

• Designing, implementing, and analyzing bidding strategies using techniques from optimization and control theory.
• Designing, prototyping, and analyzing different auction mechanisms for specific product areas.
• Designing and overseeing large-scale, long-term experiments to improve the health of the marketplace using advanced statistics and machine learning.
• Designing automation algorithms for advertisers using AI and ML techniques to improve advertisers’ return on investment.
• Implementing methods for optimizing the marketplace at a large scale.
• Developing models for causal reasoning using techniques from AI, ML, and statistics.

Requirements

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 6+ years of related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research).
• OR Master's Degree in the same fields AND 4+ years of related experience.
• OR Doctorate in the same fields AND 3+ years of related experience.
• OR equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 9+ years of related experience.
• OR Doctorate in the same fields AND 6+ years of related experience.
• OR equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of experience developing and deploying live production systems as part of a product team.
• 3+ years of experience in Auto-Bidding or Auction Design.

Pay

The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $274,800 per year. A different range applies to specific work locations, including the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, where the base pay range is USD $188,000 - $304,200 per year. Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation.

Schedule

Starting January 26, 2026, employees who live within a 50-mile commute of a designated Microsoft office in the U.S. or a 25-mile commute of a non-U.S. location are expected to work from the office at least four days per week. This expectation is subject to local law and may vary by jurisdiction.