Senior Applied Scientist

About the role

Microsoft is at the forefront of a new era in productivity, with Microsoft 365 Copilot redefining AI-powered experiences across work. The Copilot and Agents Core Office of the CTO shapes intelligent experiences across Microsoft 365 by bridging research and engineering, building core agent capabilities, incubating emerging technologies, and helping product teams scale high-quality AI features. We partner with engineers, researchers, and product teams to prototype bold ideas, validate them in real-world scenarios, and transition them into production-ready systems.

Our culture values curiosity, accountability, collaboration, technical depth, user empathy, continuous learning, and open idea-sharing. By joining this team, you’ll help shape how Copilot and intelligent agents evolve across Microsoft and contribute to intelligent, contextual assistance for millions of users.

This position is based in Redmond, Washington and requires the employee be in the office a minimum of 3 days per week.

Responsibilities

• Build deep expertise in applied research and modern LLM and ML techniques, and apply it to influence product needs and scientific direction.
• Review business and product requirements, incorporate research, and apply scientific rigor to design, develop, and evaluate methods and models that deliver measurable impact.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to understand user requirements, gather feedback, and iteratively improve models and solutions.
• Design, implement, and deploy AI/ML solutions that meet quality, scalability, and reliability standards, and translate project vision into actionable milestones, estimates, and plans.
• Document experiments and share findings to promote innovation, and contribute to ethics and privacy practices related to research and data collection.
• Partner closely with cross-functional teams — including engineers, product managers, and data engineers — to deliver high-impact features and platform improvements.
• Embody our culture and values.

Requirements

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.

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

• Bachelor'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 Master'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 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.
• 1+ years experience designing, developing, and evaluating ML models, LLM-based systems, or data-intensive research and evaluation systems.
• Demonstrated ability to ramp up quickly, work independently, and make measurable impact in fast-paced and ambiguous environments.
• Collaboration skills and ability to work effectively across multiple teams and disciplines to deliver complex projects.
• 2+ years experience developing and deploying AI/ML or GenAI products or systems at multiple points in the product cycle from ideation to shipping.
• Experience developing, fine-tuning, or evaluating large language models (LLMs) and GenAI systems.
• Experience conducting research as part of a research program (in academic or industry settings), including publications such as patents, libraries, or peer-reviewed academic papers.
• A growth mindset, passion for continuous learning, and drive to make both systems and teams more efficient and effective.

Pay

The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 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 $160,200 - $261,000 per year. Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation.

Schedule

This position requires the employee be in the office a minimum of 3 days per week.