Principal Applied Scientist - Speech Enhancement and Speech Processing

Join the Applied Sciences Group and help create the future of Microsoft’s hardware and software businesses. For this opening, we are looking for a Principal Applied Scientist to be a hands-on tech lead for the Microsoft Voice Clarity audio capture pipeline. The candidate should have demonstrable experience with development of algorithms and ML models for real-time audio processing. They will work with a multi-interdisciplinary team, with the goal of delivering state-of-the-art speech processing solutions for the next generation of devices and user experiences.

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.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND experience with research and development
• Experience building production algorithms and models. 
• Solid foundation of signal processing, matrix linear algebra and machine learning.
• A strong drive to experiment, prototype and improve.
• The ability to clearly communicate what work you have done, why it was important, and how it was different from other projects.
• Creativity coming up with ideas and clever solutions to problems, as well as turning around and building them.
• Ability to work in ambiguous uncharted areas and having the experience, creativity and technical depth to identify technical gaps, acquire missing information, align requirements and pick the right direction.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Doctorate in Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND experience with research and development
• Fluency training machine learning models for speech enhancement (e.g., beamforming, sound source localization, echo cancellation, noise reduction, blind source separation, spatial audio) or speech processing (e.g., transcription, diarization, keyword spotting, speaker identification).
• Experience optimizing models for inference on CPUs and GPUs (and ideally, NPUs).
• Proficiency with C++.

• Lead scoping, definition, architecture, design and implementation of new features.
• Review architecture, designs and code for quality and adherence to technical standards.
• Plan and prioritize work, from prototype to production.
• Collaborate with partner teams on research, development and planning.
• Mentor, guide and help unblock others.