Senior and Principal Applied Scientists (Multiple Positions) - Office Product Group

Senior and Principal Applied Scientists (Multiple Positions) - Office Product Group

At the Office Product Group (OPG), our mission is to re-invent modern productivity solutions, creating experiences which radically improve how people conceive, communicate, preserve and share the best expressions of their thoughts and ideas. ​​​​​​​Our solutions provide intelligent and reliable end-to-end experiences, available on any platform, or device, or through any medium – words, numbers, images or video. ​​​​​​We are responsible for delivering critical services that empower others to be more productive, creative and connected to one another.

We are seeking Senior Applied Scientists and Principal Applied Scientists for openings across different teams in OPG.

OPG is comprised of several teams including but not limited to: CALC, Create, Modern Collab, Office AI, OneNote/Memory, PowerPoint and Word + Editor.

In this role you will collaborate with other Applied Scientists, Researchers, Engineers, and Product Managers to deliver high-quality features and products that enhance experience across multiple platforms and domains. You will also conduct cutting-edge applied research leading to high product impact and publish your work in top-tier conferences and journals. This opportunity will allow you to accelerate your career growth, develop deep business acumen, and hone your scientific skills. We value work-life balance and support our team members to achieve their personal and professional goals. 

If you are passionate about creating technology that helps people achieve more, we would love to hear from you. Join us and help shape the future of productivity.

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/Minimum Qualifications:

    • Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Econometrics, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 4+ years related experience (e.g., artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML), statistics, predictive analytics, research)
          o OR Master’s Degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Econometrics, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 3+ years related experience (e.g., artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML), statistics, predictive analytics, research)
         o OR Doctorate in Computer Science, Statistics, Econometrics, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 1+ years related experience (e.g., artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML), statistics, predictive analytics, research)
         o OR equivalent experience.

• 3+ years of research or demonstrated industry experience in ML, Deep Learning (using PyTorch, TensorFlow or similar), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Computer Vision, and related domain.
• 3+ years software development/engineering experience using Python, C#, or similar.
• Demonstrated proficiency in recent advancements in AI/ML technology.

Other Requirements:

Candidates must be able to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements that 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 Computer Science, Statistics, Econometrics, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 6+ years related experience (e.g., artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML), statistics, predictive analytics, research)
         o OR Master’s Degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Econometrics, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 4+ years related experience (e.g., artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML), statistics, predictive analytics, research)
        o OR Doctorate in Computer Science, Statistics, Econometrics, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 3+ years related experience (e.g., artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML), statistics, predictive analytics, research)
        o OR equivalent experience.
• Ph.D. in Computer Science, preferably with experience in Machine Learning. Ideal areas of expertise include topics on NLP, Computational Linguistics, Computer Vision, and Reinforcement Learning.
• 5+ years of experience developing and deploying live production systems, as part of a product team.
• 5+ years of experience conducting research as part of a research program in academic or industry settings.
• 3+ years of experience publishing peer-reviewed papers and presenting at conferences or events as an invited speaker.
• Proficiency in using ML libraries from sources such as Hugging Face.
• Expertise in implementing, training, and debugging transformer-based ML models and other related tools and technologies for building and shipping large language models (LLM) applications.
• Deep knowledge of algorithms, machine learning, and distributed/cloud computing systems (e.g., Spark, Hadoop, Azure).
• Contributions to open-source ML projects are a big plus.

Applied Sciences IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $117,200 - $229,200 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 $153,600 - $250,200 per year.

Applied Sciences IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $137,600 - $267,000 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 $180,400 - $294,000 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:


Microsoft will accept applications and processes offers for these roles on an ongoing basis.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Review business and product requirements and incorporate state-of-the-art research to formulate plans that will meet business goals.
• Conduct cutting-edge applied research exploring opportunities for innovation leading to high product impact and publishing your work in top-tier conferences and journals.
• Collaborate with other applied scientists, researchers, engineers, designers, and product managers. Drive Office intelligent experience projects through their entire life cycle from idea creation through data acquisition, rigorous science experiments, evaluation, implementation and finally to worldwide availability.
• Research and develop an understanding of tools, technologies, and methods being used in the community that can be utilized to improve product quality, performance, or efficiency.
• Document work in progress and experimentation results, share findings to promote innovation, and contribute to ethics and privacy policies related to research processes and data collection.
• Mentor others. Demonstrate leadership capabilities. Participate in onboarding of new team members. Collaborate with the academic community. Identify new research talent to join Microsoft.
• Embody our and