Principal Researcher, Office Product Group

Overview

We are building a high-impact AI engineering and applied science team within the Office Product Group to advance the next generation of intelligent, AI-powered experiences embedded directly into Microsoft 365 applications. The team operates at the intersection of research and product development, evolving new model and system capabilities and delivering them at scale to support hundreds of millions of users worldwide.

As a Principal Researcher, you will contribute to the design, development, evaluation, and deployment of AI systems that can reason, take action, and work across tools, documents, and services. You will apply these capabilities within real product environments, balancing innovation with practical considerations such as reliability, performance, and user experience.

Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. We approach our work with a growth mindset, collaborate across teams to deliver meaningful outcomes, and continuously learn and innovate to better serve our customers. Our culture is grounded in respect, integrity, and accountability, creating an inclusive environment where individuals and teams can do their best work.

Responsibilities

• Support the development of frameworks that enable coordination and communication across multiple AI components, helping to facilitate task delegation, orchestration, and result validation scenarios.
• Apply and improve techniques for efficient code generation and transformation in low-resource environments, including adapting models to domain-specific languages, formulas, and structured or semi-structured data formats.
• Implement and iterate on fine-tuning and post-training approaches for large-scale machine learning models to enhance reliability, controllability, and readiness for production use.
• Contribute to the design and execution of evaluation strategies and benchmarks that reflect real-world Microsoft 365 user workflows, including participation in system-level and human-in-the-loop assessments.
• Collaborate with engineering and product management partners to help translate research ideas into scalable, production-ready features, with attention to user experience, performance, and responsible AI practices.

Qualifications

Required 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.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 9+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research) OR Doctorate in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 6+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
• OR equivalent experience.
• 5+ years experience creating publications (e.g., patents, libraries, peer-reviewed academic papers).
• 2+ years experience presenting at conferences or other events in the outside research/industry community as an invited speaker.
• 5+ years experience conducting research as part of a research program (in academic or industry settings).
• 3+ years experience developing and deploying live production systems, as part of a product team.
• 3+ years experience developing and deploying products or systems at multiple points in the product cycle from ideation to shipping.

Applied Sciences IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $274,800 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 $188,000 - $304,200 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.