Principal Applied Scientist

The Foundry Agent Platform organization within Azure AI Platform is at the forefront of building the next generation of AI-driven solutions that power Microsoft’s most innovative products and services. Our work underpins key Azure AI offerings, enabling intelligent, scalable, and reliable AI experiences across the Microsoft ecosystem.

Within Foundry Agent Platform, the Agent Performance team is focused on developing advanced tools and platforms to monitor, evaluate, optimize and self-improve AI agents. We are seeking a passionate and skilled Applied Scientist to join the Agent Performance R&D team to help integrate the latest science innovations into the Foundry Agent Platform.

In this role, you will:

• Understand latest scientific advancements and collaborate with leading researchers to incubate cutting-edge RL techniques into the Foundry Agent Platform
• Push the envelope on agent accuracy, experimentation and performance advancing the state-of-the-art by connecting customer needs, latest science techniques and product opportunities.
• Collaborate closely with designers, UI-experts and engineers to ensure clear, actionable dashboards and visualizations that empower users to make trustworthy science-informed decisions.

We are looking for a Principal Applied Scientist, Agent Foundry (CoreAI) who is passionate about translating AI research into customer impact, with a deep understanding of observability and monitoring principles. If you thrive in collaborative environments and are excited to shape the future of AI agent accuracy and performance, we’d love to hear from you! 

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.

In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

• Help to shape the direction of Agent Foundry Platform and Agent self-improvement with industry-leading product work.
• Collaborate with and bridge the gaps between researchers (e.g., across CoreAI, Microsoft Research [MSR] and open-source communities) to translate applied research into differentiated, production-quality features
• Bring new technology and approaches, such as Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF), into production by applying long-term research efforts to drive Agent self-improvement
• Drive negotiations across teams to ensure cutting edge technology is being applied to products in a practical way that meets key business objectives
• Leverage and/or construct data and experimentation to rapidly iterate on and refine product opportunities in a rapidly evolving domain
• Proactively provide mentorship and coaching to less experienced and mid-level team members by sharing expertise to build team capabilities and guiding team members in projects, and their careers

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.

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 8+ 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 6+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
  • OR Doctorate in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 5+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
  • OR equivalent experience.
• 4+ years foundation in machine learning and applied AI techniques, including model evaluation and optimization.
• 3+ years of experience programming in Python.
• 1+ years of experience in fine-tuning and post-training strategies for models in production environments.
• 2+ Experience with prompt engineering and optimization for large language models or similar AI systems
• 3+ years experience presenting at conferences or other events in the outside research/industry community as an invited speaker.
• 7+ years experience conducting research as part of a research program (in academic or industry settings).
• 5+ years experience developing and deploying live production systems, as part of a product team.
• 7+ 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

Applied Sciences IC6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $165,600 - $296,400 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 $220,800 - $331,200 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.