Principal Applied scientist

Join a team redefining how people and organizations collaborate through AI-powered Meeting Intelligence in Copilot.Every day, millions of meetings generate decisions, insights, commitments, and knowledge that help organizations move forward. Our mission is to transform these interactions into actionable intelligence that helps people prepare better, stay aligned, make faster decisions, and execute with greater confidence.
As a Principal Data Scientist, you will help create breakthrough innovations in Meeting Intelligence and shape how enterprises work in the era of AI. You will drive the scientific vision behind next-generation capabilities that understand conversations, identify meaningful insights, surface relevant information, and help users accomplish more throughout their workday.
You will work at the intersection of Large Language Models (LLMs), Enterprise Grounding & Graph, Conversational AI, and Applied Machine Learning, partnering closely with Engineering, Product Management, Design, and Research teams to bring cutting-edge AI experiences to millions of users worldwide.
This role offers a unique opportunity to influence the future of workplace productivity, define new quality and evaluation standards for AI-powered experiences, and advance the state of the art in meeting understanding, conversational intelligence, and enterprise collaboration

• Lead development of machine learning and AI solutions for Meeting Intelligence in Copilot
• Define evaluation methodologies, quality metrics, and measurement frameworks for AI-powered meeting experiences.
• Establish scientific approaches for assessing relevance, accuracy, grounding, consistency, trustworthiness, and user value.
• Drive experimentation strategies and data-driven decision making through online and offline evaluation.
• Influence product strategy through deep analysis of user behavior, product outcomes, and AI quality signals.
• Partner with Engineering, Product Management, Design, Research, and Responsible AI teams to bring innovations into production.
• Advance techniques in natural language understanding, retrieval, reasoning, and contextual intelligence to improve experience quality.
• Mentor senior scientists and help define best practices for machine learning experimentation, measurement science, and AI quality evaluation.
• Drive cross-organizational alignment on scientific priorities, evaluation standards, and AI quality investments.
• Represent Microsoft through publications, patents, technical reviews, and industry engagement.

Required/Minimum 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.
• Deep expertise in:Large Language Models (LLMs), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Information Retrieval (IR), Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG, Conversational AI, Knowledge Representation, Machine Learning for Language and Productivity Applications, Strong background in experimentation, Causal inference, statistical analysis, and measurement science. 
• Experience building and evaluating AI-powered products in production environments.
•  Proficiency in Python and modern machine learning frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.
• Experience working with cloud-scale AI services and distributed systems.

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:

• 9+ years of experience in Data Science, Applied Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, or related disciplines.
  Proven track record of driving significant product impact through large-scale AI and machine learning systems.
• Experience developing evaluation systems for generative AI and agent-assisted user experiences.
• Background in conversational understanding, speech and language technologies, or human-AI interaction.
• Publications in leading conferences such as NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, EMNLP, KDD, WWW, SIGIR, or related venues.
• Track record of patents, technical thought leadership, and industry-recognized innovation.
• Experience leading broad scientific initiatives spanning multiple teams and disciplines.

#W+DJOBS

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.