Principal Data & Applied Scientist

The Time + Places team is looking for a Principal Data & Applied Scientist to lead innovation in co-pilot solutions for Microsoft Calendar and Places. This role focuses on leveraging LLMs and developing advanced machine learning models and solutions to enhance time management, boost productivity, and improve workplace experiences for M365 customers in hybrid work environments. 

The position involves developing and integrating machine learning models, creating self-service reporting platforms for stakeholders, and delivering data-driven insights to solve complex business problems. It also includes defining metrics to evaluate model performance and ensuring that solutions align with business goals, scale effectively, and meet quality standards. 

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 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.
    
• Deep expertise in Python, SQL, Databricks, Azure ML, Spark, and experience with large language models (LLMs), supervised/unsupervised learning, and natural language processing (NLP).  
• Experience in architecting and integrating machine learning models into customer-facing products, with a focus on optimizing relevance, personalization, and user engagement.  

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with workplace productivity tools, scheduling systems, or hybrid work solutions.  
• Familiarity with real-time data feedback loops and experience optimizing models based on user feedback.   
• Ability to lead technical efforts and collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams (product, engineering).
• Good Communication skills to present complex data science insights to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Expertise in fine-tuning LLMs and implementing RAG techniques to improve model performance.  
• Prior working experience with Enterprise products is a plus. 

Applied Sciences IC6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $161,600 - $286,200 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 $209,600 - $314,400 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

Microsoft will accept applications for the role until January 20, 2025.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.  We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

• Machine Learning Innovation: Lead the development of advanced machine learning models that address user needs in time management and hybrid work settings. Use LLMs and other data sources (meeting data, documents, and emails) to create solutions for meeting prioritization, scheduling, and feature quality evaluations.  
• Relevance & Personalization Models: Architect and refine both supervised and unsupervised models that optimize the relevance of key features within Microsoft Calendar and Microsoft Places. Improve meeting scheduling and hybrid work experiences by extracting meaningful signals from meeting titles, agendas, documents, and participants.  
• Collaborate on Product Development: Partner closely with product and engineering teams to translate user needs into actionable machine learning solutions. Ensure models are effectively integrated into products, meeting scalability, quality, and real-time performance requirements.  
• Utilize Industry-Leading Tools: Access Microsoft’s vast data scale, computing resources, and advanced machine learning frameworks to deliver high-impact solutions. Apply prompt optimization, fine-tuning, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) techniques to ensure models deliver optimal results.  
• Performance Metrics: Define, track, and refine key performance metrics for machine learning models. Continuously iterate on models based on user feedback and real-time data to improve accuracy, precision, and recall.