Principal Research Software Engineer

Do you want to shape the future of Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Do you have a passion for solving real-world problems with cutting-edge technologies? Do you enjoy working in a diverse and collaborative team?

The Microsoft Research AI Frontiers group is looking for a Principal Research Software Engineer with demonstrated machine learning experience to advance the state-of-the-art in foundational model-based technologies. Areas of focus on our team include, but are not limited to:

• Human-AI interaction, collaboration, and experiences
• Applications of foundation models and model-based technologies
• Multi-agent systems and agent platform technologies
• Model, agent, and AI systems evaluation

As a Principal Research Software Engineer on our team, you will need:

• A drive for real world impact, demonstrated by a passion to build and deploy applications, prototypes, or open-source technologies.
• Demonstrated experience working with large foundation models and state-of-the-art ML frameworks and toolkits.
• A team player mindset, characterized by effective communication, collaboration, and feedback skills.

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.

Required Qualifications: 

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related fields AND 6+ years technical engineering experience
  • OR equivalent experience
• 3+ years of experience in Python
• 1+ year(s) of experience with machine learning frameworks including, but not limited to, Pytorch, Tensorflow or scikit-learn

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 10+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, Python, JavaScript, Java, C#, or C++
  

• OR Master's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, Python, JavaScript, Java, C#, or C++
  
• OR equivalent experience. 

• Hands-on experience building and working with large foundation models (e.g., OpenAI GPT models, LLAMA etc) and related prompting techniques, frameworks and toolkits (e.g., ICL, CoT, ReACT, Langchain, AutoGen). 
• Experience building applications with foundation models – from collecting data/labels, measuring task performance to deploying models as Application programming interfaces (API) that address concrete problems. 
• Experience publishing academic papers at relevant  conferences and journals (such as CHI, UIST, FAcct, AAAI, NeurIPS, ICML, ACL). 
• Experience working in collaboration with interdisciplinary teams. 
• Experience with creating and managing open-source projects.

Software Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $133,600 - $256,800 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 $173,200 - $282,200 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

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.

#Research

• Leverage full-stack software engineering skills to build, test, and deploy robust and intuitive AI based technologies. 
• Work closely with researchers and engineers to rapidly develop and test research ideas and drive a high-impact agenda. 
• Collaborate with product partners to integrate and test new ideas within existing frameworks and toolchains. 

• Embody our culture and values.