Principal Software Engineer – AI Transformation – Microsoft Research Full-time

We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to be a key member of the team in Microsoft Research (MSR) that is transforming the way scientific research is performed. You will play a significant role in this effort by conceptualizing, architecting, and implementing solutions that achieve its goals, in collaboration with partners across the lab. This position has the potential to expand in the future to include people manager responsibilities.

We are at a pivotal moment where MSR is aiming to lead a transformative revolution in AI-driven research. To deliver on this bold ambition, we are launching the AI Transformation initiative, which seeks to revolutionize scientific research by empowering research teams to seamlessly integrate AI tools in their work, efficiently access GPU resources, and enhance collaboration by showcasing their groundbreaking work. The team will initially focus on a set of key projects-such as scalable AI application and component hosting and sharing, a Copilot to ensure high publication quality, and a system for fairer and more efficient GPU allocation. Success in these projects will equip research teams with the resources they need to be more productive, increase their research velocity, and maximize their impact in driving innovation forward. We want you to help us realize this vision.

Responsibilities:

• Be a leading member of a central team of engineers and data scientists in the MSR Redmond lab.

• Collaborate on, design, and implement cutting-edge projects in machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) for transforming the way research is done.

• Design and implement platforms and services for supporting AI initiatives and solutions.

• Lead by example and mentor others to produce extensible and maintainable code.

• Keep abreast of current developments in AI and software engineering and share knowledge with others on the team.

• Partner with appropriate stakeholders to determine user requirements for a set of scenarios.

• Embody our culture and values .

Qualifications:

Required/Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related technical field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
  • OR equivalent experience

• 4+ years of industry experience in applying, implementing, or developing algorithms or systems for ML, AI, or statistics

• 2+ years of industry experience with common ML engineering programming languages and platforms, such as Python and PyTorch

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s or doctorate in computer science or a related technical field

• Experience with large language model architectures, inference, and fine-tuning

• Experience with ML infrastructure including job schedulers, big data storage, low latency interconnects, and large clusters of GPUs

• Experience with containerization and cloud computing technologies

• Experience working in an academic or industrial research environment and communicating effectively within such an environment

• Ability to work independently and ramp up quickly on complex, unfamiliar code

• A track record of learning and adapting to new technologies , ideally in a variety of software engineering fields

• Experience building successful solutions in ambiguous problem spaces

• Experience with engineering practices, continuous integration and continuous delivery/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines and Git

Software Engineering IC5 – The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $137,600 – $267,000 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 $180,400 – $294,000 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 December 20, 2024.

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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.