Senior Applied Scientist
12/9/2025
The Senior Applied Scientist will deliver impactful solutions through data science initiatives and lead the design of advanced model fine-tuning pipelines. They will also own complex projects that require technical depth and cross-functional collaboration.
Salary
119800 - 234700 USD
Working Hours
40 hours/week
Company Size
10,001+ employees
Language
English
Visa Sponsorship
No
The Business & Industry Copilots group is a rapidly growing organization that is responsible for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 suite of products, Power Apps, Power Automate, Dataverse, AI Builder, Microsoft Industry Solution and more. Microsoft is considered one of the leaders in Software as a Service in the world of business applications and this organization is at the heart of how business applications are designed and delivered.
We are looking for a Senior Applied Scientist to join our team!
The Business and Industry Solutions (BIS) team is looking for a Senior Applied Scientist to drive innovation at the intersection of AI, experimentation, and enterprise systems. In this role, you will design and evaluate autonomous agents that deliver measurable improvements in accuracy, latency, and cost-efficiency. You’ll lead rapid experimentation cycles, develop robust evaluation frameworks, and apply advanced techniques like reinforcement learning to enable multi-step reasoning and decision-making.
You will collaborate across engineering, product, and partner teams to ensure agents are performant, secure, reliable, and extensible—empowering customers and partners to build on our platform. This is your opportunity to influence the next generation of AI-native business applications and deliver real-world impact at scale.
This role would be ideal for an individual who has prior expertise in natural language processing (NLP), with a strong foundation in large language model (LLM) development, evaluation, and fine-tuning. They should have hands-on experience in applying advanced fine-tuning techniques—including instruction tuning, reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF), and tool-augmented generation—to build agents capable of multi-step reasoning and decision-making. Familiarity with prompt/context engineering, context-aware orchestration, and integrating LLMs with external tools and APIs is essential.
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.
Responsibilities
- Deliver impactful solutions by executing high‑leverage data science and analytics initiatives within a product area or feature team, ensuring measurable improvements to user and business outcomes.
- Lead the design and implementation of advanced model fine‑tuning pipelines, including Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF), to align AI system behavior with user intent and improve performance in real‑world scenarios.
- Own complex, end‑to‑end projects that combine technical depth with cross‑functional collaboration, influencing feature direction and prioritization rather than broad organizational investment decisions.
- Develop and maintain robust measurement systems, experimentation frameworks, and causal inference methodologies tailored to dynamic AI systems and enterprise‑scale environments.
- Leverage AI to streamline workflows and enhance team productivity through intelligent automation and innovation.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor'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 Master's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 3+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
- OR Doctorate in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 1+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
- OR equivalent experience.
- 1+ year(s) experience developing and deploying live production systems, as part of a product team.
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:
- 3+ years experience creating publications (e.g., patents, libraries, peer-reviewed academic papers).
- Experience presenting at conferences or other events in the outside research/industry community as an invited speaker.
- 3+ years experience conducting research as part of a research program (in academic or industry settings).
- 1+ year(s) experience developing and deploying products or systems at multiple points in the product cycle from ideation to shipping.
Applied Sciences IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 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 $158,400 - $258,000 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
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.
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