Senior Applied Scientist

Microsoft Teams is the hub for teamwork that integrates all the people, content, and tools your team needs to be more engaged and effective. It is core to Microsoft's modern work, modern life & modern education value prop. We are reinventing the way people communicate and work together across the globe.  

We are looking to hire an applied scientist to join the science team responsible for some of the Artificial Intelligence innovations and experiences being delivered within Microsoft Teams and related products. The team works on state-of-the-art AI models and leverages innovation in their architecture, training, fine-tuning, distillation and general design patterns to build innovative features to bring value to our customers. 

You will partner with research, product and engineering teams to invent and deliver the future for Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Copilot and other AI products. 

This role is based in Cambridge (United Kingdom).

You should apply if you are someone who:

• Has solid experience with the deep technical aspects of research and engineering in Artificial Intelligence, Language Models, Machine Learning, Computer Vision or Speech Recognition.
• Can communicate clearly complex technical concepts, as well as product needs and priorities.
• Thrives in an environment where people collaborate across different disciplines, teams and geographies to deliver innovation to customers.
• Can inspire without authority across teams and motivate individuals to work together toward common goals.
• Can navigate uncertainty and create clarity and focus to execute toward a common vision.

Our culture is inclusive and collaborative; our team members come from diverse backgrounds, are respectful to one another and achieve impact by building on each other's strengths and skills. We focus our energy on AI projects that are likely to have high impact on our products and bring high value to our customers. Our team has a strong sense of bias for action and accountability, and provides its members with many opportunities for learning and career growth.

• Research, design, implement, adapt, train, fine tune or distill state-of-the-art multi-modal models with the aim to support human communication in Teams
• Prepare datasets, design and implement metrics and optimize model efficiency and performance
• Collaborate closely with other groups (research, engineering and product groups) within the wider Microsoft organization, to create the next generation of AI innovation in our products and services.
• Embody Microsoft culture and values.

Required:

• Master's degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Mathematics, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field.
• Experience in ML Engineering and Python coding leveraging PyTorch, TensorFlow or similar framework, within large code repositories and in collaboration with additional team members.
• Experience in designing, training or fine-tuning transformer-based models or LLMs.
• Experience of working with computer vision or audio applications.
• Excellent analytical, coding, communication, and collaborative skills.

Preferred:

• Industry experience delivering real-world solutions.
• Experience with large-scale distributed training and deployment.
• Experience with network architecture search, quantization and other model optimization techniques.
• Experience with Image encoders like Siglip, Florence, etc...
• Experience with AML/ADO pipelines and CI tools.
• System development skills spanning rapid prototypes to production systems with complex dependencies.

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. 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.