Principal Applied Researcher

Microsoft

Quick summary

Work type
On-site
Location
—
Salary
$142,800–$274,800 / yr
Posted
38 days ago
Closes
Nov 16, 2026

Market check

Salary context

Competitive pay

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $198k
This role $209k
$127k most similar roles pay here $291k

This role pays more than 62% of similar roles. Most pay $162,000–$234,150 — the shaded band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $209k versus about $198k for comparable roles.

Based on 240 similar postings.

Employer

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology leader producing software, hardware, and cloud services including Windows, Office 365, Azure cloud platform, Xbox gaming, and Surface devices. Industry: Software & Cloud Computing

Microsoft currently has 622 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $119,800–$234,700 across 571 roles with salary data.

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View all roles at Microsoft

At a glance

TL;DR · Principal Applied Researcher

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The Data and AI team at Microsoft’s Developer Division is hiring a Principal Applied Researcher to lead innovative projects that bridge the gap between research and product development, focusing on enhancing developer productivity through advanced AI technologies. This role involves collaborating with interdisciplinary teams across Microsoft and GitHub to develop state-of-the-art models for software engineering tasks such as code generation and evaluation. The ideal candidate will create new datasets from public and internal sources, conduct large-scale machine learning experiments, and work closely with product teams to iterate on AI solutions at scale. Candidates should have a strong background in relevant fields like computer science or data science, with extensive experience in building AI systems for production environments. Familiarity with cutting-edge research in AI for software engineering is essential, as is proficiency in Python, machine learning frameworks, and cloud-based tools.

Skills

Python TensorFlow PyTorch Kubernetes Docker AWS Azure CI/CD GitHub GitLab PostgreSQL MongoDB NLP LLM RAG Scikit-learn Pandas Jupyter Visual Studio Code VSCode

What you'll do

  • Lead groundbreaking research projects on AI for developers, transitioning them from concept to product.
  • Create new datasets by integrating public code repositories with Microsoft’s internal data sources.
  • Build and manage large-scale machine learning experiments and models for software engineering applications.
  • Stay current with the latest advancements in AI research literature specific to software engineering.
  • Collaborate with developer product teams to run, evaluate, and iterate on AI projects at scale.

What we're looking for

  • Doctorate in a relevant field or equivalent experience required.
  • At least 3 years of related research experience with advanced degrees.
  • Experience in building machine learning and AI for production environments.
  • Ability to lead groundbreaking research projects from concept to product.
  • Collaboration skills across diverse teams including scientists, engineers, and designers.
  • Expertise in creating new datasets using public code and internal data sources.

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