Senior Applied Scientist

Microsoft

Confirmed live yesterday High trust

Hybrid

Quick summary

Work type: Hybrid
Location: —
Salary: $119,800–$234,700 / yr
Posted: 77 days ago
Freshness: Confirmed live yesterday
Closes: Dec 22, 2026

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Salary context

Competitive pay

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $197k

This role $177k

$106k most similar roles pay here $248k

This role pays less than 51% of similar roles. Most pay $161,250–$231,812 — the shaded band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $177k versus about $197k 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 598 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $119,800–$234,700 across 586 roles with salary data.

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At a glance

TL;DR · Senior Applied Scientist

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As a Senior Applied Scientist on the Microsoft AI team, you will build and own production machine learning models to improve results for Bing and Consumer Copilot. You will work hands-on with state-of-the-art generative models including Qwen, Llama, Mistral, GPT, Gemini, and Claude to deliver high impact. Your daily responsibilities involve finding insights from large-scale data using feature engineering, statistical techniques, regression, classification, NLP, and optimization. You will design experiments, wrangle petabytes of data, and perform prompt engineering to provide actionable conclusions for executive decision-making. The role requires proficiency in Python, C#, R, C++, Java, or SQL. This position focuses on advancing generative search experiences through innovative AI/ML technologies, specifically addressing the technical challenges of large-scale modeling optimization and advanced generative modeling within the product ecosystem.

What does a Applied Scientist earn?

Median $208800 from 47 postings across 10 companies.

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Skills

Machine Learning Generative AI LLMs Prompt Engineering Python SQL C# R C++ Java NLP Data Mining Feature Engineering Statistics Regression Classification Optimization

What you'll do

Build and own production machine learning models to improve product results.
Work hands-on with state-of-the-art generative models like Qwen, Llama, Mistral, and GPT.
Perform prompt engineering with large language models including GPT, Gemini, and Claude.
Analyze large-scale data using machine learning, feature engineering, and statistical techniques to form hypotheses.
Design experiments and translate resulting data into actionable, trustworthy conclusions.
Wrangling petabytes of data using various programming languages and tools.
Translate complex data findings into concise reports to assist senior executives in making business decisions.

What we're looking for

Bachelor's degree with 4+ years of experience, Master's with 3+ years, or Doctorate with 1+ year in a relevant technical field.
Experience in Machine Learning, Generative AI, Agentic Modeling, Data Science, or related fields.
Hands-on experience working with LLMs and SLMs such as Qwen, Llama, Mistral, GPT, Gemini, or Claude.
Proficiency in prompt engineering for large language models.
Ability to perform feature engineering, statistical analysis, data mining, regression, classification, and NLP.
Experience wrangling petabytes of data using tools and languages including Python, C#, R, C++, Java, and SQL.
Strong oral and written communication skills to present complex data to senior executives.
Ability to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check.

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