Principal Applied Scientist
Microsoft
Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Posted on Dec 12, 2025
Overview
Responsibilities
Qualifications
Copilot Tuning is a new product that aims to fine-tune LLMs on tenant data, enabling task-specific agents and solutions. We are a small, nimble team that is advancing the state of the art of models in M365 Copilot. Come join our team and help transform the LLM experience in the enterprise.
We are seeking candidates with stellar research and system building skills and the desire to pursue the cutting edge in model development that pushes technological boundaries. We are looking for candidates with interest and experience in language model training, reinforcement learning, and supervised fine-tuning.
We provide a nurturing environment to support passionate researchers and engineers in technology innovation. We seek candidates that excel in deep thinking, advanced development, and fast-paced entrepreneurial execution in a collaborative setting. We are also looking for strong technical team leaders, able to coordinate with other scientists in the team and with sister teams, help prioritize tasks, and align experiments with specific stated product outcomes.
We are seeking candidates with stellar research and system building skills and the desire to pursue the cutting edge in model development that pushes technological boundaries. We are looking for candidates with interest and experience in language model training, reinforcement learning, and supervised fine-tuning.
We provide a nurturing environment to support passionate researchers and engineers in technology innovation. We seek candidates that excel in deep thinking, advanced development, and fast-paced entrepreneurial execution in a collaborative setting. We are also looking for strong technical team leaders, able to coordinate with other scientists in the team and with sister teams, help prioritize tasks, and align experiments with specific stated product outcomes.
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
- You will master a broad area or research and understand any applicable research techniques.
- You’ll also serve as a team expert on changes in industry trends, products, and other advances, and apply this knowledge to influence product needs.
- You will review business and product requirements, incorporate research, and provide strategic direction for problem solving.
- You’ll also ensure scientific rigor, support the development of methods, and apply your expertise to support business impact.
- Collaborate with stakeholders to gather and understand user requirements and expectations.
- Seek and incorporate continuous feedback from users and stakeholders to iteratively improve designs and solutions.
- You will document work and experimentation results and share findings to promote innovation.
- You’ll provide guidance when capturing processes and contribute to ethics and privacy policies related to research processes and data collection.
- Facilitate design meetings, creates design documents, and ensures alignment with project goals.
- Design system architecture that meets security, compliance, and scalability requirements.
- Lead implementation and deployment of solutions, ensuring they meet quality standards.
- Translate project vision into actionable milestones and guide the team in project estimation and planning.
- Mentor and guide team members to produce extensible and maintainable code through code reviews and pair programming.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 6+ 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 4+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
- OR Doctorate in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 3+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
- OR equivalent experience.
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:
- Master's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 9+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
- OR Doctorate in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 6+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
- OR equivalent experience.
- 5+ years experience creating publications (e.g., patents, libraries, peer-reviewed academic papers).
- 2+ years experience presenting at conferences or other events in the outside research/industry community as an invited speaker.
- 5+ years experience conducting research as part of a research program (in academic or industry settings).
- 3+ years experience developing and deploying live production systems, as part of a product team.
- 3+ years experience developing and deploying products or systems at multiple points in the product cycle from ideation to shipping.
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.