Senior Researcher - Machine Learning & Statistics - Microsoft Research

Microsoft Research New England in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is seeking a Senior Researcher in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and related areas. We welcome applicants who are nearing completion of a relevant PhD, have recently completed a PhD or postdoctoral appointment, or have comparable research experience. If your research background is in these fields or a related one, we would like to hear from you!

Microsoft Research offers a supportive environment for cutting-edge theoretical and applied research across disciplines. Current areas of focus at MSR NE include the science of deep learning and generative AI, post-training, data curation and synthesis, test-time scaling, and new model architectures and training paradigms; these themes are illustrative rather than exhaustive. Researchers benefit from access to a wide range of large and small data sources, an open publication policy, and close connections with leading academic institutions. We seek candidates who can define and pursue an independent research program and who have demonstrated research impact through a publication record at leading venues.

Microsoft Research New England brings together full-time researchers, postdoctoral researchers, data scientists, engineers, and program managers working across machine learning, statistics, healthcare, computational biology, theoretical computer science, algorithmic game theory, economics, and other disciplines. The lab fosters collaboration across fields and maintains active connections with the academic and technology communities in the Cambridge and Boston area.

#MSRR #Research

At Microsoft, our mission-to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more-guides how we partner with customers to deliver trusted, impactful solutions. With a growth mindset culture, we innovate responsibly and measure success by shared progress-people, teams, and customers. Join us to do meaningful work that changes the world and helps shape what’s next for everyone.

Responsibilities

• Help define and lead an independent research agenda spanning fundamental and applied work.
• Collaborate closely with researchers, engineers, and other colleagues across disciplines helping shape the direction of ongoing and future projects
• Contribute to large-scale research efforts.
• Develop new ideas, conduct rigorous research, publish influential results, and explore opportunities for research to inform products and services used worldwide.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Doctorate in relevant field
  • OR Master's Degree in relevant field AND 3+ years related research experience
  • OR Bachelor's Degree in relevant field AND 4+ years related research experience
  • OR equivalent experience

Other Requirements:

To ensure we receive a complete application from you, please be sure to follow these instructions:

• Upload your Resume/CV.
• Upload (as separate attachments to your application) 1 or 2 conference or journal articles, book chapters, link to blog posts, technical reports or equivalent (potentially unpublished) writing samples that you are most proud of.
• Upload a cover letter (no more than 2 pages) outlining technical achievements so far that you are most proud of and what you aim to continue doing moving forward. Feel free to also add extra research activities such as volunteering, civic engagement, community organizing that you might have been part of.
• Add contact information for 2/3 reference letter writers (in nearly all cases, one will be from your dissertation advisor).

After you submit your application, the system will send a request for letters to your list of references on your behalf.

Note: The application system will not request reference letters until after you have submitted your application.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in running large scale experiments with transformers/LLMs pre-training and/or finetuning
• Experience in creating, optimizing and running large scale machine learning pipelines Experience in building data collection and curation pipelines.
• Ability to collaborate, communicate effectively, and work as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
• Interest in real-world applications and impact.
• Reference letters are welcomed, though they are not mandatory. Please include them if available. To be assured of full consideration, all materials, including reference letters, should ideally be received by December 15, 2026. After that, we will consider applications on a rolling basis.

Research 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 $160,200 - $261,000 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.