Senior Applied Scientist - AI Research

Security represents the most critical priorities for our customers in a world awash in digital threats, regulatory scrutiny, and estate complexity. Microsoft Security aspires to make the world a safer place for all. We want to reshape security and empower every user, customer, and developer with a security cloud that protects them with end-to-end, simplified solutions. The Microsoft Security organization accelerates Microsoft’s mission and bold ambitions to ensure that our company and industry is securing digital technology platforms, devices, and clouds in our customers’ heterogeneous environments, as well as ensuring the security of our own internal estate. Our culture is centered on embracing a growth mindset, a theme of inspiring excellence, and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. In doing so, we create life-changing innovations that impact billions of lives around the world.

The Security AI Lab (SAIL) team is responsible for driving Artificial Intelligence (AI) and security science research that has the potential to transform the cybersecurity equilibrium. We are focused on solving real problems, leveraging state-of-the-art methodologies and Microsoft’s unmatched security data.

We are looking for a Senior Applied Scientist that can create end-to-end solutions to real customer problems, all while working closely and communicating effectively with partners and stakeholders.

• Conduct cutting-edge research in security science and AI, pursuing high-risk, high-reward opportunities impacting our strategic business roadmap.
• Collaborate with research teams across Microsoft Security to build practical solutions that impact our security products and services.
• Share research findings and innovations through academic publications, open-source releases, blog posts, patents, and industry conferences.
• Participate in partnerships with academia and industry to advance the state of the art in security science and AI.

• Bachelor'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 Master's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 3+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research).
• OR Doctorate in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 1+ year(s) related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research).
• OR equivalent experience.
• 4+ years of experience in statistics and AI/ML (Machine Learning), through a combination of driving cutting-edge research into real-world impact, peer-reviewed publications, and public code projects.
• 1+ years of experience formulating research problems and assessing the relevant literature.
• 1+ years of experience building end-to-end solutions with ML frameworks like Pytorch and Tensorflow.

• 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 background and Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

• Master'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 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.
• 3+ years experience creating publications (e.g., patents, libraries, peer-reviewed academic papers).
• Experience presenting at conferences or other events in the outside research/industry community as an invited speaker.
• 3+ years experience conducting research as part of a research program (in academic or industry settings).
• 1+ year(s) experience developing and deploying live production systems, as part of a product team.
• 1+ year(s) experience developing and deploying products or systems at multiple points in the product cycle from ideation to shipping.
• Knowledge in a field of “narrow AI,” including deep learning, graph ML, Natural Language Processing, etc.
• Knowledge of security, threat intelligence and hunting, anti-fraud systems, and social engineering research.
• An understanding of foundational model architecture, datasets, pre-training, fine-tuning, evaluation, prompt engineering.
• Proficient written and verbal communication skills and the ability to simplify and explain complex ideas.
• Experience with large-scale data processing tools.
• Team player with a growth mindset and a willingness to guide less experienced colleagues.
• Experience in safety and ethical aspects of AI.
• Partner engagement and cross-team collaboration skills.

Applied Sciences IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $112,000 - $218,400 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 $145,800 - $238,600 per year.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. Consistent with applicable law, 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 and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.