Senior Applied Scientist

You'll join the asset generation team in Microsoft AI focusing on image and video retrieval, recommendation and generation. You will build core generative AI solutions that power customer-facing AI solutions and services for Microsoft Advertising at Bing platforms. In this role, you'll combine solid computer vision skills with applied ML expertise to design, prototype, evaluate and ship production systems-using techniques like knowledge distillation, prompt engineering, reinforcement learning, image/video processing and rigorous evaluation/metrics to continuously improve image and video asset qualities. You'll partner closely across product, research, and service engineering to deliver the innovative and robust solutions for enterprise customers.

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.

Starting January 26, 2026, Microsoft AI (MAI) employees who live within a 50- mile commute of a designated Microsoft office in the U.S. or 25-mile commute of a non-U.S., country-specific location are expected to work from the office at least four days per week. This expectation is subject to local law and may vary by jurisdiction.

• Research, develop, and buildeffective and innovative production-grade generative AI and classical computer vision systems, with end-to-end ownership from concept through deployment and service operations.
• Lead technical design for core GenAI capabilities onimage and video assets (e.g., image and video generation, super-resolution and summarization) and make data-driven tradeoffs across quality, latency, cost, and safety.
• Define and improve model and system quality using evaluation frameworks, experiment design, and metric evaluation; ensure robust testing and regression coverage.
• Collaborate with the partner teams to build solutions that meet enterprise requirements and align with customer needs and make business impact.

Required Qualifications:

• 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.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 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.
• Demonstrated solid modelling skills in training and inferencing on online and offline computer vision models and related performance optimization for latency and artifact.
• Experience with prompt engineering, knowledge distillation and post-training.
• Experience building and shipping generative AI systems (including image and video systems).
• Familiarity with compliance and security standards in enterprise AI solutions.
• Track recordof delivering enterprise-facing AI productsatscale.
• Experience building and operating ML/AI systems in cloud environments; familiarity withMLOpspractices (Azure a plus).
• Experience in publishing papers in top-tier computer vision and machine learning conferences such as CVPR, ICML, ICCV, Neurips and ICLR.

#MicrosoftAI

Applied 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 $158,400 - $258,000 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.