The Applied Scientist II position on the Core Search and AI team at Microsoft focuses on leveraging advanced AI technologies, particularly large language models, to enhance search relevance. The team is dedicated to solving practical AI challenges at scale and aims to deliver high-quality search results. Candidates will collaborate with diverse professionals to innovate and improve AI integration across Microsoft products. This role emphasizes continuous learning and contribution to a culture of innovation.

• Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 2+ years related experience, OR Master's Degree in the same fields AND 1+ year related experience, OR Doctorate in the same fields, OR equivalent experience.
• 2+ years of experience coding in Python, C++, C#, C or Java.
• 1+ year of industry experience applying Machine Learning techniques.
• Experience building and improving large scale Machine Learning systems for search, ads, and recommendation, adopting LLM.
• Research background on Machine Learning, LLM and NLP.

• Contribute to one or more subareas and build expertise across a broad research landscape.
• Develop deep knowledge of a service, platform, or domain, and identify product opportunities.
• Explore types of data needed to solve complex problems and apply deep subject-matter expertise.
• Document ongoing work, experimental results, and research findings to promote transparency.
• Develop next-generation search capabilities by building and optimizing retrieval, ranking, and relevance systems.
• Refine RAG pipelines that enhance retrieval fidelity and deliver more context-aware responses.
• Translate research into production by running experiments and collaborating with engineering partners.
• Monitor and evaluate model performance using quantitative metrics and user-centric evaluation frameworks.
• Contribute to a culture of innovation by sharing learnings and mentoring peers.

• Employees at Microsoft are often offered comprehensive, “world-class” benefits—including health and mental-wellness programs, competitive pay with bonuses and stock awards, and retirement/savings options. Time-off and flexibility are common, with generous vacation and holidays, parental and caregiver leave, and flexible work schedules, alongside learning support, employee resource groups, product discounts, and matching-gifts/volunteering programs. Specific benefits can vary by region.