JobsPrincipal Applied Researcher
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Principal Applied Researcher

Microsoft

Location

Redmond, WA, Mountain View, CA, New York, NY

Type

Full-time

Posted

5/21/2026

Compensation

$142,800 - $304,200 per year

Undergraduate with 5+ Years of Experience
H-1B FY202696.0% approval-64% YoY
👑 Elite sponsor

Job description

The Principal Applied Researcher will lead innovative research projects focused on AI for developers within Microsoft's Developer Division. This diverse team aims to enhance developer productivity through AI advancements, including tools like GitHub Copilot and Visual Studio. The role involves collaboration with various teams across Microsoft and GitHub, as well as the opportunity to build and train advanced models. The researcher will also engage in large-scale experiments to evaluate and improve AI applications in software engineering.

Requirements

  • Doctorate in a relevant field or equivalent experience.
  • Master's Degree in a relevant field and 3+ years of related research experience.
  • Bachelor's Degree in a relevant field and 4+ years of related research experience.
  • Ability to meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements.

Responsibilities

  • Lead research projects on the future of AI for developers.
  • Collaborate across disciplines with product teams across Microsoft and GitHub.
  • Stay up to date with the research literature and product advances in AI for software engineering.
  • Create new datasets from both the world's public code and Microsoft's internal data.
  • Build and manage large-scale ML experiments and models.

Benefits

  • 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.

H-1B filing history

Public USCIS petition and DOL LCA counts · latest USCIS FY2026, LCA FY2026

Filing entity: Microsoft Corporation

As of Aug 23, 2026

Initial approvals

503

FY2026

Approval rate

96.0%

FY2026

LCA certified

3,062

FY2026

Entry-level share

5.7%

FY2026

Initial approvals YoY

-64%

Trend

LCA certified YoY

-83%

Trend

Initial approvals by fiscal year

Approval rate by fiscal year

Continuing vs initial approvals

LCA certified positions by quarter

LCA certified positions by fiscal year

Based on public USCIS and DOL filings; not a sponsorship guarantee.

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