Senior Applied Scientist

Overview

Microsoft is innovating rapidly in the advertising space to grow its share of this market by providing the ad industry with state-of-the-art online advertising platform and service. Microsoft's advertising team is at the core of this effort.

In this role, the Senior Applied Scientist will design and implement state-of-the-art machine learning models and algorithms that power key systems within Microsoft Ads, Microsoft Audience Network, Copilot, and beyond. Your work will directly impact millions of users and advertisers by delivering scalable solutions that enhance ad relevance and optimize user experiences.

Microsoft is hiring for multiple Senior Applied Scientist roles on the Microsoft Advertising team.

Signals Modeling Team

This role is available in Mountain View, CA, or Redmond, WA.

The team focuses on understanding and predicting how the user interacts with ads on the search results page. The probability that a user will click on an ad is one of the most critical inputs used in ranking ads. Similarly, the probability of interacting with the advertiser's page is important for measuring advertiser and user satisfaction.

The role is focused on building machine learned models for predicting such events. The team looks at all aspects of modeling including training data, features, the actual model (neural nets, linear models, decision trees, etc.), and offline and online evaluation of those models.

Engineers and scientists on the team work at the edge of machine learning and economics developing in the online stack as well as offline workflows. At its core, the team utilizes signals of user and advertiser intent to determine which ads are allocated and at what price.

About Microsoft

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.

Work Arrangements

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.

Responsibilities

• Develop and deploy cutting-edge machine learning models, including transformers, generative AI, and reinforcement learning, to optimize user interactions and ad relevance across Microsoft Ads and Copilot.
• Design scalable algorithms for online and offline systems, delivering innovative solutions for content selection, user engagement modeling, and ad generation.
• Drive experimentation through A/B testing and offline validation to evaluate model performance and refine user behavior predictions.
• Build robust data pipelines and frameworks for handling large-scale, high-dimensional datasets to support advanced AI applications.
• Stay at the forefront of AI research, incorporating the latest advancements to drive innovation and impact across Microsoft platforms.

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.

Security Requirements:

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

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.
• Proven experience in programming and data analysis skills
• 2+ years of experience in developing and deploying large-scale machine learning models.
• Proven expertise in the areas of Generative AI, deep learning, or transformers.
• 2+ years of experience in reinforcement learning and contextual bandits.

Compensation and Benefits

Position Level: Applied Sciences IC4

Base Pay Range:

• Typical U.S. range: USD $119,800 - $234,700 per year
• San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area: USD $160,200 - $261,000 per year

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information at https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

Application Timeline

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Equal Opportunity

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.