Senior Machine Learning Engineer / Applied Scientist

Overview

We are looking for a Senior Machine Learning Engineer / Applied Scientist to help design, evaluate, and ship the next generation of AI-powered product experiences. The role combines strong machine learning and applied science depth with hands-on engineering, product judgment, and end-to-end ownership from prototyping through launch and continuous improvement.

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.

Responsibilities

• Build, evaluate, and improve AI/ML experiences (LLMs, RAG, agentic, multimodal systems).
• Design evaluation frameworks for quality, grounding, reliability, safety, and UX.
• Build offline experimentation pipelines for models/prompts/retrieval/system designs.
• Partner across product/engineering/science to define measurable objectives and success metrics.
• Analyze failures and drive clear product/technical improvements.
• Build production-grade ML systems (scalability, latency, reliability, observability, maintainability).
• Contribute to MLOps (data pipelines, telemetry, regression testing, monitoring).
• Communicate risks/tradeoffs/recommendations and mentor peers.

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 screening: Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements. 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.
• 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.
• Experience building, evaluating, and shipping production AI/ML systems.
• Hands-on LLM experience (prompting, evaluation, RAG, agents/tool use, failure analysis).
• Solid software engineering skills for reliable, maintainable systems.
• Experience designing experiments and using data to drive decisions.
• Understanding of evaluation methods, dataset/annotation strategy, benchmarks, regression testing, and production monitoring.
• Ability to translate customer/product goals into measurable technical/scientific objectives.
• Solid cross-functional collaboration and communication skills.
• Experience building and shipping AI/ML systems in production, including LLM-based applications.
• Experience with evaluation frameworks for model quality, reliability, grounding, safety, and user impact.
• Solid background in experimentation, error analysis, and data-driven model/system improvement.
• Experience with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), agentic workflows, and multimodal AI systems.
• Publications, patents, or other recognized technical contributions in AI/ML.

Compensation

Applied Sciences IC4 — The typical base pay range for this role across Canada is CAD $114,400 - CAD $203,900 per year.

Find additional pay information: https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/canada-pay-information.html

Application

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.