Principal Research Engineer – Generative AI – AI Frontiers Redmond, Washington, United States
Share job
Date posted
Jul 25, 2025
Job number
1852398
Work site
Up to 50% work from home
Travel
None
Role type
Profession
Research, Applied, & Data Sciences
Applied Sciences
Employment type
Full-Time
Overview The AI Frontiers lab at Microsoft Research is charted with ambitious research goals for advancing Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities in several key areas including modeling, algorithms, reasoning, and agentic AI. Our lab offers a vibrant environment for cutting-edge multidisciplinary research, including an open publication policy and close links to top academic institutions around the world.
This Principal Research Engineer position offers a unique opportunity to contribute to some of the most challenging and rewarding problems in AI. You will develop novel ideas in reinforcement learning, and help evolve our codebases for pre-training, mid-training, and post-training, which have led to models like Phi, setting many new records. Collaboration across disciplines will be key to advancing reasoning and agentic AI.
Our lab provides opportunities for experimentation, access to diverse real-world problems and data, and the potential to deploy research to over a billion Microsoft customers. We aim to expand the capabilities, efficiency, and safety of AI through innovations in foundation models and learning agent platforms. Our projects include Phi, Orca, AutoGen, Eureka, OmniParser, Magnetic-One, Magnetic-UI, Dion, Belief State Transformers, among others.
Research areas include but are not limited to:
Pre-training: language models, action models, multimodal models
Mid-training: long context extension
Post-training: instruction tuning, reinforcement learning from feedback
Reasoning: scaling inference time via reinforcement learning
Action Models: training models for digital actions (e.g., web agents)
Orchestration and multi-agent systems: collaboration, human feedback, oversight
If your skills align with these areas, apply today and join us in this exciting journey!
Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and organization to achieve more. We foster a growth mindset, innovation, collaboration, and a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive.
Qualifications Required Qualifications
Bachelor's in Computer Science or relevant field AND 6+ years related experience
Do you have the following skills, experience and drive to succeed in this role Find out below.
OR Master's Degree in Computer Science or related field AND 4+ years related experience
OR Doctorate in Computer Science or related field AND 3+ years related experience
OR equivalent experience.
At least 1 year of experience developing with Python and Pytorch/JAX.
Preferred Qualifications
Familiarity with large language model architectures and optimizations
Experience debugging and profiling distributed Pytorch code
Understanding of CUDA kernels
Experience with pre-training, mid-training, or post-training pipelines for language or multimodal models
Foundational knowledge of reinforcement learning and its challenges
Experience with verl, Ray, Megatron, or vLLM is a plus
Building scalable services experience is beneficial
The typical base pay range in the U.S. is USD $139,900 - $274,800 per year, with higher ranges in specific locations like San Francisco and NYC. Benefits vary by role and location. Details at Microsoft Careers. Applications are accepted ongoing.
Responsibilities Design, develop, and implement research projects in collaboration with teams.
Contribute to breakthroughs in LLMs, reasoning, and agentic AI, helping improve and explore capabilities.
Benefits may vary by employment type and location, including healthcare, educational resources, discounts, investments, parental leave, time off, giving programs, networking opportunities, and more.
Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without discrimination. For accommodations during the application process, read more here.
#J-18808-Ljbffr