Principal AI Scientist

Job description

Security represents the most critical priorities for our customers in a world awash in digital threats, regulatory scrutiny, and estate complexity.

Microsoft Security aspires to make the world a safer place for all.

We want to reshape security and empower every user, customer, and developer with a security cloud that protects them with end to end, simplified solutions.

The Microsoft Security organization accelerates Microsoft’s mission and bold ambitions to ensure that our company and industry is securing digital technology platforms, devices, and clouds in our customers’ heterogeneous environments, as well as ensuring the security of our own internal estate.

Our culture is centered on embracing a growth mindset, a theme of inspiring excellence, and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day.

In doing so, we create life-changing innovations that impact billions of lives around the world.

Microsoft Security AI’s NEXT R&D labs is the strategic incubation engine behind the next generation of AI-native security products.

Our team blends scientific rigor, curiosity, and customer obsession to deliver life-changing innovations that protect millions of users and organizations by building the next generation of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-native security products.

In the 18 months since our founding, we’ve driven the science behind Microsoft Security Copilot and delivered both foundational and specialized models.

We pursue long horizon bets while landing near term impact, taking ideas from zero-to-one (0→1) prototypes to Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) and then one-to-many (1→N) platform integration across Microsoft Defender, Sentinel, Entra, Intune, and Purview.

Our culture blends ambition and scientific rigor with curiosity, humility, and customer obsession; we invest in new knowledge, collaborate across worldclass scientists and engineers, and tackle the immense challenge of protecting millions of customers.

As a Principal AI Scientist, you will lead foundational and applied research in artificial intelligence and machine learning, driving innovation from concept to production.

You will work on a wide range of AI/ML challenges, including, but not limited to, model design, optimization, evaluation, and deployment, collaborating with world-class scientists and engineers to deliver robust, scalable, and responsible AI systems for security applications.

_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**

**Responsibilities:**

+ Lead AI/ML Research: Drive the design, development, and analysis of novel AI and machine learning models and algorithms for security and enterprise-scale applications.
+ Innovate Across Domains: Explore and apply a broad spectrum of AI/ML techniques, including deep learning, Bayesian probabilistic modeling, classical ML, generative models, and hybrid approaches.
+ Experimentation & Evaluation: Design and execute experiments, simulations, and evaluations to validate models and system performance, ensuring measurable improvements.
+ Collaboration: Partner with engineering, product, and research teams to translate scientific advances into robust, scalable, and production-ready solutions.
+ Mentorship & Thought Leadership: Mentor other scientists and engineers, foster a culture of scientific rigor and curiosity, and contribute to the broader research community through publications, talks, or open-source contributions.
+ Responsible AI: Ensure privacy, security, and responsible AI guardrails are designed in from day one, coordinating safety reviews, compliance, and incident readiness.
+ Customer Impact: Engage with enterprise customers and field teams to co-design solutions, gather feedback, and iterate quickly based on real-world telemetry and outcomes.

**Qualifications**

**Required/minimum qualifications**

+ Bachelor'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 Master'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 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 working with Machine Learning (ML)/Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems (e.g., Large Language Models (LLM/LRM)/Generative AI (GenAI), retrieval/Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), model serving, experimentation platforms, data pipelines) including establishing evaluation metrics and improving model quality.

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

**Additional or preferred qualifications**

+ Master's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 9+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research) OR Doctorate in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 6+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research) OR equivalent experience.
+ 3+ years experience developing and deploying live production systems, as part of a product team.
+ Hands-on coding ability in one or more languages (e.g., Python, C#, C++, Rust, JavaScript/TypeScript).
+ Security domain expertise (e.g., threat detection/response, SIEM/SOAR, identity, endpoint, cloud security) and familiarity with analyst workflows
+ Ability to Dmeostrate when to use Bayesian models, when to apply classical ML, and how to hybridize them to meet business and technical objectives.
+ Evaluation-obsessed: You define the right metrics, build evaluation harnesses, and insist on measurable improvements before broad rollout.
+ Clear communicator and connector: You create clarity in ambiguity, align diverse stakeholders, and mentor others to raise the bar.

Applied Sciences IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $139,900 - $274,800 per year.

There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $188,000 - $304,200 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation.

Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

Microsoft will accept applications for the role until November 18, 2025

#MSFTSecurity #MSECAI #AI #SecurityAI #GenerativeAI #Cybersecurity #ResponsibleAI #Azure

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer.

Consistent with applicable law, 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 and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations (https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/accessibility.html) .

Required Skill Profession

Other General