Principal Applied Scientist
Explicitly focuses on vibe coding — working at the intersection of vibe coding, low-code, and Copilot to build LLM-powered agents and run rapid experiments.
About the Role
Microsoft is hiring a Principal Applied Scientist to lead research and engineering at the intersection of vibe coding, low-code, and Copilot, driving rapid experiments and building LLM-powered agents. The role focuses on advanced model fine-tuning (including RLHF), evaluation frameworks, and integrating models with external tools to deliver AI-native enterprise applications at scale.
Job Description
Role
Microsoft seeks a Principal Applied Scientist to lead innovation at the intersection of vibe coding, low-code, and Copilot. The role drives rapid experimentation cycles, develops evaluation frameworks, and applies advanced techniques (e.g., reinforcement learning) to enable multi-step reasoning and decision-making in LLM-powered agents. You will partner with engineering, product, and partner teams to ensure agents are performant, secure, reliable, and extensible.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead research and apply applicable research techniques across a broad area, serving as a team expert on industry trends and advances.
- Design and run rapid offline and online experimentation cycles to iterate on agent behavior and performance.
- Develop robust evaluation frameworks and scientific rigor for model development and deployment.
- Apply advanced fine-tuning techniques (instruction tuning, RLHF, tool-augmented generation) to build agents capable of multi-step reasoning and decision-making.
- Integrate LLMs with external tools and APIs and implement context-aware orchestration and prompt engineering best practices.
- Provide strategic direction by reviewing business and product requirements and translating research into product impact.
- Mentor and recruit research talent; share research findings through industry outreach and academic collaboration.
- Document experimentation and results; contribute to ethics and privacy practices for research and data collection.
Qualifications
Required
- Bachelor’s degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 6+ years related experience; OR Master’s degree AND 4+ years related experience; OR Doctorate AND 3+ years related experience; OR equivalent experience.
- 5+ years experience creating publications (e.g., patents, libraries, peer-reviewed academic papers).
- Experience in NLP, LLM development, evaluation, and fine-tuning; familiarity with prompt engineering and integrating models with external tools/APIs.
Other Requirements
- Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements (includes Microsoft Cloud background check on hire/transfer and every two years thereafter).
Preferred
- 2+ years presenting at conferences or industry events as an invited speaker.
Compensation
- Typical base pay range for this role across the U.S.: USD 139,900 - 274,800 per year.
- Base pay range for San Francisco Bay area and New York City metro: USD 188,000 - 304,200 per year.
Notes
- The role emphasizes research-driven development, experimentation, and delivering enterprise-scale AI-native applications. Documentation, ethics, and collaboration with academic and product teams are expected responsibilities.