Microsoft · 23 hours ago
Senior Principal Research Engineer
Redmond, WA
Full-time
Hybrid
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
$163K/yr - $296K/yr
8+ years expMicrosoft is a leading technology company focused on empowering individuals and organizations. The Senior Principal Research Engineer will drive the technical vision for scalable AI systems, collaborating with cross-functional teams to build backend systems and APIs that enhance Copilot experiences.
Agentic AIApplication Performance ManagementArtificial Intelligence (AI)Business DevelopmentDevOpsInformation ServicesInformation TechnologyManagement Information SystemsNetwork SecuritySoftware
Responsibilities
Build multi provider model routing services with policy driven selection, traffic splitting, and observability
Develop evaluation pipelines for offline and online experiments; automate metrics like task success, groundedness, latency, and cost
Operationalize model comparisons through scorecards, dashboards, and A/B testing for rollout decisions
Harden backend infrastructure for scale, security, and compliance; implement caching, rate limiting, and safety filters
Instrument telemetry and monitoring using OpenTelemetry; enable RCA and performance insights
Collaborate cross functionally with PMs, scientists, and Responsible AI teams; document and evangelize best practices
Qualification
Required
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR equivalent experience
1+ years of experience architecting and deploying Large Language Models (LLMs) in production at scale
Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role
Preferred
Master's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 12+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 15+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR equivalent experience
Experience building backend services or APIs in a production environment using at least one modern programming language (e.g., C#, Java, Python, or TypeScript)
Experience deploying or operating distributed systems or cloud-based services (e.g., Azure, AWS, or GCP) in a production environment
Familiarity with Responsible AI frameworks and bias-mitigation techniques
Demonstrated ability to shape product strategy and drive organizational change
Experience with Microsoft's LLMOps stack: Azure AI Foundry, Azure Machine Learning, Semantic Kernel, Azure OpenAI Service, and Azure AI Search for vector/RAG
PhD in AI/ML or related fields with top-venue publications and/or patents
Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter
Company
Microsoft
Microsoft is a software corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports, and sells a range of software products and services.
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
Microsoft has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (9192)
2024 (9343)
2023 (7677)
2022 (11403)
2021 (7210)
2020 (7852)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$1MKey Investors
Technology Venture Investors
2022-12-09Post Ipo Equity
1986-03-13IPO
1981-09-01Series Unknown· $1M
Leadership Team
Satya Nadella
Chairman and CEO
Vukani Mngxati
Chief Executive Officer - Microsft South Africa
Recent News
2026-01-15
2026-01-14
Company data provided by crunchbase