Senior Machine Learning Engineer

Microsoft AI (MAI) is seeking a Senior Machine Learning Engineer to join the Growth Intelligence team and contribute to the evolution of Copilot, our personal AI assistant.

In this role, you will design and build models and ML pipelines for user and conversation understanding - helping Copilot better interpret user intent, extract meaning from conversations, and deliver more relevant, personalized experiences. You will work across the full model lifecycle, from data preparation and training to evaluation and production deployment.

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 and Deploy Models: Design, train, evaluate, and deploy machine learning models for natural language understanding tasks including intent detection, topic classification, conversation summarization, and user personas.
• Design ML Pipelines: Architect scalable, production-grade training and inference pipelines using Spark, Databricks, Azure ML and modern ML frameworks.
• NLP and Representation Learning: Develop and fine-tune transformer-based models and text encoders; build and maintain embedding pipelines and vector databases for semantic search and retrieval.
• Experimentation and Evaluation: Drive rigorous offline and online experimentation to measure model quality, iterate on architectures, and improve key product metrics.
• Collaborate Across Teams: Partner with data engineers, data scientists, and product teams to translate research insights into shipped features and align model outputs with product goals.
• Show Ownership Mindset: Proactively monitor model performance in production, diagnose regressions, and address scalability and reliability challenges before they become bottlenecks.
• Contribute Strategically: Identify opportunities to improve model architectures, training methodologies, and evaluation frameworks; mentor others on ML best practices.

• 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., * 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.

• Proven experience in NLP, including experience with modern transformer architectures for tasks such as classification, encoding, summarization, and semantic search
• Experience with text embedding models, vector databases, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) patterns
• Familiarity with distributed training, model optimization, and serving ML models at scale
• Experience with search ranking, relevance modeling, or information retrieval systems
• Proficiency in Python and ML frameworks such as PyTorch, Hugging Face Transformers, or similar
• Experience working with data platforms (e.g., Spark, Databricks, Azure ML) and building end-to-end ML pipelines from data ingestion through model deployment

Applied Sciences IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 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 $158,400 - $258,000 per year.

Microsoft is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. We develop, license, and support a wide range of software products, services, and devices that help individuals and businesses realize their full potential.

Our flagship products include the Microsoft 365 productivity cloud, Windows operating system, Azure cloud platform, and Dynamics 365 business applications. We are also a leader in areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, developer tools, and gaming through Xbox and Game Pass.

With operations in more than 190 countries and over 220,000 employees worldwide, Microsoft is committed to responsible innovation, inclusive economic growth, and sustainability. We work closely with governments, industries, and communities to ensure that technology serves the public good and helps address some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

As we celebrate our 50th anniversary in 2025, we continue to look forward—investing in AI, cloud, and quantum computing to shape the future of work, education, and society at large scale.