Senior Machine Learning Research Engineer - Research Engineering - MSR Cambridge

Microsoft
Redmond, United States of America
6 days ago

Role details

Contract type
Permanent contract
Employment type
Full-time (> 32 hours)
Working hours
Regular working hours
Languages
English
Experience level
Senior
Compensation
£ 123K

Job location

Cambridge, United Kingdom

Tech stack

Artificial Intelligence
Data analysis
Software Debugging
Python
Machine Learning
Performance Tuning
Software Engineering
Data Processing
PyTorch
Software Security
Model Validation
Information Technology
Codebase
Machine Learning Operations
Front End Software Development
Data Pipelines

Job description

We're seeking a hands-on ML Research Engineer to accelerate our Machine Intelligence research area. You work confidently across training, fine-tuning, inference and evaluation, at single- and multi-GPU scale, with strong data-pipeline, debugging and data-analysis skills. Working closely with researchers, you'll design, implement and validate proof-of-concept solutions to Machine Intelligence problems, then partner with product teams to land that research in shipping products used by millions of people world-wide.

This role is within the Research Engineering team at MSR Cambridge . Our team has broad experience spanning front-end, systems, networking and ML engineering at datacenter scale. We work across all the research areas in MSR Cambridge, deeply embedded in research projects.

Responsibilities

  • Combine strengths in ML research and software engineering competence to contribute to the design and prioritisation of research activities.
  • Build prototypes of ML systems to demonstrate research value, in some cases bringing these prototypes all the way to product-level readiness. You like getting things done.
  • Evaluate research prototypes, and help write up results to communicate outcomes clearly.
  • Collaborate with researchers and product teams, helping smooth technology transfer between them.
  • Reinforce a positive environment by applying best practices and high-quality engineering standards.
  • Gain deep expertise in one (or more) subareas of research, and general understanding of a broad area. Understand the relevant literature and applicable research techniques.
  • Contribute to academic publication of research outcomes.
  • Proactively ensure high standard of software security over research prototypes and library supply chains.
  • Understand and follow ethics and privacy policies relating to research processes and data handling, as appropriate.

Requirements

Required

  • Master degree in Computer science or related area, or equivalent training and experience in research.
  • Experience with modern ML model architectures in PyTorch.
  • Proficient in collaborative software development in Python.
  • Skills in data analysis and model evaluation.
  • Experience of performance tuning in ML systems.
  • Experience communicating in English, both written and spoken, including the skill to communicate technical results and justify assumptions to diverse technical audiences.
  • Willingness and flexibility to operate in a highly agile and dynamic environment.

Preferred

  • Doctorate (PhD) in Computer Science or related area, or equivalent training and experience in research.
  • Demonstrated ability to work in large codebases.
  • Proficient in lower-level engineering skills (eg C/C++/Rust) or equivalent systems languages.
  • Experience of cluster-based distributed data processing techniques.

Research Sciences IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across United Kingdom is £ 74,700.00 - £ 122,600.00 per year. Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation.

About the company

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.

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