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# Principal Data Scientist Lead

- **Company:** Microsoft
- **Location:** North River, ND, United States
- **Experience:** Expert
- **Salary:** $130,900.0 - $277,200.0
- **Contract:** Permanent contract
- **Skills:** Artificial Intelligence, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Data Presentation, Python (Programming Language), Machine Learning, Microsoft Software, SQL Databases, Large Language Models, Agentic-AI, Matplotlib, Information Technology, Plotly
- **Published:** October 30, 2026
- **Apply:** https://www.careerbuilder.com/job-details/principal-data-scientist-lead-fargo-nd--08e1b28a-fb96-41e1-93f3-1e51be506414

## About the Role

Data Science, Customer Experience, Microsoft Product Family, Consulting, Artificial Intelligence (AI), CSS (Cascading Style Sheet), Problem Solving Skills, Customer Support/Service, Technical Support, Technical Leadership, Required/minimum qualifications

 * Bachelors Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology (IT), or related field AND 10+ years technical support, technical consulting experience, or information technology experience
 * OR equivalent experience.

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: Citizenship & Citizenship Verification: This position requires verification of U.S. citizenship due to citizenship-based legal restrictions. Specifically, this position supports United States federal, state, and/or local United States government agency customer and is subject to certain citizenship-based restrictions where required or permitted by applicable law. To meet this legal requirement, citizenship will be verified via a valid passport.

Additional or preferred qualifications

 * Bachelors Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND 15+ years of technical support, technical consulting experience, or information technology experience
 * OR equivalent experience.
 * Authority in causal inference - able to design novel identification strategies and adjudicate hard causal questions.
 * Deep statistical mastery - inference, uncertainty, experimental design, and modern statistical methods.
 * Expert ML skills - advanced modeling, validation, and production-grade deployment at scale.
 * Deep experience evaluating LLMs and/or AI agents - defining evaluation strategy, novel benchmarks, and measurement standards for model and agent quality, safety, and reliability.
 * Data storytelling - setting the bar for communicating insight through compelling data stories and enhanced visualizations in Python (e.g., matplotlib, seaborn, plotly) or other tools.
 * Demonstrated influence on company strategy through causal and statistical work.
 * Deep experience with causal ML tooling and large-scale experimentation platforms.
 * Expert proficiency in Python or R and SQL.

Technical Support Engineering IC6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $130,900 - $277,200 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 $165,600 - $303,600 per year.

## Description

In the Customer Service & Support (CSS) team we are looking for people with a passion for delivering customer success. As a Principal Technical Support Engineer, you will engage with executive level customers and development teams across Microsoft to enable resolution of highly complex technical issues and drive appropriate product changes. This opportunity will allow you to accelerate your career growth, hone your deep technical expertise and become a technical leader within Microsoft.

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

 * Vision & Standards: You set the long-term vision and standards for experimentation, causal inference, and machine learning across the organization.
 * High-Stakes Analysis: You drive the most complex, high-stakes analyses where correct causal identification is critical to strategic decisions.
 * Frameworks: You architect scalable modeling and experimentation frameworks adopted across teams.
 * Executive Advisory: You advise executives and cross-functional leaders on measurement strategy and interpretation of results.
 * Mentorship: You mentor senior data scientists and shape hiring and technical growth for the discipline.
 * Excellence: You champion methodological excellence, reproducibility, and compelling data storytelling.