Principal Researcher

About This Role

This Principal Researcher role drives applied research and innovation in Agentic systems within the M365 Research group at Microsoft, focusing on developing robust and scalable systems for enterprise use. The position involves defining long-term research vision, translating foundational advances into product impact, and leading efforts in next-generation AI agent architectures. The ideal candidate will combine deep technical expertise with the ability to set technical directions and drive execution across multiple time horizons.

Responsibilities

• Define and own long-term research and incubation agenda for Agentic Systems
• Drive research for agentic systems for high-impact enterprise use cases such as enterprise productivity and coding agents
• Incubate next-generation agent architectures, including multi-step reasoning, planning, reflection, multi-agent collaboration, and self-improving systems
• Partner closely with product, engineering, and Microsoft leadership to translate research into real-world impact
• Publish in top-tier conferences and journals and contribute to the broader research community through open-source contributions and thought leadership

Requirements

• Doctorate in relevant field AND 6+ years related research experience OR Master's Degree in relevant field AND 7+ years related research experience OR Bachelor's Degree in relevant field AND 9+ years related research experience OR equivalent experience
• Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements, including passing the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter

Nice to have:

• Doctorate in relevant field AND 8+ years related research experience OR Master's Degree in relevant field AND 12+ years related research experience OR Bachelor's Degree in relevant field AND 15+ years related research experience OR equivalent experience
• Experience publishing academic papers as a lead author or essential contributor
• Experience participating in a top conference in relevant research domain
• Experience designing and building end-to-end AI systems or production-grade systems that scale to real-world usage
• Background in AI robustness, safety, evaluation, or long-horizon learning
• History of cross-disciplinary collaboration across research, product, and engineering
• Active participation in the research community through publications, workshops, or collaborations with academic or industry partners

Important Details

• Application process: This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled

About the Company

Microsoft's M365 Research group drives applied research and innovation in intelligent Agentic systems. The company's mission is to empower every person and organization to achieve more, fostering a culture of inclusion based on values of respect, integrity, and accountability.