Principal ML Engineer, CoreAI

Overview

You'll help build core generative AI and multimodal capabilities that power customer-facing AI services at global scale. In this role, you'll combine strong software engineering with applied ML expertise to design, ship, and operate production systems-using techniques like context engineering, synthetic data generation, and rigorous evaluation/metrics to continuously improve quality. You'll partner closely across product, research, and service engineering to deliver secure, performant improvements for enterprise customers.

This position is in-office, with a minimum of 3 days/week in office.

Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, and we're dedicated to this mission across every aspect of our company. Our culture is centered on embracing a growth mindset and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. Join us and help shape the future of the world.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate production-grade generative AI and multimodal systems, with end-to-end ownership from concept through deployment and service operations.

• Lead technical design for core GenAI capabilities (e.g., retrieval-augmented generation, context and memory, orchestration) and make data-driven tradeoffs across quality, latency, cost, and safety.

• Define and improve model and system quality using evaluation frameworks, experiment design, and production telemetry; ensure robust testing and regression coverage.

• Collaborate with security, privacy, and compliance partners to build solutions that meet enterprise requirements and align with Responsible AI standards and practices.

• Provide technical leadership across teams by setting direction, reviewing designs, unblocking execution, and mentoring engineers on architecture, coding standards, and ML engineering best practices.

• Partner with product and customers to understand scenarios, translate requirements into well-designed APIs and developer experiences, and drive adoption through documentation and samples.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field and 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Python or equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or related field.

• Demonstrated technical leadership through influence (e.g., leading designs, setting architecture direction, mentoring engineers).
• Experience with prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and memory/agent frameworks.

• Experience building and shipping generative AI systems (including multimodal scenarios).
• Familiarity with compliance and security standards in enterprise AI solutions.

• Track record of delivering enterprise-facing AI products at scale.
• Experience building and operating ML/AI systems in cloud environments; familiarity with MLOps practices (Azure a plus).
• Experience partnering with cross-functional stakeholders to define requirements and drive technical decisions.

Software Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $139,900 - $274,800 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 $188,000 - $304,200 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
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This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.