Research Intern - AI Agents - Microsoft Research AI Frontiers

Overview

Research Internships at Microsoft provide a dynamic environment for research careers with a network of world-class research labs led by globally-recognized scientists and engineers, who pursue innovation in a range of scientific and technical disciplines to help solve complex challenges in diverse fields, including computing, healthcare, economics, and the environment.

At Microsoft Research AI Frontiers, we pursue ambitious research to advance AI in areas such as modeling, algorithms, agents, and agentic systems. We foster a vibrant environment for multidisciplinary work with an open publication policy, close ties to leading academic institutions, and a commitment to impact beyond research. We regularly release open-source models, libraries, and tools to accelerate community progress, while also working within Microsoft's ecosystem to ship AI technologies across multiple products, ensuring our innovations create real-world value for people.

Our lab is seeking Research Interns to advance the state-of-the-art in agentic systems and ecosystems. Relevant projects from our lab include agentic systems (e.g., Magentic-UI, Magentic-One), ecosystems (e.g., Magentic Marketplace), frameworks (e.g., AutoGen), models (e.g., Phi, Orca) and tools (e.g., AgentInstruct, AutoGen Studio).

Focus areas of this Research Internship include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Agentic Systems. Building state-of-the-art agentic systems, applications, and environments.
• Agent Ecosystems. Building agent-native ecosystems (e.g., frontier firms, agentic markets) where agents can effectively collaborate alongside people and other agents.
• Advanced Agentic Capabilities. Post-training models for advanced agentic capabilities, including reinforcement learning, fine-tuning, self-play, and synthetic data generation.
• Human-Agent Interaction. Creating novel human-agent interaction techniques and experiences.
• Evaluation & Tooling. Developing evaluation benchmarks, methods, and tooling for agentic capabilities.
• Responsible AI. Ensuring agents operate safely and responsibly while delivering real value to people.

Responsibilities

Research Interns put inquiry and theory into practice. Alongside fellow doctoral candidates and some of the world's best researchers, Research Interns learn, collaborate, and network for life. Research Interns not only advance their own careers, but they also contribute to exciting research and development strides. During the 12-week internship, Research Interns are paired with mentors and expected to collaborate with other Research Interns and researchers, present findings, and contribute to the vibrant life of the community. Research internships are available in all areas of research, and are offered year-round, though they typically begin in the summer.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Accepted or currently enrolled in a PhD program in Computer Science or related STEM field.

Other Requirements

• Research Interns are expected to be physically located in their manager's Microsoft worksite location for the duration of their internship.
• In addition to the qualifications below, you'll need to submit a minimum of two reference letters for this position as well as a cover letter and any relevant work or research samples. After you submit your application, a request for letters may be sent to your list of references on your behalf. Note that reference letters cannot be requested until after you have submitted your application, and furthermore, that they might not be automatically requested for all candidates. You may wish to alert your letter writers in advance, so they will be ready to submit your letter.

Preferred Qualifications

• Publication record as a lead author or essential contributor at top venues such as: NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, UIST, CHI, ACL, EMNLP, AAAI, ICAPS.
• Hands-on experience working with large frontier and open source models (e.g., from major providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, Alibaba) and state-of-the-art AI and Machine Learning (ML) frameworks and toolkits (e.g., Pytorch, Tensorflow, Langchain, AutoGen, Microsoft Agent Framework).
• Demonstrated software engineering experience building and deploying prototypes, applications, or open-source technologies. Providing a link to GitHub profile (if available) and/or code samples, is encouraged.
• Hands-on experience evaluating AI models or systems (e.g., running benchmark experiments or user studies, analyzing data).
• Experience working in multi-disciplinary teams along with a team player mindset, characterized by effective communication, collaboration, and feedback skills.

The base pay range for this internship is USD $6,710 - $13,270 per month. 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 $8,760 - $14,360 per month.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: ;br>
Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

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.