"Alerted.org

Overview

Microsoft is on a mission to reinvent productivity with AI, and the Copilot for Calendar initiative is at the forefront of this effort. We are seeking a **Senior Applied Scientist** to lead the development of AI-powered calendar experiences that help users organize and manage time more effectively. In this role, you will:

+ Keep abreast of the latest breakthroughs in generative AI and large-language models and translate them into practical, high-impact calendar Copilot solutions that leverage M365 graph to deliver personalized, context-aware solutions for time management.

+ Define and iterate on relevance metrics that measure how Copilot features truly serve user intent in M365 Calendar.

+ Determine where fine-tuned LLMs (large language models), small language models, or other specialized approaches are required—and own their design, training, and deployment.

+ Build high-fidelity synthetic and manufactured datasets, along with rigorous evaluation sets and benchmarks that mirror the workflows of enterprise information-workers.

+ Drive the applied-science strategy for industry-leading calendar agents, partnering closely with engineering and product teams to ship at scale.

+ Build a clear, inspiring vision that aligns every team member around ambitious, measurable goals.

+ Recruit and nurture diverse talent, fostering a culture of ownership, psychological safety, and relentless learning.

+ Empower the team with resources and trust, then remove obstacles so they can execute rapidly and deliver outsized, sustainable impact.

You will drive innovation in Copilot solutions for the calendar ecosystem and build intelligent AI forward calendar features (e.g. smart scheduling and conflict resolution, meeting prep, protecting and reclaiming your time, planning your day / week etc.). If you thrive at the intersection of cutting-edge AI research, real-world product impact across 100s of millions of users and love building a hard-working team that chases impact while having fun along the way, we’d love to meet you.

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

+ Innovation with LLMs: Stay at the cutting edge of NLP (natural language processing) and large language models. Apply techniques such as prompt engineering, fine-tuning, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to enhance Copilot’s capabilities. You will explore new model architectures and external knowledge integration to push the boundaries of what Copilot can do in the calendar domain.

+ Lead AI Feature Development: Lead the design and development of advanced ML/NLP models to power Copilot features in Outlook Calendar and Microsoft Teams. Leverage large language models and diverse data (emails, meetings, documents, chat transcripts etc) to create intelligent solutions for time management.

+ Modeling & Personalization: Architect and refine machine learning models (supervised and unsupervised) that optimize the relevance and personalization of calendar features.

+ Experimentation & Evaluation: Continuously iterate on models using real user feedback and telemetry, ensuring each new version of the Copilot delivers higher precision, recall and better user satisfaction.

+ Product Integration: Work closely with engineering and product teams to integrate your AI models into Calendar. Ensure solutions are production-ready – meeting standards for scalability, security, compliance, and real-time performance in a cloud environment. You will translate broad product needs into robust AI services that operate reliably at Microsoft scale (millions of users).

+ Technical Leadership & Mentorship: Provide technical leadership within the team and across partner groups. Mentor applied scientists and machine learning engineers, fostering best practices in research, experimentation, and coding. Guide technical initiatives and ensure scientific rigor in how the team builds and evaluates AI solutions. Champion a culture of collaboration, learning, and rapid innovation to continuously improve our AI-powered productivity features.

+ Team Building: Set a bold, customer-centric mission that galvanizes the team and clarifies priorities. Assemble complementary skill sets, cultivate candid collaboration, celebrate innovation, clear roadblocks, amplify wins, and hold a high bar for accountability—turning collective momentum into outsized, repeatable results.

+ Provide expertise in building and scaling relevance and ranking systems, including experience with retrieval, embeddings, and evaluation methodologies tailored to LLM-powered applications.

+ Demonstrate leadership in developing AI/ML solutions for productivity or assistant-like experiences, with a strong track record of managing cross-functional collaborations and driving measurable impact through data-driven product iteration.

Embody our culture and values.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

+ Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 4+ years related experience (e.g., statistics predictive analytics, research)

+ OR Master's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 3+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)

+ OR Doctorate in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 1+ year(s) related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)

+ 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:

+ **Microsoft Cloud Background Check:** This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

Preferred Qualifications:

+ Master's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 6+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)

+ OR Doctorate in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 3+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)

+ OR equivalent experience.

+ 1+ year(s) experience creating publications (e.g., patents, peer-reviewed academic papers).

+ Experience developing and deploying large language models (LLMs), including agentic systems, supervised fine-tuning, and Reinforcement Learning (RLHF).

+ Experience designing, implementing, and optimizing Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines and advanced context engineering.

+ Experience with modern LLM evaluation techniques, including LLM-as-a-Judge, agentic evaluations, and RAG assessments.

+ Experience with MLOps practices, including model versioning, automated testing, monitoring, and CI/CD for machine learning.

+ Experience with a top-tier scientific venues (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, EMNLP, KDD).

+ Ability to translate complex ML concepts into business value and communicate technical insights to non-technical stakeholders.

\#AppliedScience #T+P #GXP

Applied Sciences IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 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 $158,400 - $258,000 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:

https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

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. (https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/accessibility.html)