Overview
Start Date: July 2026
Contract Type: Full-Time (40hrs/week)
Location: London or Cambridge, United Kingdom
Come build community, explore your passions and do your best work at Microsoft. This opportunity will allow you to bring your aspirations, talent, potential and excitement for the journey ahead.
The Microsoft Search, Assistant, and Intelligence (MSAI) team leads the development of cutting-edge AI solutions for Microsoft 365 Copilot, bringing natural language understanding and intelligent search capabilities to the productivity tools used by millions every day.
As an Applied Sciences Specialist, you will be at the forefront of technological innovation, working collaboratively to bring research to life in our products and services. You will contribute directly to the evolution of Microsoft 365 Copilot, working on advanced search and recommendation systems powered by large language models (LLMs). You’ll be part of a team that transforms how users interact with information, helping them work smarter and faster. This is a flexible work opportunity where you will be expected to work at least 50% from our London Paddington or Cambridge office.
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.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications
1. A Master’s Degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning or a related fieldOR a Bachelor's Degree in a related field with equivalent experience
2. Excellent problem solving and data analysis skills, with expertise in developing or applying predictive analytics, statistical modelling, data mining, or machine learning algorithms, especially at scale.
3. Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to simplify and explain complex ideas.
4. Fluency in English.
Preferred Qualifications
5. Demonstrated interest in research or applied AI (e.g., academic projects, open-source contributions).
Responsibilities
6. Advance the science: Design and run experiments, define and validate metrics, and develop ML pipelines and models in areas like reinforcement learning, reasoning and Chain-of-Thought (CoT) optimization, and LLMs—all while upholding best practices in Responsible AI and Privacy-Preserving ML.
7. Drive product innovation: Partner with Engineering, PM, and Design to translate product vision and industry trends into scalable, reliable, and agile architecture.
8. Collaborate across Microsoft: Work closely with Microsoft Research, Azure, AI platform teams, and product groups to bring cutting-edge AI into real-world applications.
9. Champion customer impact: Engage with customers and internal teams to deeply understand pain points and drive improvements that matter.
10. Lead and mentor: Provide technical leadership to junior scientists and engineers, and scale your learnings across the broader product group.
11. Define success: Establish and evolve success metrics that reflect platform and product growth.
12. Stay ahead: Keep up with the latest research and foster a thriving applied science culture. Publishing is encouraged, though not required.
Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.Industry leading healthcareEducational resourcesDiscounts on products and servicesSavings and investmentsMaternity and paternity leaveGenerous time awayGiving programsOpportunities to network and connect