Applied Scientist / Applied Scientistess

Overview

The Spatial AI Lab, part of the Applied Sciences Group at Microsoft, is at the forefront of research and development focused on next-generation human-computer interaction technologies. Our team harnesses cutting-edge AI advancements and explores innovative hardware capabilities and device form factors. With deep expertise in computer vision and multi-modal AI, particularly in spatial and embodied AI, we are driven to elevate user experiences.

We are currently seeking a Scientist - Multimodal Foundation Models & Robotics to join our expanding team. In this role, you will engage in pioneering research that lies at the intersection of large-scale generative modeling and embodied AI, particularly within the realm of robotics. Your primary responsibility will involve developing the core intelligence for a new generation of agents, training multimodal foundation models to enable them to perceive complex environments, reason through tasks, and act seamlessly across both physical and digital landscapes. This position provides an excellent opportunity to enhance your expertise in training embodied foundation models, deploying algorithms on robotic hardware, and contributing to influential research through collaborations with esteemed partners such as ETH Zurich.

At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every individual and organization to achieve more. We believe in fostering a growth mindset, innovating to empower others, and collaborating to achieve our shared goals. We are committed to our core values of respect, integrity, and accountability, creating a culture of inclusion where every employee can thrive both at work and in their personal lives.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement novel foundation models and algorithms for general-purpose embodied agents.
• Implement high-performance machine-learning pipelines while optimizing data and learning stacks for scalability, efficiency, and performance.
• Optimize and deploy AI models on robotic hardware.
• Collaborate across Microsoft research and engineering teams to translate cutting-edge research into real-world impact.
• Drive the team’s rapid progress, with success measured by both the advancement of internal capabilities and impactful contributions to the scientific community.
• Engage in collaborations with top academic partners, like ETH Zurich, to advance groundbreaking research at scale, with opportunities to co-author works in leading venues, present at workshops, and mentor students.

Qualifications

Preferred Qualifications:

• A PhD in Robotics, Machine Learning, or a related field, or at least 3 years of relevant industry experience.
• Demonstrated coding, debugging, and engineering skills in programming languages such as Python or C++.
• Hands-on experience with modern deep learning frameworks (e.g., Pytorch, TensorFlow, JAX).
• A self-motivated team player, problem solver, and eager learner.
• Ability to effectively present complex technical concepts to a diverse audience.

Other Requirements:

• Ability to meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements, which include, but are not limited to, specialized security screenings.
• Successful candidates will undergo the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire and every two years thereafter.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with foundation models, having hands-on training experience in areas such as LLMs, large vision-language models (VLMs), video generative models, diffusion algorithms, or action-based transformers and Vision Language Action models (VLAs).
• Expertise in large-scale machine learning systems.
• Hands-on training experience in robot learning techniques, including reinforcement learning, imitation learning, and classical control methods.
• Solid understanding of robot kinematics, dynamics, and sensors.
• Familiarity with control algorithms such as PID, model predictive control (MPC), and whole-body control.
• A track record of impact through first-author research publications at leading machine learning or robotics conferences (e.g., CoRL, RSS, NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR) or contributions to successful industry initiatives.

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, and applications will be 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 or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, please reach out for further guidance.

Apply online using the form below. Only applications matching the job profile will be considered.