Principal Data Scientist

Microsoft • Redmond, WA

14h

About The Position

Microsoft is on a mission to reinvent productivity with AI, and the Time + Places (T+P) organization plays a central role in shaping how millions of people plan their days, manage their time, and stay organized across Outlook, Teams, and Copilot. We are looking for a Senior / Principal Data Scientist to drive deep analytical insights, experimentation strategy, metric development, and data-informed product decisions that accelerate our roadmap for Calendar AI and meeting productivity.
As a Principal Data Scientist in T+P, you will apply advanced analytical, statistical, and machine learning techniques to understand user behavior, identify high-impact product opportunities, and measure the value of AI-driven features. You will partner closely with product managers, engineers, design, and applied scientists to build an intelligence layer that guides decision-making across the org.
You will work on high-visibility areas such as meeting prep, time protection, scheduling efficiency, cross-product signals (Teams, Outlook, Places), and Copilot evaluation. Your insights will shape product strategy for experiences used by hundreds of millions of customers worldwide.
If you thrive at the intersection of analytics, research, product thinking, and AI innovation—and enjoy solving ambiguous, high-impact problems—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.

Requirements

• Doctorate in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 5+ years data-science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results)
• OR Master's Degree in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 7+ years data-science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results)
• OR Bachelor's Degree in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 10+ years data science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results) OR equivalent experience.
• Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role.
• Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

Nice To Haves

• Doctorate in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 8+ years data-science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results)
• OR Master's Degree in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 10+ years data-science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results)
• OR Bachelor's Degree in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 12+ years data-science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results)
• OR equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Drive data-informed product strategy by conducting opportunity sizing, behavior analysis, causal inference, and segmentation to identify the highest-value areas for Calendar AI and T+P features.
• Define and evolve core product metrics that measure scheduling efficiency, meeting quality, time management behaviors, meeting prep culture, and Copilot impact.
• Build scalable analytical pipelines and dashboards that provide real-time insights for engineering and product partners.
• Design and analyze experiments (A/B tests) to measure product changes, AI feature effectiveness, and end-to-end user outcomes.
• Develop predictive models (e.g., meeting importance scoring, room/space demand forecasting, user workflow prediction) to improve personalization and relevance.
• Partner with applied scientists to shape post-training data strategy, evaluation frameworks, and model success metrics.
• Lead cross-functional discussions to translate complex analytical findings into actionable product recommendations.
• Establish best practices for data quality, cohort construction, metric governance, and experiment readiness across T+P.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees