Research Intern - Office of Applied Research

Microsoft • Redmond, WA

5d • Onsite

About The Position

The Office of Applied Research at Microsoft seeks Research Interns to conduct state-of-the-art, impact-driven applied research that applies empirical techniques to real-world problems. The office brings together experts in frontier AI model development and human-centered AI to address enterprise AI challenges at scale, working closely with research and product partners to advance cutting-edge research aligned with Microsoft’s product interests.

The internship lasts 12 weeks. Interns are paired with mentors, collaborate with other interns and researchers, present findings, and contribute to the research community. Research internships are offered year-round and typically begin in the summer. Interns must be physically located at their manager’s Microsoft worksite for the duration of the internship.

Applicants must submit at least two reference letters, a cover letter, and relevant work or research samples. The base pay range is USD $6,810–$13,480 per month, with a range of USD $8,920–$14,610 per month for specific work locations in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City metropolitan area. Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Applications and offers are processed on an ongoing basis during the academic calendar, September through April. The position will be open for at least five days and applications are accepted until it is filled.

Requirements

• Currently enrolled in a doctorate degree program in Computer Science, Information Science, Statistics, Information Systems, Economics, Operations Research, or a related STEM field.
• Physically located at the manager’s Microsoft worksite for the duration of the internship.
• Submit a minimum of two reference letters, a cover letter, and relevant work or research samples.

Nice To Haves

• At least one year of experience conducting research and writing peer-reviewed publications.
• Ability to think unconventionally and derive creative, innovative solutions.
• Actively conducting research in at least one relevant area, including collaborative or multi-party AI agents; mid- and post-training for LLMs or agents; learning from user interaction or feedback; synthetic data generation for LLM evaluation and fine-tuning; understanding, verifying, or evaluating LLM outputs; differential privacy for LLMs and data; continual learning or test-time training; agent memory, goal management, or inter-agent conversations; multi-agent simulations; or forward deployment for enterprise AI.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with a mentor and others at Microsoft on research projects.
• Demonstrated interpersonal and communication skills, including cross-group and cross-culture collaboration skills.
• Experience in fields such as Generative AI, large language models, natural language processing, reinforcement learning, learning from human feedback, or human-centered AI.

Responsibilities

• Conduct state-of-the-art applied research on real-world problems.
• Collaborate with a mentor, other Research Interns, researchers, and Microsoft research and product partners.
• Present research findings and contribute to the research community.
• Contribute to research and development in areas such as AI, enterprise AI, and human-centered AI.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Intern
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree