Senior Researcher, Azure Research Systems
Microsoft
Job Overview
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Job Description
About Azure Research Systems
Azure Research – Systems (AzRS) is a research group within Azure dedicated to advancing the limits of software systems for cloud platforms. The group's primary focus is on improving the efficiency of cloud infrastructure across the full hardware and software stack. The team collaborates closely with Azure production teams to deploy research with significant real-world impact and partners with academic and industry leaders to advance the state of the art. AzRS actively engages with the broader research community through publications in leading Computer Science venues, blog posts, open-source contributions, patents, and conference participation, fostering a collaborative, supportive, inclusive, and respectful environment for tackling complex computing challenges.
The Opportunity: Senior Researcher, Azure Research Systems
The team is seeking a Senior Researcher to enhance the efficiency of artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud infrastructure across multiple layers of the stack. This includes AI system software, innovative hardware, datacenter infrastructure, and its interaction with power grids, for both inference and training. This critical work involves algorithmic, systems, and architecture techniques to boost performance, power efficiency, and energy efficiency across the infrastructure supporting current AI advancements.
In this role, you will collaborate with researchers, engineers, industry partners, and workload owners to drive an ambitious research agenda. This agenda aims to advance the state of the art and directly influence Microsoft's production systems. You will have unique opportunities to mentor new team members and research interns, propose and publish cutting-edge research in computer systems, and gain deep insight into the inner workings of a hyperscale cloud. This position offers substantial growth, learning, and visibility, making it ideal for individuals who thrive in innovative, fast-paced environments.
Responsibilities of a Senior Researcher
- Advance a research agenda through one or more projects, focusing on state-of-the-art advancements and production impact. This research will lead to new algorithms, prototypes, and insights.
- Collaborate with group members and relevant product or business groups to translate research results and prototypes into production impact.
- Publish and contribute to top scientific conferences and journals.
- Establish collaborative relationships with relevant product and business groups inside or outside Microsoft, providing expertise and technology.
- Mentor team members in processes, scenarios, research projects, and career development.
Required Qualifications
- Doctorate in a relevant field OR Master's Degree in a relevant field AND 3+ years related research experience OR Bachelor's Degree in a relevant field AND 4+ years related research experience.
- 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
- Doctorate in a relevant field AND 3+ years related research experience OR Master's Degree in a relevant field AND 6+ years related research experience OR Bachelor's Degree in a relevant field AND 8+ years related research experience OR equivalent experience.
- Experience publishing academic papers as a lead author or essential contributor.
- Experience participating in a top conference in a relevant research domain.
- 2+ years of experience in research program demonstrated by one or more publications in top conferences/journals (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ISCA, MICRO, ASPLOS, HPCA, SOSP, OSDI, NSDI, etc.).
- Experience optimizing AI infrastructure across system software, hardware, and datacenter environments for large-scale training and inference.
- Research background in power-efficient AI systems, including hardware-software co-design and datacenter power integration.
Key skills/competency
- AI Systems
- Cloud Infrastructure
- Distributed Systems
- Hardware-Software Co-design
- Datacenter Efficiency
- Algorithmic Optimization
- Performance Engineering
- Power Efficiency
- Research Publication
- Collaboration
How to Get Hired at Microsoft
- Research Microsoft's culture: Study their mission, values, recent news, and employee testimonials on LinkedIn and Glassdoor to understand the growth mindset and collaborative environment.
- Customize your resume: Tailor your resume to highlight experience in AI systems, cloud infrastructure optimization, research publications, and hardware-software co-design, directly addressing the requirements for a Senior Researcher role at Microsoft.
- Showcase publication impact: Emphasize your lead authorship or essential contributions to academic papers published in top-tier conferences like NeurIPS, ISCA, or OSDI, demonstrating your expertise and research acumen.
- Prepare for technical deep-dives: Be ready to discuss your knowledge of systems architecture, AI efficiency, distributed computing, and power-efficient designs, as these are core to Azure Research Systems.
- Demonstrate collaborative spirit: Provide examples of successful collaboration with engineers, product teams, and industry partners, showcasing your ability to translate research into impactful production solutions within Microsoft.
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