Principal Research Science Manager - CoreAI

We are seeking a Principal Research Science Manager to lead the Multimodal Intelligence (MMI) science team within Microsoft's CoreAI organization. This team is responsible for advancing the state of the art in AI-powered content understanding across Content Understanding (CU), Document Intelligence (DI), and emerging multimodal and memory-powered experiences. You will drive scientific innovation across documents, images, video, audio, and enterprise content, enabling customers to build intelligent automation, knowledge extraction, and agentic workflows at scale.

As a scientific leader, you will define and execute the research strategy behind Microsoft's next generation of content understanding technologies, ranging from information extraction and multimodal reasoning to custom models, semantic enrichment, and knowledge-centric AI systems. You will partner closely with engineering, product management, and platform teams to transform scientific advances into production services that power Azure AI and Microsoft-wide experiences.

This role offers a unique opportunity to lead a high-impact science organization operating at the intersection of traditional AI, foundation models, and enterprise-scale systems. You will shape long-term technical strategy, build and develop a world-class team of scientists, influence investment decisions across the organization, and help define how customers unlock value from their enterprise data in the era of Generative AI.

This position is in-office, with a minimum of 3 days/week in office.

Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, and we're dedicated to this mission across every aspect of our company. Our culture is centered on embracing a growth mindset and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. Join us and help shape the future of AI-powered knowledge and automation.

• #DocumentIntelligence
• #MultimodalAI
• #GenerativeAI
• #AzureAI

• Lead and Inspire: Lead and grow a team of 7 Research Scientists, fostering technical excellence, innovation, and a culture of collaboration, inclusion, and continuous learning.
• Content Understanding Innovation: Define and drive the scientific strategy for Content Understanding and Document Intelligence, advancing multimodal AI technologies that transform unstructured content into actionable, structured knowledge.
• Memory Technology Leadership: Lead research and development in agent memory systems, enabling more efficient, context-aware, and capable AI agents across Microsoft and Azure AI experiences.
• Cross-Functional Impact: Partner closely with research, engineering, product, and platform teams to align strategy, influence technical direction, and deliver differentiated AI capabilities at scale.
• Technical Vision and Execution: Drive the translation of scientific innovation into production services, balancing long-term research investments with customer and business impact.
• Strategic Innovation: Shape the roadmap for multimodal AI, knowledge extraction, and memory technologies, identifying emerging opportunities and positioning Microsoft at the forefront of AI-powered enterprise intelligence.

Required Qualifications:

• Doctorate in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, or a related technical field AND 6+ years related research experience OR Master's Degree in relevant field AND 7+ years related research experience OR Bachelor's Degree in relevant field AND 9+ 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

Preferred Qualifications:

• Demonstrated expertise in one or more of the following areas: large language models (LLMs), document intelligence, multimodal AI, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), agent memory systems, information extraction, or knowledge-centric AI.
• 8+ years of experience leading and growing high-performing research science teams.
• Proven track record of translating scientific innovation into production systems and measurable customer or business impact.
• Experience defining technical strategy and driving research investments across multiple time horizons, balancing near-term delivery with long-term innovation.
• Experience partnering effectively across research, engineering, product management, and platform organizations to deliver complex, cross-functional initiatives.
• Strong written, verbal, and executive communication skills, with the ability to influence technical and business leaders.
• Experience building and operating enterprise-scale AI products or services used by large external or internal customers.
• Experience developing AI systems for content understanding, information extraction, multimodal reasoning, knowledge management, or intelligent agents.
• Familiarity with responsible AI, security, privacy, and compliance requirements for enterprise AI solutions.
• Experience leading organizations through periods of rapid technological change and translating emerging AI advances into product strategy.
• Track record of attracting, mentoring, and developing senior scientific talent and future technical leaders.

Research Sciences M6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $165,600 - $296,400 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $220,800 - $331,200 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications 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 and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.