As an Applied Science PhD Intern at Microsoft, you will be at the forefront of technological innovation, working collaboratively to bring research to life in our products and services. You'll gain expertise in cutting-edge research areas, apply advanced concepts to real-world needs, and use state-of-the-art tools to make a tangible impact on product quality and business outcomes. You'll contribute to the creation of intelligent solutions through data analysis, modeling, and machine learning, ensuring our products remain at the leading edge of innovation.

At Microsoft, Interns work on real-world projects in collaboration with teams across the world, while having fun along the way. You’ll be empowered to build community, explore your passions and achieve your goals. This is your chance to bring your solutions and ideas to life while working on cutting-edge technology.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and evaluate machine learning and AI solutions for real-world product scenarios.
• Analyse and improve the performance of advanced algorithms on large-scale datasets.
• Translate business and product challenges into machine learning research problems and experimental frameworks.
• Design and execute rigorous experiments to evaluate model effectiveness and drive continuous improvement.
• Develop, train, fine-tune, and evaluate machine learning models, including Large Language Models (LLMs) and Small Language Models (SLMs).
• Build scalable prototypes and AI-powered systems that can be deployed in production environments.
• Prepare, clean, and analyse large datasets while ensuring data quality and integrity.
• Develop innovative approaches to model evaluation, benchmarking, and performance optimization.
• Collaborate with researchers, engineers, and product teams to bring research breakthroughs into Microsoft products and services.
• Document research findings, communicate results, and contribute to technical reports, publications, patents, or open-source initiatives.

Stay informed of current industry trends and emerging research in AI, Machine Learning, and Generative AI.

Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a PhD degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Statistics, Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Econometrics, or a related technical field.
• Must have at least one semester/quarter remaining following completion of the internship.
• Research experience in Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Natural Language Processing, Computer Vision, Generative AI, or related areas.
• Strong programming skills in Python and experience with machine learning frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, or equivalent.
• Experience designing experiments, analysing results, and applying statistical methods to solve research problems.
• Demonstrated ability to formulate hypotheses, conduct independent research, and communicate technical findings effectively.

Experience working with large datasets and building end-to-end machine learning pipelines

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.