Organization Summary

The Office of the Chief Data Scientist (OCDS) leads Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab’s global efforts to advance impactful AI innovation. Our team drives the development and deployment of cutting-edge AI systems across Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab, AI Economy Institute and Microsoft’s Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs (CELA) division, including foundational model evaluation, AI agents, applied research, and next-generation AI infrastructure. We partner closely with teams across Microsoft.

We are looking for a visionary AI Architect with deep expertise in generative AI, AI agents, and advanced AI tooling to help shape and accelerate CELA’s AI strategy. This is a highly technical, hands-on, and strategically influential role.

Role Summary

The AI Architect will design, prototype, and guide the implementation of state-of-the-art generative AI and agentic systems across multiple domains. The ideal candidate brings extensive experience in LLMs, multi-agent systems, orchestration frameworks, retrieval-augmented generation, evaluation pipelines, and enterprise-grade AI deployment.

You will directly support the Chief Data Scientist in architecting scalable, secure, and responsible AI solutions that push the frontier of what AI can do for Microsoft and for society.

Architecture & Technical Leadership

• Architect end-to-end solutions using generative AI, LLMs, diffusion models, and multi-agent frameworks.
• Design reusable system patterns for autonomous and semi-autonomous AI agents, including planning, tools/function-calling, memory, and safety controls.
• Lead technical design reviews and guide engineering and research teams on model selection, optimization, and deployment patterns.
• Develop strategies for integrating cutting-edge models (OpenAI, Microsoft, open-weights) within enterprise constraints.

AI Systems Development

• Build prototypes of agentic workflows, copilots, and automated decision systems.
• Create evaluation frameworks for reliability, safety, factuality, and performance of AI agents.
• Partner with engineering teams to productionize systems using technologies like Azure, Kubernetes, PromptFlow, AI Studio, and OSS stacks.
• Leverage state-of-the-art orchestration tools (Semantic Kernel, LangChain, AutoGen, Microsoft Agents, etc.).

Innovation & Research

• Identify emerging technologies, conduct rapid experimentation, and translate research advances into practical architectures.
• Collaborate with Microsoft Research, Azure AI, and external partners on frontier AI capabilities.
• Provide thought leadership on agent ecosystems, multi-agent collaboration, self-improving systems, and responsible AI guardrails.

Strategy & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with CELA on safety, compliance, privacy, legal workflows, and enterprise governance.
• Translate business and policy requirements into robust architectures and implementation paths.
• Mentor engineering and PM teams, raising the bar for AI excellence across the organization.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 12+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research) OR Master's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 9+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research) OR Doctorate in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 9+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research) OR equivalent experience.
• Deep, hands-on expertise with generative AI, including LLMs, VLMs, diffusion models, and multi-modal systems.
• Strong experience building AI agents and agentic frameworks (planning, tool-use, chain-of-thought, memory systems).
• Demonstrated ability to design and ship complex AI systems at scale.
• Proficiency with Python and modern AI tooling (PyTorch, Transformers, Azure AI, Kubernetes, Ray, PromptFlow, Semantic Kernel, etc.).
• Strong understanding of model evaluation, safety, alignment, RAG systems, and enterprise AI architecture.
• Experience partnering with cross-disciplinary stakeholders (engineering, legal, policy, design, research).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with open-weights models and fine-tuning frameworks (LoRA, DPO, MoE, quantization).
• Expertise in autonomous agent architectures, multi-agent simulations, and self-reflective systems.
• Prior work on high-risk, high-impact AI domains (legal AI, healthcare, finance, safety-critical systems).
• Publications, patents, or open-source contributions in generative AI.
• Strong product sense and ability to translate complex technical ideas into clear implementation plans.
• Experience in responsible AI, safety engineering, or governance systems.

Applied Sciences IC7 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $212,800 - $338,400 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 $236,000 - $370,800 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.