Head of Applied Science

We’re seeking a Head of Applied Science to lead the future of AI-powered video creation and consumption. In this hands-on leadership role, you’ll set strategic direction, grow and mentor a team of high-performing scientists and turn cutting-edge research into impactful product capabilities. You’ll bridge foundational model innovation with real-world development, automating editing, enabling new storytelling formats and delivering user-friendly, intelligent video tools.

You’ll work closely with other functions including data science, engineering, product management and design in a nimble, cross-disciplinary team to bring innovative video solutions to life. If you thrive at the intersection of deep research and practical application and are passionate about enabling anyone to create and share video, we’d love to hear from you.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more. As employees, we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others and collaborate to realise our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 8+ 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 6+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
  • OR Doctorate in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 5+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
  • OR equivalent experience.
• 3+ years of people management experience.
• 4+ years of experience designing, running, and evaluating experiments, leveraging user feedback and telemetry to improve system performance.
  
• Deep expertise with large language models (LLMs), including techniques such as prompt engineering, fine-tuning, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG).

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:

• Master'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 Doctorate in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering,
  • OR related field AND 8+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
  • OR equivalent experience.
• 7+ years of people management experience.
• 3+ years experience presenting at conferences or other events in the outside research/industry community as an invited speaker.
• Experience presenting as an invited speaker at conferences or other industry/research community events.
  
• 7+ years of research experience in academic or industry environments.
  
• 5+ years of experience developing and deploying live production systems within a product team.
  
• 7+ years of experience delivering products or systems across multiple phases of the product lifecycle, from concept through to launch.
  
• Solid understanding of modern machine learning techniques, including natural language processing, deep learning, and their application to real-world scenarios.
  
• Demonstrated success in applying LLMs and advanced NLP algorithms to production-scale problems.
  
• 8+ years of hands-on experience building and deploying machine learning or AI solutions in production environments, with a proven track record of taking projects from prototype to large-scale release.
  
• Solid programming skills in languages such as Python (and/or C++/Java) and proficiency with ML frameworks/tools such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.
  
• Advanced analytical skills for working with large-scale datasets and assessing model performance, including defining and tracking ML metrics (e.g., precision, recall), applying user feedback to improve models, and iteratively diagnosing model behaviour.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

• Stay at the forefront of AI, generative media, and large language model (LLM) research, applying techniques such as prompt engineering, fine-tuning, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to enhance Clipchamp’s video creation capabilities.
• Lead the design and development of advanced ML/NLP/CV models to power intelligent video editing, generation and personalisation.
• Architect and refine machine learning models (supervised and unsupervised) that optimise the relevance, quality and creativity of video outputs.
• Build and scale relevance and ranking systems tailored to video discovery and editing recommendations.
• Develop synthetic and real-world datasets for training and benchmarking AI models in video domains.
• Design rigorous evaluation methodologies that reflect real creator workflows and measure user-perceived quality.
• Continuously iterate using real user feedback, telemetry, and A/B testing to improve model precision, recall, and satisfaction.
• Partner closely with engineering and product teams to integrate AI models into Clipchamp’s editing, generation, and publishing workflows.
• Ensure models are production-ready, meeting standards for scalability, latency, security, compliance, and reliability in a cloud-based video platform.
• Translate creator needs into robust, AI-driven video features that operate seamlessly at Microsoft scale.
• Provide technical leadership across applied science initiatives, ensuring scientific rigour and innovative thinking.
• Mentor applied scientists and machine learning engineers, fostering best practices in research, coding, experimentation, and delivery.
• Recruit and nurture diverse talent, building a culture of creativity, collaboration, and high-impact innovation.
• Set a bold, creator-focused mission that unites the team around ambitious, measurable goals.