Research Internships at Microsoft provide a dynamic environment for research careers with a network of world-class research labs led by globally-recognized scientists and engineers, who pursue innovation in a range of scientific and technical disciplines to help solve complex challenges in diverse fields, including computing, healthcare, economics, and the environment.

Research Internships at Microsoft Research provides some of the most rewarding world class experiences in the world. The newly formed AI Frontiers group at Microsoft Research has embarked on ambitious research objectives spanning over an array of AI capabilities looking forward into the future. One of these capabilities is robust reasoning over long context for Large Language Models (LLMs).

This Research Internship position is a unique and rare opportunity to contribute towards hard problems in AI research that spans over multiple areas that may include generating and utilizing synthetic data, CoTs, post-training, reinforcement learning, long-context and techniques for fast inference. You will collaborate with scientists and engineers to advance the art of fast and slow thinking for real-time long-form generation.

If your research interest intersects any of these areas, please apply today and join us in this amazing journey!

This position is on-site only at Microsoft Research, Redmond, WA. Internship start dates will be between April 1-June 30 2025.

Responsibilities

Research Interns put inquiry and theory into practice. Alongside fellow doctoral candidates and some of the world’s best researchers, Research Interns learn, collaborate, and network for life. Research Interns not only advance their own careers, but they also contribute to exciting research and development strides. During the 12-week internship, Research Interns are paired with mentors and expected to collaborate with other Research Interns and researchers, present findings, and contribute to the vibrant life of the community. Research internships are available in all areas of research, and are offered year-round, though they typically begin in the summer.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Currently enrolled in a PhD program in Computer Science or a related STEM field.

Other Requirements

• Research Interns are expected to be physically located in their manager’s Microsoft worksite location for the duration of their internship.
• In addition to the qualifications below, you’ll need to submit a minimum of two reference letters for this position as well as a cover letter and any relevant work or research samples. After you submit your application, a request for letters may be sent to your list of references on your behalf. Note that reference letters cannot be requested until after you have submitted your application, and furthermore, that they might not be automatically requested for all candidates. You may wish to alert your letter writers in advance, so they will be ready to submit your letter. 

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior research experience in LLM pre-training, post-training, reinforcement learning, CoTs, long context or reasoning.
• Hands-on experience working with large foundation models and state-of-the-art AI/ML frameworks such as Pytorch, JAX or TensorFlow.
• Experience building and deploying prototypes, applications, or open-source code bases (include a link to GitHub profile if available).

The base pay range for this internship is USD $6,550 - $12,880 per month. 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 $8,480 - $13,920 per month.

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

Microsoft accepts applications and processes offers for these roles on an ongoing basis.

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.  We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. 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.