Job Description

\xe2\x80\x9cMicrosoft Research India is looking for Research Software Development Engineers to work on our ML/AI, Systems and Societal Impact projects. Located in Bengaluru, Microsoft Research India is one of the most attractive places to pursue a research career in Computer Science and related disciplines. The lab has a vibrant research environment of the highest standard, and a welcoming social life of diverse and international culture. Besides full-time researchers and engineers, the lab hosts many postdoctoral researchers (with PhDs) and research fellows (with bachelor\'s or master\'s degrees) on fixed-term appointments, who add significantly to the lab\xe2\x80\x99s vibrancy.\xe2\x80\x9d

Vector search (or nearest neighbor search) is foundational component for semantic search and retrieval-augmentation in copilots and other generative AI. DiskANN is a research project in Microsoft Research India that develops state-of-the-art vector search algorithms and databases. As part of the DiskANN project, you would be defining the future of vector databases for Microsoft and the broader research community.

The DiskANN project developed the first high performance disk-based vector search, the first streaming graph indexing algorithms among other industry-leading ideas. The DiskANN library provides vector search at enormous scale for many Microsoft services such as Bing and co-pilots such as Bing Chat, with significant business impact. A sample of the work is at

You will be part of a hands-on interdisciplinary research team and build research systems with immediate and wide-reaching impact across Microsoft, and the industry. Some research goals include: * Building state-of-the-art vector databases spanning many price-performance characteristics.

• How can vector search better interact with retrieval and generative models?
• Developing and understanding fundamentally better vector search algorithms.

Responsibilities:

• Conduct research in areas related to the project such as Algorithm, Databases, and Machine Learning.
• Research and develop an understanding of the state-of-the-art techniques and systems. Advance a research agenda yielding new algorithms, prototypes, theories, or tools.
• Identify and articulate problems that are academically novel and impact business opportunities.
• Collaborate with relevant product and business groups inside or outside of Microsoft as a world expert and provide expertise or technology to them.
• Collaborate with other relevant researchers or research groups to contribute to or advance a research agenda. Publish papers as lead author for high-quality conferences.
• Mentor interns and early-in-career researchers.

Qualifications:

Required

• Doctorate in Computer Science, Machine Learning, OR equivalent experience.

Additional or Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in related areas of research as demonstrated by publications or software.
• Hands on experience designing, developing, and deploying solutions at scale.
• Industry experience working on machine learning or systems software.
• Experience publishing academic papers as a lead author or essential contributor.
• Experience participating in a top conference in relevant research domain.

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 .

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