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Senior Systems Research Engineer - Research Engineering - MSR Cambridge
MicrosoftCambridge, England, United Kingdom
Not disclosed
Salary
Not disclosed by employer
£54,900
Going rate
Skilled Worker going rate
This role may qualify for a Skilled Worker visa
SOC 2133 is an eligible occupation, but we classified this role with low confidence (47% match). If the code is right — and Microsoft is a licensed sponsor — it should qualify, but double-check the occupation eligibility rules against the actual role.
About the role
Overview
We are seeking a Systems Research Engineer to accelerate our Future AI Infrastructure research area. You will bring key skills and experience in operating systems, performance, distributed systems, CPUs, GPUs, and machine learning. Good systems research happens when you build things to uncover hidden assumptions – your implementation skills are at the heart of this. You will collaborate closely with researchers to identify, design and implement proof of concept solutions to some of the hardest future problems of AI infrastructure. You will partner with product teams to help land our research in a meaningful way, accelerating delivery of our lab’s research into shipping products used by millions of people world-wide.
This role is within the Research Engineering team at MSR Cambridge. Our team has broad experience spanning front-end, systems, networking and ML engineering at datacentre scale. We work across all the research areas in MSR Cambridge, deeply embedded in research projects.
Responsibilities
We are seeking a Systems Research Engineer to accelerate our Future AI Infrastructure research area. You will bring key skills and experience in operating systems, performance, distributed systems, CPUs, GPUs, and machine learning. Good systems research happens when you build things to uncover hidden assumptions – your implementation skills are at the heart of this. You will collaborate closely with researchers to identify, design and implement proof of concept solutions to some of the hardest future problems of AI infrastructure. You will partner with product teams to help land our research in a meaningful way, accelerating delivery of our lab’s research into shipping products used by millions of people world-wide.
This role is within the Research Engineering team at MSR Cambridge. Our team has broad experience spanning front-end, systems, networking and ML engineering at datacentre scale. We work across all the research areas in MSR Cambridge, deeply embedded in research projects.
Responsibilities
- Combine strengths in computer systems research, and software engineering competence to contribute to the design and prioritisation of research activities.
- Build prototypes of future AI systems to demonstrate research value, in some cases bringing these prototypes all the way to product-level readiness. You like getting things done.
- Evaluate research prototypes and help write up results to communicate outcomes clearly.
- Collaborate with researchers and product teams, helping with smooth technology transfer between them.
- Reinforce a positive environment by applying best practices and high-quality engineering standards.
- Gain deep expertise in one (or more) subareas of research, and general understanding of a broad area. Understand the relevant literature and applicable research techniques.
- Contribute to academic publication of research outcomes.
Required
- Masters degree in Computer Science or related area, or equivalent training and experience in research.
- Proficient in collaborative software development in Python and lower-level languages.
- Experience with one or more of operating systems, performance analysis, distributed systems, CPU and GPU architecture, or machine learning systems.
- Experience of low-level systems and/or performance tuning trade-offs.
- Excellent communication skills in English, both written and spoken, including the skill to communicate technical results and justify assumptions to diverse technical audiences.
- Willingness and flexibility to operate in a highly agile and dynamic environment.
- Demonstrated ability to work within large codebases.
- Doctorate (PhD) in Computer Science or related area, or equivalent training and experience in research.
- Experience of cluster-based distributed data processing techniques
- Experience with the internals of machine learning systems.
- Demonstrated experience working within a multi-disciplinary team.
Find Additional Benefits And Pay Information Here
https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/corporate-pay/united-kingdom-corporate-pay.html
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.
This description is the source posting as it read when we added it. We are not affiliated with Microsoft, so check their own site for the current details.
Where this offer sits in the market
SOC 2133 · UK · ONS ASHE 2025 · ~163k in sampleP25 £46kP75 £82k
£36kmedian £60kgoing rate £55k£100k
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Does this job guarantee visa sponsorship?
Not necessarily. Microsoft holds a sponsor licence, but sponsorship for a specific hire is always the employer's decision. Be upfront in your application that you'll require it.
What salary is needed for this role to be eligible?
The offer must clear both the general threshold and the SOC 2133 going rate of £54,900. New-entrant and shortage discounts can lower it.