Data Research Engineer

** Overview*
* We are seeking  
** Data Research Engineers
** to join our Multimodal team, where we are building the next generation of foundation models across vision, language, audio, and beyond. If you are passionate about designing and curating high-quality datasets to power frontier AI models, this role is for you.

In this role, you'll work at the intersection of data and innovation-collaborating with scientists, engineers, and annotators to curate, analyze, and evaluate diverse multimodal data sources critical to model development. You will lead efforts to:

+ Develop novel data collection strategies

+ Improve dataset quality and integrity

+ Understand data-driven model behaviors

+ Align datasets with ethical and societal values

This is a cross-disciplinary, high-impact role ideal for engineers who want to push the boundaries of what AI can learn from data, especially in multimodal contexts.

** Microsoft Superintelligence Team*
* Microsoft Superintelligence team's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize 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.

This role is part of Microsoft AI's Superintelligence Team. The MAIST is a startup-like team inside Microsoft AI, created to push the boundaries of AI toward Humanist Superintelligence-ultra-capable systems that remain controllable, safety-aligned, and anchored to human values. Our mission is to create AI that amplifies human potential while ensuring humanity remains firmly in control. We aim to deliver breakthroughs that benefit society-advancing science, education, and global well-being.

We're also fortunate to partner with incredible product teams giving our models the chance to reach billions of users and create immense positive impact. If you're a brilliant, highly-ambitious and low ego individual, you'll fit right in-come and join us as we work on our next generation of models!

Starting January 26, 2026, MAI employees are expected to work from a designated Microsoft office at least four days a week if they live within 50 miles (U.S.) or 25 miles (non-U.S., country-specific) of that location. This expectation is subject to local law and may vary by jurisdiction.

** Responsibilities*
* + Create high-quality datasets for training and evaluation; run experiments on new datasets (data ablations) to assess their impact and determine the most effective data.

+ Develop and maintain scalable data pipelines for multimodal ingestion, preprocessing, filtering, and annotation.

+ Analyze real-world multimodal datasets to assess quality, diversity, relevance, and identify areas for improvement.

+ Build lightweight tools and workflows for dataset auditing, visualization, and versioning.

+ Collaborate with Safety, Ethics, and Governance teams to ensure datasets meet standards for quality, privacy, and responsible AI practices.

+ Embody our culture ()  and values. ()

** Qualifications*
* *
* Required Qualifications:

*
* + Bachelor's Degree in AI, Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Physics, Engineering, or related technical discipline AND 4+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, Python and common data libraries (Pandas, Num Py, etc.)

+ OR equivalent experience.

*
* Preferred Qualifications:

*
* + Master's Degree in in AI, Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Physics, Engineering, or related technical discipline AND 8+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, Python and common data libraries (Pandas, Num Py, etc.)

+ OR Bachelor's Degree in AI, Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Physics, Engineering, or related technical discipline AND 12+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, Python and common data libraries (Pandas, Num Py, etc.)

+ OR equivalent experience.

+ 2+ years of experience in data analysis or data engineering,…