Data Engineer, AI Data Platform

About the Role:

Help build the world’s most advanced multimodal dataset at Microsoft AI.

We are on a mission to create the largest and most advanced multimodal dataset in the world. This dataset, spanning all modalities from across the web and beyond, will power the training of the world’s most capable AI frontier models, pushing the boundaries of scale, performance, and product deployment.

The AI Data Infra team at Microsoft AI is responsible for building data infrastructure to help MAI teams to generate the biggest and best training dataset. Our work involves data pipelines, Spark, Ray, Vector Databases, and all other aspects of data infra.

We are looking for outstanding individuals excited about contributing to the next generation of systems that will transform the field. In particular, we are looking for candidates who:

Job Overview

• Build AI Data Infrastructure and Data Engines

• Develop Intelligent Multimodal Data Processing Systems

• Build AI-Native Data Pipelines

• Build AI-Native Data Storage and Table Layers

• Drive the Data–Model–Evaluation Iteration Loop

• Partner Closely with Model and Training Teams

Required Qualifications:

• Master's degree in computer science, Math, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field AND 4+ years' experience in business analytics, data science, software development, data modeling, or data engineering OR bachelor's degree in computer science, Math, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field AND 6+ years' experience in business analytics, data science, software development, data modeling, or data engineering OR equivalent experience.

• Experience with distributed data Platforms such as Spark, Flink or Ray.

• Proficient experience in Python and experience with SQL and Shell.

• Experience with Multimodal Data (Text, Image, Video, or Audio)

Preferred Qualifications:

• Hands-on experience building datasets for LLM/VLM/multimodal model pre-training or post-training.

• Experience with synthetic data, including text generation, image-text synthesis, rendering/diffusion-based generation, or multimodal trajectory generation for GUI, search, file-operation, or agentic tasks.

• Familiarity with major evaluation benchmarks such as MMLU, MMBench, MM-BrowseComp, with practical experience using evaluation results and failure analysis to drive targeted data improvements.

• Experience with open file and table formats such as Lance, Iceberg, Paimon and Parquet, including schema evolution, versioning, transactions, indexing, and performance optimization for multimodal AI workloads.

Data Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $274,800 per year. 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 $188,000 - $304,200 per year.

Data Engineering IC6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $165,600 - $296,400 per year. 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 $220,800 - $331,200 per year.

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

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.