Research Intern - Microsoft Teams (PhD)

• Research Interns put inquiry and theory into practice
• learn, collaborate, and network for life
• contribute to exciting research and development strides
• collaborate with other Research Interns and researchers, present findings, and contribute to the vibrant life of the community
• work on advanced research that supports innovation in collaboration and communication technologies
• collaborate with multidisciplinary teams, applying research methods to address real-world challenges in digital collaboration, and contribute to shaping the future of how people connect and work together through Microsoft Teams

• Currently enrolled in a PhD program in Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related STEM field
• Research Interns are expected to be physically located in their manager’s Microsoft worksite location for the duration of their internship
• submit a minimum of two reference letters for this position as well as a cover letter and any relevant work or research samples
• Creative & Innovative Thinking – Proven ability to think unconventionally and develop novel solutions to complex problems
• Active Research Engagement – Actively conducting research in at least one of the following areas: Collaborative or Multi-party AI Agents (e.g., AI teammates)
• Multi-Agent Simulations (e.g., evaluating or training AI agents in collaborative settings)
• Tool-use and multi-turn reinforcement learning
• Learning from user interactions or human feedback in real-world environments
• Synthetic data generation for LLM evaluation and fine-tuning
• Rubric-based LLM graders for reward models
• Evaluation and benchmarking of LLM agents
• Agent capabilities (e.g., memory, goal management, inter-agent conversations)
• Model fine-tuning
• Collaboration Skills – Ability to work effectively with a mentor and cross-functional teams within Microsoft on research projects, demonstrating proficient interpersonal, cross-group, and cross-cultural communication skills
• Research Excellence – Proven track record of independent research, ability to work towards well-defined milestones, and commitment to meeting project deadlines
• Special Focus Areas – Candidates with the following interests and experience will be prioritized: Social Computing & Model Training/Behavior/Evaluation – Experience in developing and evaluating social agents, with an interest in solving the “presence” problem in a scalable way
• Memory-Related Research – Expertise in areas such as memory consolidation, Graph RAG, or knowledge graphs

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation