Microsoft Research India is inviting applications for Research SDE positions. A Research SDE position offers an opportunity to be at the forefront of Computer Science research and technology development, and work with worldclass colleagues on meaningful research problems.

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 https://github.com/Microsoft/DiskANN

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.
  

Microsoft Research India is one of the most attractive places to pursue a 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’s vibrancy. Read more about Microsoft’s commitment to Global Diversity and Inclusion here.

Visit Microsoft Research India for more information.

Responsibilities

• Work with research teams to prototype innovative algorithms and high-performance systems.
• Develop tools for experimentation and enabling research.
• Work with relevant product and business groups to validate and deploy prototypes.
• Develop and maintain a central repository for the project with continuous testing of features, functionality, performance, and reliability.
• Review internal and external contributions to the repository.
• Coordinate across teams on testing and development of new features.
  

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or related field and 4+ years of work experience
• Industry experience involving design, development, and maintenance of high-performance software in C++ or Rust.
• Knowledge of agile or iterative Software Development Life Cycle.
  

Additional Or Preferred Qualifications

• Industry experience working on database, storage, or high-performance computing systems.
• Experience maintaining open-source software.
• Hands on experience with deploying solutions at scale.
  

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. Consistent with applicable law, 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 and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.