Principal AI Architect - M365 IC3 Team (Intelligent Conversation and Communications Cloud) at Microsoft
Redmond, WA
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Aug 17, 2026
Redmond, WA
Sep 25, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
This is a principal-level technical leadership role focused on designing and owning evaluation systems for AI, LLM, RAG, and agentic products across the full product lifecycle — from pre-launch through post-ship. The role spans architecture, methodology, and cross-functional influence: building eval frameworks, integrating them into CI/CD and release pipelines, and surfacing quality signals through dashboards and scorecards. It suits a senior researcher or applied scientist with deep experience in LLM/RAG evaluation, production system design, and the ability to drive technical strategy across engineering, applied science, and product teams.
Principal level · 6+ years · Bachelor's required · Full-time
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $122,874 (middle half $87,544–$162,374).
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Aug 20, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (6)
The posting lists two overlapping experience tiers: a minimum path (Bachelor's + 6 years, Master's + 4 years, or Doctorate + 3 years) and a preferred path (Master's + 9 years or Doctorate + 6 years). The overall years minimum reflects the minimum gate (6 years with a Bachelor's); the preferred path implies a much more senior candidate.
The role explicitly frames itself as operating at 'principal, architect, or senior technical leadership level' — this is the basis for the Principal seniority classification despite no single word 'Principal' in the title.
No work location is stated in the posting; the CBSA is left blank. The context (Microsoft Copilot/IC3 references) suggests a US-based role but no city is confirmed.
SOC classification is Medium confidence: the role is primarily about evaluation methodology, statistical quality analysis, and research (pointing to 15-2051 Data Scientists), but it also requires substantial system architecture and production engineering work (pointing to 15-1252 Software Developers). The research publication and conference-speaking requirements tip the balance toward 15-2051.
The 5+ years of publications, 2+ years of conference speaking, and 5+ years of research program experience are listed under what appears to be a 'preferred' or senior tier of qualifications — they are treated as preferred rather than hard gates, as the minimum qualification block does not include them.
Many skills in this posting are methodological concepts (eval dataset design, failure mode analysis, quality metrics) rather than named tools or platforms; those are omitted per extraction rules. Only concrete named technologies and systems are captured.
Read the full posting
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