Microsoft Discovery Program

Discover Microsoft

Find inspiration and empower your future with Microsoft’s High School Discovery Program. Receive hands-on learning as you explore technology opportunities at Microsoft that make a difference in people’s lives around the world.

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About Microsoft Discovery Program

During this 4-week internship, Discoverers will have the opportunity to gain hands on project experience, develop professional skills while gaining mentorship from Microsoft employees. You will discover how your passions can evolve into a career in tech at Microsoft and beyond.

Microsoft’s High School Discovery Program is open to rising first-year students of a bachelor’s degree program (graduating high school seniors) that live around Redmond, Washington OR Atlanta, Georgia who have an interest in technology.

Program information

Program criteria
- High school graduating seniors that live and attend high school within 50 miles of Redmond, Washington OR live and attend high school around Atlanta, Georgia.
- Completed pre-calculus or an equivalent course by the start of the program.
- For the Redmond, Washington office location, applicants who are members or participants Microsoft sponsored organizations. For a full list of participating organizations please see our FAQs section.
- For the Atlanta, Georgia office location, applicants must attend shools within the Atlanta Public Schools, Dekalb, Fulton, Cobb and Gwinnett County School Districts. For a full list of participating schools please see our FAQs section.
Application information
Your application is not considered complete until the additional information listed below is answered and submitted in the same document as your resume:
- Have you applied/been accepted to any colleges/universities? Please name the college or university.
- Intended Major
- Please list if you are a member or affiliated with any extracurricular and/or academic support organization(s).
We will be reviewing applications on a rolling basis and will start reaching out in March to schedule interviews.

Applications open in early February. This is a paid opportunity, and participants should be available to work full-time, onsite at either the Redmond or Atlanta campus for 4 consecutive weeks between July and August.

2026 Program Dates

Atlanta: July 6 - July 31, 2026

Redmond: July 13 - August 7, 2026

Discovery Program internships

Principal Software Engineer

2026-03-26

United States, Washington, Redmond

3 days / week in-office

Overview We are looking for an outstanding Principal Software Engineer to join the Microsoft Discovery team and work on an exciting new Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven platform that will transform the scientific research process. Microsoft Discovery is a cutting-edge enterprise platform that uses AI agents and high-performance computing to accelerate research and development (R&D) in science and engineering. Microsoft Discovery is already driving breakthroughs in collaboration with partners across industries like chemistry and materials, energy, manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals, showcasing its potential to solve real-world challenges through AI-powered discovery. We innovate quickly, learn from data and experience, think creatively, and have fun – all while tackling challenging customer and partner problems. You will be part of a startup-like environment within Microsoft, joining a highly motivated team that enjoys tough challenges and rapid development iterations. We collaborate closely with key platform teams across Microsoft and Microsoft Research to design, build, and operate the Discovery platform and related products. In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day. Microsoft’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 to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond. Responsibilities As a Principal Software Engineer, you will: <ul><li>Define architectural direction for the product and build scalable, distributed systems from the ground up. </li><li>Drive end-to-end scenarios from ideation to global rollout. </li><li>Mentor engineers and grow engineering excellence across the team. </li><li>Lead team-wide adoption of AI-enabled process enhancements to improve engineering velocity and service reliability. </li><li>Initiate and lead collaboration with Microsoft Research and platform teams to integrate cutting-edge technologies. </li><li>Apply site-reliability engineering practices to ensure robust operations. </li></ul>Other:<ul><li>Embody our <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/about/corporate-values" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Culture </a>and <a href="https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/culture" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Values</a></li></ul> Qualifications Required/minimum qualifications<ul><li>Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 6+ years of experience in commercial software development<ul><li>OR equivalent experience.</li></ul></li><li>4+ years of experience building and operating reliable distributed systems. </li><li>Familiarity with building AI-powered services and multi-agent systems. </li></ul>Other Requirements:<ul><li>Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings: <ul><li>Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.</li></ul></li></ul>Preferred Qualifications:<ul><li>Technical leadership experience with cloud platforms and enterprise-scale services. </li><li>Familiarity with widely used scientific tools in chemistry, physics and bio sciences. </li><li>Proficiency in building web user experience for scientists or developers. </li><li>Deep problem-solving skills and a bias for action. </li><li>Passion for scientific innovation and cross-disciplinary collaboration. </li><li>Advanced degree (MS/PhD) is a plus. </li></ul>#MicrosoftDiscovery Software Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $139,900 - $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. Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: <a href='https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay'>https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay</a> This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled. <hr> 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 <a href="https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/accessibility.html">requesting accommodations.</a>

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Senior Security Researcher

2026-03-25

India, Karnataka, Bangalore +1 more

3 days / week in-office

Overview Join a team that’s pushing the frontier of modern security research by combining deep attacker‑centric analysis with AI‑augmented, agentic investigation systems. We’re evolving security research beyond purely manual, expert‑driven workflows—amplifying researcher intuition with automation that scales discovery, accelerates investigations, and raises consistency across the board.You’ll work on real‑world threats end‑to‑end: dissecting novel attacker techniques, developing detections grounded in adversary behavior, and shaping automated investigation pipelines that turn raw telemetry into actionable insights. A key focus area is Linux and macOS security, where you’ll help close long‑standing visibility gaps and surface emerging attack patterns that traditional approaches miss.Your research will directly power AI‑driven campaign discovery and proactive threat hunting, enabling continuous monitoring for new attack classes and faster recognition of evolving adversary tradecraft. You’ll collaborate closely with engineering, applied ML, and product partners to translate research findings into production‑grade protections—ensuring that cutting‑edge research rapidly becomes real customer impact.If you’re excited about doing deep technical research with outsized, at‑scale impact, and shaping how the next generation of security investigations are conducted, this team offers a rare opportunity to influence both the art and the system of modern security research. Responsibilities <ul><li>As a Senior Security Researcher, you will lead deep, attacker‑centric research that directly shapes Microsoft’s endpoint protection strategy. </li><li>You will investigate real‑world adversary behavior, uncover emerging attack techniques, and translate research insights into scalable detections and automated investigation workflows.</li><li>This role sits at the intersection of hands‑on threat research, AI‑augmented investigation, and platform security, with a strong focus on Linux and macOS. </li><li>You will help evolve security research from isolated expert analysis into systematized, automation‑backed discovery that drives consistent, high‑impact customer protection.</li><li>Lead in‑depth investigations of real‑world attacker campaigns, malware, and post‑exploitation techniques across endpoint environments, with emphasis on Linux and macOS platforms.</li><li>Decompose attack chains, map techniques to MITRE ATT&CK, and maintain high‑fidelity adversary and TTP dossiers that inform protection strategy. </li><li>Identify emerging attack classes, tradecraft shifts, and detection gaps before they are widely exploited.</li><li>Design and prototype behavior‑based detections, heuristics, and research‑grade signals that can be operationalized into production protections.</li><li>Partner with engineering and applied ML teams to translate research findings into scalable, reliable detections with clear acceptance criteria and performance trade‑offs.</li><li>Evaluate detection efficacy using offline and online telemetry and continuously refine based on real‑world attacker behavior. </li><li>Contribute to the design of AI‑assisted and agentic investigation pipelines that automate repetitive analysis steps and amplify researcher productivity.</li><li>Shape how attacker techniques, evidence, and hypotheses are represented in systems that enable campaign discovery and proactive hunting at scale.</li><li>Ensure research outputs are structured, explainable, and safe for use in automated or semi‑automated workflows.</li><li>Act as a senior escalation point for complex security incidents, providing expert guidance on attacker behavior, containment strategies, and long‑term mitigation.</li><li>Lead post‑incident analysis and root‑cause investigations, converting learnings into durable detection and tooling improvements.</li><li>Work closely with security engineering, product management, and data science partners to influence roadmap priorities using evidence‑backed research insights. </li><li>Represent security research perspectives in design reviews, detection cutlines, and protection readiness discussions.</li><li>Contribute to internal knowledge‑sharing through technical write‑ups, reviews, and mentoring of junior researchers.</li></ul> Qualifications <ul><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">7+ years of hands‑on experience in security research, threat analysis, malware analysis, or detection engineering, with demonstrated depth in endpoint security.</li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Strong understanding of attacker tradecraft, including persistence, privilege escalation, lateral movement, and defense evasion techniques.</li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Proven experience conducting research on Linux and/or macOS internals, endpoint telemetry, or OS‑level attack surfaces.</li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Proficiency in at least one scripting or systems language (e.g., Python, C/C++, Go, Rust) used for analysis, tooling, or prototyping.</li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Demonstrated ability to independently drive ambiguous, open‑ended investigations from hypothesis to actionable outcome.</li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Strong analytical skills for correlating noisy telemetry into attacker‑relevant signals.</li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Experience translating deep technical findings into clear, decision‑ready insights for engineering and leadership audiences.</li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Proven ability to collaborate effectively across research, engineering, and product teams.</li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Experience mentoring or technically leading other researchers without formal people management responsibilities. </li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">High bar for research quality, operational security, and responsible handling of sensitive techniques and data.</li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Experience operationalizing research into production detections or large‑scale protection systems.</li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Familiarity with AI‑assisted analysis, automation, or agent‑based systems in security workflows.</li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Prior contributions to security blogs, tools, open‑source projects, or industry research publications.</li><li style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Experience participating in or supporting external evaluations (e.g., MITRE ATT&CK, red team exercises).</li></ul> This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled. <hr> 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 <a href="https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/accessibility.html">requesting accommodations.</a>

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Senior Researcher - Machine Learning for Health and Life Sciences - Microsoft Research

2026-03-22

United Kingdom, Cambridgeshire, Cambridge

3 days / week in-office

Overview Health Futures is a mission-focused organization within Microsoft Research, working at the forefront of artificial intelligence, healthcare, and life sciences research. We are a global and diverse team of engineers, scientists and domain experts who are working on expanding the technological frontier of health and life sciences through deep research. We offer a unique and vibrant environment that features innovative academic research, enterprise software development, and real-world delivery, with close feedback loops and rapid iterations between all three. Our mission is to empower every person on the planet to live a healthier future. We are looking for a Senior Researcher to help us advance the ways artificial intelligence can accelerate and advance discovery in biomedicine and the life sciences. This role is ideal for a candidate with intellectual curiosity who wants to craft a research agenda, articulate it clearly to team members with a diverse set of backgrounds, and execute it as a member of that research team. Successful applicants will draw from an interdisciplinary background covering everything from deep learning fundamentals to molecular biology and will be passionate about making new discoveries in health and the life sciences. Microsoft’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. Responsibilities <div><ul style="list-style-type: disc;" role="list"><li role="listitem" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="0" data-list-defn-props="{"335551671":0,"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Aptos","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"-","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-listid="12" data-font="Aptos" data-leveltext="-" aria-setsize="-1">Design, implement, and evaluate novel methodology for scientific discovery through artificial intelligence, non-exhaustively including techniques around post-training, inference-time optimization, interpretability, and experimental design.</li></ul></div><div><ul style="list-style-type: disc;" role="list"><li role="listitem" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="1" data-list-defn-props="{"335551671":0,"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Aptos","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"-","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-listid="12" data-font="Aptos" data-leveltext="-" aria-setsize="-1">Conduct rigorous investigations into the capabilities of deep learning models in the realm of health and life sciences research. </li></ul></div><div><ul style="list-style-type: disc;" role="list"><li role="listitem" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="2" data-list-defn-props="{"335551671":0,"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Aptos","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"-","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-listid="12" data-font="Aptos" data-leveltext="-" aria-setsize="-1">Participate in reproducible and collaborative team-based technical research. </li></ul></div><div><ul style="list-style-type: disc;" role="list"><li role="listitem" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="3" data-list-defn-props="{"335551671":0,"335552541":1,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Aptos","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"-","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-listid="12" data-font="Aptos" data-leveltext="-" aria-setsize="-1">Communicate research findings internally and externally. </li></ul></div> Qualifications Required  <ul><li>Doctorate in relevant field OR Master's Degree in relevant field AND 3+ years related research experience OR Bachelor's Degree in relevant field AND 4+ years related research experience OR equivalent experience   </li></ul>Preferred  <ul><li>Expertise in machine learning for scientific discovery, including any of the following: <ul><li>Interpretability (post-hoc, ante-hoc, mechanistic) </li><li>Reasoning and inference-time optimization </li><li>Experimental design </li></ul></li><li>Other uses of AI for scientific discovery </li><li>Expertise in multimodal and large-scale deep learning in computational biology and medicine, including model design, training (such as post-training, including reinforcement learning), and/or evaluation. </li><li>Experience developing software, systems, or workflows that leverage generative AI-based systems to solve real-world problems in the life sciences. </li><li>Experience working with biological data such as transcriptomics, microscopy, and other -omics modalities. </li><li>Experience creating robust, reproducible technical artifacts as part of an interdisciplinary team. </li><li>A track record of scientific publication in any of the above domains</li></ul> This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled. <hr> 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 <a href="https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/accessibility.html">requesting accommodations.</a>

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Frequently asked questions

Which Microsoft supported organizations or public schools can apply for this opportunity?
For the Redmond, Washington office location, applicants who are members or participants Microsoft sponsored organizations.
- Computing for All
- College Success Foundations
- Washington MESA
- Rainier Scholars
- Technology Access Foundation
- UW STEMsub Program
For the Atlanta, Georgia office location, applicants must attend schools within the Atlanta Public Schools (APS), Clayton County, Cobb County, DeKalb County, Douglas County, Fulton County, Gwinnett County .
What can I expect to do during Discovery Microsoft?

Over the 4 weeks of the program each pod of Discoverers will gain hands on project experience. These project are in various disciplines and do not require any previous technical experience. All projects will focus on providing Discoverers the opportunity to practice a Growth Mindset and the Microsoft cultural attributes of being Customer-obsessed, Diversity & Inclusion & One Microsoft.

You will work in a small team to complete a project for your product group through which you will gain exposure to the product development Design phase and gain visibility to Software engineering, PM (Technical PM or Product Management) and UX Design disciplines. You will work on a project to understand the pain point, the unarticulated customer needs, and then from there build out the what and why.
Will I work in a few groups during this experience, or focus on a specific goal in one group?
I don't live or attend high school in Western Washington, but I can stay with a friend or relative in the area. Am I eligible to apply?

Your application will not be considered. In order to be eligible for the Redmond, Washington location, you must be enrolled at a school in Western Washington and live at an address within 50 miles of Redmond, WA at the time your application is submitted. We encourage you to consider our Explore Program and university internship opportunities that are global. We do hope to expand our programs in the future to include additional Microsoft campuses in other cities.
I will not be a rising college freshman. Can I still apply for the program?
I would like to apply, but I can't be available for the full 4 weeks. Can I still participate?
I am not sure what I want to major I want to declare in college, can I still apply?
I submitted my application. What happens next?

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Microsoft Discovery Program

Discover Microsoft

About Microsoft Discovery Program

Program information

Program criteria

Application information

Discovery Program internships

Principal Software Engineer

Senior Security Researcher

Senior Researcher - Machine Learning for Health and Life Sciences - Microsoft Research

Frequently asked questions

Which Microsoft supported organizations or public schools can apply for this opportunity?

What can I expect to do during Discovery Microsoft?

Will I work in a few groups during this experience, or focus on a specific goal in one group?

I don't live or attend high school in Western Washington, but I can stay with a friend or relative in the area. Am I eligible to apply?

I will not be a rising college freshman. Can I still apply for the program?

I would like to apply, but I can't be available for the full 4 weeks. Can I still participate?

I am not sure what I want to major I want to declare in college, can I still apply?

I submitted my application. What happens next?

Life at Microsoft

Benefits

Culture

Diversity and inclusion

Hiring Tips