Research Intern in Redmond, WA

Overview

Research Internships at Microsoft offer a dynamic setting for research careers, with world-class research labs led by globally recognized scientists and engineers. They work across many disciplines to tackle complex challenges in computing, healthcare, economics, and the environment.

Our team of experienced research scientists in Microsoft Research aims to co-design new, intelligent software systems and hardware-aware techniques. The goal is to improve the efficiency, reliability, scalability, and trustworthiness of next-generation AI systems. We build working systems, engage with academia, publish papers and research software, and deploy new technologies.

We are interested in problems such as:

• Using AI agents to automate hardware experimentation, system management, and performance analysis.
• Reverse engineering the performance and security characteristics of modern GPU servers and their memory systems.
• Overcoming performance bottlenecks in high-bandwidth GPU interconnects, such as NVLink and NVLink-C2C.
• Improving the efficiency of large language model (LLM) serving by optimizing data movement and communication across CPUs, GPUs, and memory systems.

The team has deployed research across Microsoft businesses, including Azure AI, Azure Hardware, Azure Networking, and Windows. Our work has also been published at leading systems and security conferences such as ASPLOS, ISCA, USENIX Security, IEEE S&P, SOSP, ACM SIGCOMM, and USENIX NSDI.

As part of a small, close-knit team, your work will be central to our focus throughout the summer and beyond. The team practices open communication and respectful dialogue, and the internship program offers social and career-building opportunities.

Responsibilities

Research Interns turn inquiry and theory into practice, working alongside doctoral candidates and leading researchers. During the 12-week internship, interns are paired with mentors, collaborate with other interns and researchers, present their findings, and take part in the research community. Internships are available in all research areas and are offered year-round, though they typically begin in the summer.

Responsibilities may include:

• Using AI agents to automate hardware experimentation, system management, and performance analysis.
• Reverse engineering the performance and security characteristics of modern GPU servers and their memory systems.
• Overcoming performance bottlenecks in high-bandwidth GPU interconnects, such as NVLink and NVLink-C2C.
• Improving the efficiency of LLM serving by optimizing data movement and communication across CPUs, GPUs, and memory systems.

Research Interns are expected to work in their manager's Microsoft worksite location for the duration of the internship. The position is hybrid, with 3 days per week in the office.