Overview

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‍Research Internships at Microsoft provide a dynamic environment for research careers with a network of world-class research labs led by globally-recognized scientists and engineers, who pursue innovation in a range of scientific and technical disciplines to help solve complex challenges in diverse fields, including computing, healthcare, economics, and the environment.

Gray Systems Lab (GSL) is an applied research lab under Azure Data. We do research and development for databases, big-data, and cloud systems, working in close collaboration with product teams to design innovative solutions for real-world problems. We focus on a variety of exciting areas, including machine learning for systems, reinforcement learning finetuning and post-training techniques, natural language-to-query, agentic workflows, resource management, query optimization and execution. We also work on workload optimization, graph analytics, data storage formats and governance, modern/future hardware (e.g., GPU, NVM and FPGAs), program analysis, and data provenance. Our work covers both internal both Microsoft internal and open-source systems, such as Fabric, Spark, SQL Server, MySQL, Apache Iceberg, and more. We provide opportunities to work on ideas from internal collaborations, as well as external ones with partner universities, and to continue to be an active scholar in the research community.

We are looking for highly motivated graduate students who are interested in cutting edge research in close collaboration with advanced industry product groups. Past Research Internships have resulted in a combination of impact on production systems and publications at top conferences. Applicants should demonstrate a track record in one or more systems, database, or data science topics and an aptitude for hands-on system building and design methodology to run and analyze experiments at scale.

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‍Responsibilities‍

Research Interns put inquiry and theory into practice. Alongside fellow doctoral candidates and some of the world’s best researchers, Research Interns learn, collaborate, and network for life. Research Interns not only advance their own careers, but they also contribute to exciting research and development strides. During the 12-week internship, Research Interns are paired with mentors and expected to collaborate with other Research Interns and researchers, present findings, and contribute to the vibrant life of the community. Research internships are available in all areas of research, and are offered year-round, though they typically begin in the summer.

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‍Qualifications‍

Required Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a PhD degree in computer science, statistics, mathematics, or related technical field.

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Other Requirements

• Research Interns are expected to be physically located in their manager’s Microsoft worksite location for the duration of their internship.
• In addition to the qualifications below, you’ll need to submit a minimum of two reference letters for this position as well as a cover letter and any relevant work or research samples. After you submit your application, a request for letters may be sent to your list of references on your behalf. Note that reference letters cannot be requested until after you have submitted your application, and furthermore, that they might not be automatically requested for all candidates. You may wish to alert your letter writers in advance, so they will be ready to submit your letter.

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Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with one or more general purpose programming languages, such as Python, Java, C#, C++, Rust.
• Experience with one of the following: PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server, Spark, Apache Iceberg, CUDA, or other database or big data systems.
• Experience contributing to research communities and/or efforts, including publishing papers (being listed as author) at academic conferences.
• Take initiative but also follow a research/productization plan and work well as part of a team.
• Critical thinking and communication skills.

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