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Senior Research Software Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Microsoft

Principal Research Software Engineer

Redmond, WA · On-site

$151K - $202K/yr

The Microsoft Research Americas Engineering team is hiring a Principal Research Software Engineer to provide technical leadership and direct technical contribution as an individual contributor on the ...

THOMSON REUTERS

Senior Research Engineer

Ann Arbor, MI · Hybrid

$102K - $140K/yr

We are seeking a Senior Research Engineer who willbringexpertiseinAI and ML ... Applying modern software development practices, you will be involved in the entire software ...

THOMSON REUTERS

Senior Research Engineer

New York, NY · Hybrid

$114K - $157K/yr

We are seeking a Senior Research Engineer who willbringexpertiseinAI and ML ... Applying modern software development practices, you will be involved in the entire software ...

THOMSON REUTERS

Senior Research Engineer

Eagan, MN · Hybrid

$106K - $146K/yr

We are seeking a Senior Research Engineer who willbringexpertiseinAI and ML ... Applying modern software development practices, you will be involved in the entire software ...

THOMSON REUTERS

Senior Research Engineer

Frisco, TX · Hybrid

$97K - $134K/yr

We are seeking a Senior Research Engineer who willbringexpertiseinAI and ML ... Applying modern software development practices, you will be involved in the entire software ...

Mannapov, LLC

Senior R&D Software Developer

Boerne, TX · On-site

$51.25 - $67.75/hr

Exempt Reports to: Sr. R&D Engineer We are seeking an experienced Senior R&D Software Developer with expertise in low-level C programming, C#, machine language, and hardware engineering. The ...

Mannapov, LLC

Senior R&D Software Developer

Boerne, TX · On-site

$51.25 - $67.75/hr

Exempt Reports to: Sr. R&D Engineer We are seeking an experienced Senior R&D Software Developer with expertise in low-level C programming, C#, machine language, and hardware engineering. The ...

Mannapov, LLC

Senior R&D Software Developer

Boerne, TX · On-site

$51.25 - $67.75/hr

Exempt Reports to: Sr. R&D Engineer We are seeking an experienced Senior R&D Software Developer with expertise in low-level C programming, C#, machine language, and hardware engineering. The ...

Thomson Reuters

Senior Research Engineer

Eagan, MN · On-site

$106K - $146K/yr

As a Senior Research Engineer at Thomson Reuters Labs, you will be part of a global ... Applying modern software development practices, you will be involved in the entire software ...

Bastian Solutions

Sr. R&D Software Engineer

Grapevine, TX · On-site

$113K - $149K/yr

As the R&D Senior Software Engineer, you are an expert in Linux development using both C++ and Python. You have experience designing production ready software and understand the patterns and ...

Bastian Solutions

Sr. R&D Software Engineer

Meridian, ID · On-site

$115K - $152K/yr

As the R&D Senior Software Engineer, you are an expert in Linux development using both C++ and Python. You have experience designing production ready software and understand the patterns and ...

Toyota

Sr. R&D Software Engineer

Meridian, ID · On-site

$115K - $152K/yr

As the R&D Senior Software Engineer, you are an expert in Linux development using both C++ and Python. You have experience designing production ready software and understand the patterns and ...

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Senior Research Software Engineer information

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$75.5K

$143.3K

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How much do senior research software engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Jun 5, 2026, the average yearly pay for senior research software engineer in the United States is $143,292.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $122,500.00 and $161,500.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Senior Research Software Engineer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Senior Research Software Engineer, you need advanced programming skills, experience in algorithm development, and a strong background in computer science or a related field, often demonstrated by a graduate degree. Familiarity with version control systems (like Git), cloud computing platforms, and research-focused tools such as Jupyter or MATLAB is typically required. Excellent problem-solving abilities, effective communication, and the ability to collaborate with interdisciplinary teams set outstanding candidates apart. These skills are crucial for driving innovative research, delivering reliable software solutions, and facilitating productive collaboration between engineering and scientific stakeholders.

How do Senior Research Software Engineers balance research objectives with software development best practices?

Senior Research Software Engineers often work at the intersection of scientific research and advanced software engineering. They are challenged to produce robust, maintainable code while supporting fast-paced, evolving research goals. Balancing these demands typically involves close collaboration with scientists to understand their requirements, iteratively developing prototypes, and gradually refining them into production-quality tools. This collaborative and flexible approach ensures that research progress is not hindered, while also maintaining a high standard of software quality and reproducibility.

What is a Senior Research Software Engineer?

A Senior Research Software Engineer (SRSE) is an experienced professional who bridges the gap between scientific research and software development. They work closely with researchers to design, implement, and maintain software tools and systems that support complex scientific studies or experiments. SRSEs not only write code but also help ensure that research software is robust, reproducible, and scalable. Their role often involves mentoring junior engineers, collaborating across multidisciplinary teams, and staying updated on the latest advancements in technology and research methodologies.

What is the difference between Senior Research Software Engineer vs Research Software Engineer?

AspectSenior Research Software EngineerResearch Software Engineer
CredentialsBachelor's/Master's/PhD in CS or related field, experience in research environmentsBachelor's/Master's in CS or related field, less emphasis on extensive experience
Work EnvironmentLeading research projects, mentoring junior staff, developing complex softwareSupporting research teams, developing prototypes, implementing algorithms
Industry UsageAcademic institutions, research labs, tech companies with R&D focusAcademic research, government labs, industry R&D teams

The main difference is that Senior Research Software Engineers typically have more experience, lead projects, and mentor others, while Research Software Engineers focus on supporting research activities and developing software solutions. Both roles require strong programming skills and research understanding, but the senior role involves greater responsibility and leadership.

What cities are hiring for Senior Research Software Engineer jobs? Cities with the most Senior Research Software Engineer job openings:
What are the most commonly searched types of Research Software Engineer jobs? The most popular types of Research Software Engineer jobs are:
What states have the most Senior Research Software Engineer jobs? States with the most job openings for Senior Research Software Engineer jobs include:
Senior Research Software Engineer jobs near you
Principal Research Software Engineer

Principal Research Software Engineer

Microsoft

Redmond, WA • On-site

$151K - $202K/yr

Full-time

Posted 21 days ago

Microsoft rating

8.6

Company rating: 8.6 out of 10

Based on 125 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

47th of 186 rated software companies

Job description

Overview
Microsoft Research (MSR) is a multidisciplinary global organization creating scientific knowledge and delivering innovation for positive human impact at scale. We work with scientific, engineering, academic, and business partners to apply machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to advance economics, health, and society.
The Microsoft Research Americas Engineering team is hiring a Principal Research Software Engineer to provide technical leadership and direct technical contribution as an individual contributor on the AI Agentic Core Team. Our mission is to accelerate the path from research to product by building AI-driven systems, workflows, and platforms that help researchers and product teams move faster from exploration to real-world impact. In this role, you will collaborate with engineers, researchers, and product teams to build high-impact systems spanning early-stage prototypes through production-ready tools, services, and experiences, while modernizing how we design, build, evaluate, and ship software across Microsoft Research Americas and beyond.
This role is well suited for engineers who enjoy moving across layers-from product experiences and services to data, cloud infrastructure, and AI-enabled workflows-and who are energized by applying AI to real engineering and product problems. Deep expertise in how models work is valuable but not required to be effective in this role.
At Microsoft, our mission-to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more-guides how we partner with customers to deliver trusted, impactful solutions. With a growth mindset culture, we innovate responsibly and measure success by shared progress-people, teams, and customers. Join us to do meaningful work that changes the world and helps shape what's next for everyone.
Responsibilities
Research-to-Product Engineering & Technical Leadership
  • Design, develop, and ship systems that transition Microsoft Research (MSR) concepts into production-quality tools, services, and product capabilities, owning the end-to-end engineering lifecycle from prototype to scalable, maintainable software.
  • Build robust solutions spanning product experiences, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), data pipelines, model integration layers, and cloud infrastructure that connect research prototypes to real product environments.
  • Partner with MSR researchers and Microsoft product teams to align engineering efforts with research priorities, identifying reusable components and shared architectures that amplify impact across projects and labs.
  • Provide technical direction, mentor engineers, and guide architecture and design decisions, upholding best practices for code quality, security, privacy, testing, observability, and reproducibility.
  • Help shape the team's engineering culture, long-term strategy, and adoption of modern AI-driven engineering practices.

AI Agentic Systems & Accelerated Research Pipeline
  • Define and implement AI-driven processes that accelerate how research moves into products, applying Large Language Models (LLMs), agentic workflows, and modern developer tooling to improve experimentation, implementation, testing, evaluation, documentation, and iterative refinement.
  • Design and integrate agentic AI frameworks and LLM-based pipelines into research tools and engineering workflows, building systems that coordinate AI agents for complex tasks such as code generation, evaluation, debugging, and refinement.
  • Develop tool-use and function-calling architectures that enable AI systems to interact with codebases, APIs, and data sources.
  • Apply modern AI engineering practices-including prompt design, retrieval-augmented generation, and evaluation frameworks.
  • Contribute to model experimentation and adaptation, such as fine-tuning, where appropriate to the project.

Qualifications
Required Qualifications
  • Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, Python, Rust, C++, C#, C, Java, JavaScript
    • OR equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications
  • Master's Degree or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Operations Research, Applied Mathematics, or a related field AND 10+ years of technical engineering experience
    • OR Bachelor's Degree AND 12+ years of equivalent experience
    • OR equivalent experience.
  • Experience applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning (ML) to real systems, products, or engineering workflows, with working knowledge of how modern models are trained, adapted, evaluated, optimized, or deployed, and the curiosity and ability to learn quickly across unfamiliar domains.
  • Familiarity with several of the following: agentic AI frameworks, tool use and function calling, prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation, evaluation frameworks, model fine-tuning or post-training, observability, and AI-assisted code generation.
  • Demonstrated engineering fundamentals and broad technical range, with experience designing, building, and shipping software systems, taking ambiguous, early-stage ideas from prototypes through production across layers such as user-facing experiences, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and services, data workflows, cloud systems, and model integration.
  • Experience providing technical leadership across cross-functional efforts-defining direction, mentoring engineers, and driving execution on complex projects-and building systems that balance speed of experimentation with production requirements such as reliability, security, privacy, and maintainability.
  • Proficiency with a major cloud and AI platform stack; experience with Azure, Azure AI services, and Copilot-based tools.
  • Contributions to research papers, patents, or open-source projects at the intersection of engineering and research.

#Research #MSRR
Software Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800.00 - $274,800.00 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 $188,000.00 - $304,200.00 per year.
Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay
This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.
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 requesting accommodations.

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About Microsoft

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Our infrastructure is comprised of a large global portfolio of more than 100 datacenters and 1 million servers. Our foundation is built upon and managed by a team of subject matter experts working to support services for more than 1 billion customers and 20 million businesses in over 90 countries worldwide. With environmental sustainability and optimization at the forefront of our datacenter design and operations, we continue to grow and evolve as we meet the ever-changing business demands that hold Microsoft as a world-class cloud provider.

Industry

Computer and computer peripheral equipment and software wholesalers

Company size

10,000+ Employees

Headquarters location

Redmond, WA, US

Year founded

1975

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