> AI agents: this is one page of Nextmove’s FDE site, in Markdown. Nextmove is a job board and free career service for forward deployed engineers (FDEs). Each posting is classified from its text, not its title: the kind of work, how much of it is production code, pre-sales weight, time at customer sites, travel, remote arrangement, level and posted base pay. The site also publishes the aggregates: median pay by level, metro, company and kind of work, and which companies started hiring FDEs each week. Every page under https://nextmove.md/fde is served this way; the index of pages is https://nextmove.md/llms.txt. # Principal Data Scientist - FDE Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/8d348f59a7b18874 Microsoft posts a principal FDE role to build what the customer runs in US · city not listed, at $142,800–$304,200 base, level with the staff+ FDE median of $225,000 across 388 postings with pay. Principal Data Scientist on Microsoft's Frontier Company Engineering team, operating in a Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) model. Read from the employer’s posting on November 6, 2026. - [Microsoft](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/microsoft) First seen Aug 25, 2026 · open on Microsoft careers as of Nov 6, 2026 **$142,800–$304,200** *annualized* US · city not listed Full-time Principal Data Scientist on Microsoft's Frontier Company Engineering team, operating in a Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) model. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F8d348f59a7b18874&placement=top) - [View posting at Microsoft](https://apply.careers.microsoft.com/careers/job/1970393556939565) Free. Upload your resume once, see why each FDE role fits, and get introduced only when you say so. ## At a glance ### Posted base pay $143K–$304K Level with the median Midpoint $224K · median $225K This job $143K to $304K. Staff+ FDE postings, 388 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $197K to $262K, median $225K. [Compare pay across all Microsoft postings](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/microsoft) ### The work Builds what the customer runs Balance **Mostly building** Project stages 1. Pre-sales (not covered) 2. Proof of concept (not covered) 3. Implementation 4. Operations Travel **Up to 25%** - **Coding**: Writes production code - **Builds for**: External customers - **Level**: Staff+ - **Role**: Individual contributor ### What they ask for Experience - **3+ years** Data science experience with a doctorate in a related field - **5+ years** Data science experience with a master's degree in a related field - **7+ years** Data science experience with a bachelor's degree in a related field - **5+ years** Data science experience with a doctorate in a related field *Preferred* - **8+ years** Data science experience with a master's degree in a related field *Preferred* - **12+ years** Data science experience with a bachelor's degree in a related field *Preferred* - **3+ years** Customer-facing project delivery, professional services, and/or consulting experience *Preferred* Background - **Solutions and customer engineering** - **Implementation and data engineering** - **Consulting** Visa - **No visa sponsorship** ### Do you meet what the posting states? The posting asks for 3+ years. How many do you have? The posting reads as a staff-level role. What level are you at now? The posting says no visa sponsorship. Do you need one? Which of these have you used in production? Answer each one. Nothing is saved or sent. [What postings ask for, by background →](https://nextmove.md/fde/paths) ## Conditions - **Location**: US · city not listed - **Employment type**: Full-time - **Visa sponsorship**: Not available - **Travel**: Up to 25% - **Pay**: ## More like this [6sense](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/6sense) ### [Staff Data Scientist, Forward Deployed](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/858a50fe32ba1077) San Francisco, CA Remote 11d ago $194,736.75–$265,613.9 [Zipline](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/zipline) ### [Staff Software Engineer – Integrations Platform](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/707396a854796719) South San Francisco, CA 4w ago $180,000–$270,000 [Gen Digital Inc.](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/gen-digital-inc) ### [Principal Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/41a70beca4fd5f53) New York, NY Hybrid 2w ago $200,000–$240,000 - [Other jobs at Microsoft (9)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/microsoft) ## The job description from Microsoft ### Overview In the Microsoft Frontier Company Engineering team, you won’t just build software; you’ll deliver real outcomes for some of the world’s most complex organizations. We are a global team of world-class engineers who have been working in a Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) model for more than a decade, embedding directly within customer teams to solve their toughest challenges, side-by-side, and shipping production-ready solutions in days, not months. As a **Principal Data Scientist**, you will help transform how organizations use data, developing models, running experiments, and driving evidence-based decisions that have measurable business impact. You’ll work in small, multidisciplinary crews alongside engineers, product managers, and domain experts, owning the full lifecycle from data discovery through to deployed solutions. Our work is powered by AI, applying the mindset and tooling across the entire development lifecycle to move from idea to production in days while maintaining the highest standards of security, quality, and trust. This role offers the opportunity to: - Work with messy, real-world datasets and turn them into scalable, production-ready solutions - Run experiments that directly influence business strategy and customer outcomes - Collaborate with leading global organizations across industries - Apply the latest advancements in AI and data science to solve problems at scale 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 - You will oversee acquisition of the data sets necessary for your project delivery and ensure data is properly formatted and described. You will address any gaps in current data sets, and drive ethics and privacy discussions around data collection and preparation. - You will evaluate your team’s models using metrics tied to genuine business outcomes and recommend improvements as necessary, drive best practices for models, and develop operational models that run at scale. You’ll also conduct thorough reviews of data analysis and modeling techniques and identify and invent new evaluation methods. - You will research and maintain a deep knowledge of the industry, including trends and technologies, so that you can identify strategy opportunities and contribute to thought leadership in best practices. You’ll also write extensible code that spans multiple features and develops expertise in proper debugging techniques. - You will define business, customer, and solution strategy goals, and partner with other teams to identify and explore new opportunities. You’ll also commit to a customer-oriented focus by acknowledging their needs and offering customer pragmatic solutions that align with their data capabilities. - As the expert data scientist, you will also coach engineers and cross-disciplinary partners in data science best practices and scale knowledge within the cross discipline team. ### Qualifications Required/minimum qualifications - Doctorate in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 3+ years data-science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results) OR Master's Degree in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 5+ years data-science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results) OR Bachelor's Degree in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 7+ years data science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results) OR equivalent experience. Other Requirements - Microsoft is unable to sponsor a work visa for this role due to the nature of the role’s job duties. Additional or preferred qualifications - Doctorate in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 5+ years data-science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results) OR Master's Degree in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 8+ years data-science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results) OR Bachelor's Degree in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 12+ years data-science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results) OR equivalent experience. - Experience partnering directly with customers or internal stakeholders to deliver solutions end-to-end. - 3+ years customer-facing, project-delivery experience, professional services, and/or consulting experience. - Comfortable with travel up to 25% (role dependent) #FDE Data Science IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $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: 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.** [View posting at Microsoft](https://apply.careers.microsoft.com/careers/job/1970393556939565) ## About Microsoft Microsoft sells cloud infrastructure, productivity software, and AI tools to enterprises and consumers globally, anchored by Azure, Office 365, and the OpenAI partnership. 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