Job Summary
- Company: Microsoft
- Role: Data Science Intern
- Job Number: 200005588
- Location: Bangalore, Karnataka, India (Fully On-site)
- Date Posted: November 18, 2025
- Travel: Less than 25%
- Profession: Research, Applied & Data Sciences
- Employment Type: Internship
- Apply Link: Apply on Microsoft Careers
Introduction
Microsoft’s Data Science Internship is one of the most sought-after university programs in the world. Every year, thousands of students from top institutes apply for an opportunity to work on real-world engineering problems that shape the future of technology. The 2025–2026 internship cycle brings exciting opportunities for Data Science aspirants, especially those who aim to work at the intersection of machine learning, analytics, product development and large-scale distributed systems.
This internship is designed for students who enjoy solving complex challenges with data, exploring patterns, building models, and generating insights that directly improve user experiences. Microsoft’s products—Windows, Azure, Office, Xbox, Surface, Bing, LinkedIn and other services—serve billions of people globally. As a Data Science Intern, you contribute to these massive ecosystems through research-oriented and data-driven engineering work.
About Microsoft
Microsoft is one of the world’s largest technology companies, widely recognized for its contributions in cloud computing, AI research, consumer software, operating systems, gaming, and enterprise solutions. With a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, Microsoft focuses on innovation, inclusivity, and global impact.
The company operates in more than 190 countries and maintains research labs, development centers, design studios, and innovation hubs across the globe. Microsoft’s Bangalore campus—also known as the India Development Center (IDC)—plays a major role in engineering product development, AI research, and intelligent cloud services.
Microsoft provides an environment where interns collaborate with senior engineers, product managers, research scientists, and designers. You gain exposure not only to technology, but also to corporate culture, problem-solving frameworks, and large-scale product thinking. The internship is structured to help students transition from academic learning to real-world engineering roles.
Internship Overview
The Data Science Internship focuses on applying statistical knowledge, algorithmic thinking, and data-driven problem solving to improve Microsoft products and services. You may work with teams involved in:
- Product analytics and experimentation
- Machine learning model development
- Natural language processing
- Forecasting and anomaly detection
- Large-scale data engineering
- User behavior modeling
- Recommender systems
- Search relevance and ranking systems
The projects you work on depend on team requirements, your background, and your skill set. Microsoft ensures that interns are given meaningful work with measurable impact.
Life of a Data Science Intern at Microsoft
Internship life at Microsoft is structured, engaging and growth-oriented. Interns participate in team meetings, deep-dive technical discussions, mentorship programs, and cross-functional collaborations. You work with engineers who have decades of experience in areas like AI, machine learning, cloud platforms, and distributed systems.
A typical day may include analyzing datasets, preparing features for models, experimenting with ML algorithms, evaluating metrics, running A/B tests, writing data stories, or optimizing pipelines. You might also collaborate with UX researchers, designers and PMs to interpret insights from user scenarios and customer behavior.
Microsoft emphasizes learning through real tasks rather than isolated training exercises. As an intern, you are encouraged to explore new tools, attend workshops, participate in hackathons, and engage in networking sessions. The company’s culture rewards curiosity, open communication, and innovation.
Key Responsibilities
- Analyze and interpret complex datasets to generate useful product insights.
- Develop machine learning models for prediction, ranking, classification, or optimization tasks.
- Collaborate with engineering teams to design metrics, dashboards and monitoring systems.
- Perform data cleaning, preprocessing, feature extraction, and model evaluation.
- Use statistical methods to validate hypotheses through experiments or A/B testing.
- Participate in model deployment workflows and evaluate performance in production.
- Present analytical findings to engineering and business stakeholders.
- Work with product managers to refine use cases and ensure data alignment with product goals.
What You Will Learn
Interns gain exposure to one of the world's most advanced tech ecosystems. Some areas of learning include:
- Working with petabyte-scale datasets using Azure & distributed systems
- Understanding customer behavior using real-world analytics
- Building scalable ML pipelines using Microsoft tools and open-source libraries
- Designing experiments and evaluating outcomes using causal inference
- Applying advanced statistical modeling techniques
- Collaborating within global engineering teams
- Using DevOps, cloud tools, code repositories and documentation workflows
Interns graduate from the program with significantly stronger technical, analytical and communication skills—making them competitive for full-time roles at Microsoft and other global tech companies.
Eligibility Criteria
- Pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Data Science, CS, Statistics, Mathematics, Economics or related fields
- Must have at least one semester remaining after internship end
- Strong foundation in probability, statistics and linear algebra
- Knowledge of Python/R programming
- Experience with data analysis libraries (numpy, pandas, scipy, sklearn)
- Good communication and collaboration skills
Preferred Skills
- SQL knowledge
- Experience with Azure, AWS or other cloud platforms
- Basic understanding of deep learning
- Experience with machine learning projects
- Understanding of experiment design
- Familiarity with data visualization tools
Intern Projects & Real-World Impact
Microsoft encourages interns to work on high-impact assignments rather than artificial training projects. Some examples of real intern contributions include:
- Improving search ranking models for Bing
- Developing anomaly detection systems for Azure
- Building personalization recommendations for Xbox
- Improving forecasting models for Office 365 usage
- Optimizing user engagement metrics for Windows features
Many intern projects transition into long-term contributions for product teams, and exceptional interns may receive full-time job offers based on performance.
Hiring Process
- Step 1: Online Application – Submit resume and details through Microsoft Careers portal.
- Step 2: Screening – Recruiters evaluate academic performance and project experience.
- Step 3: Online Assessment – Some candidates will solve DS/ML problems.
- Step 4: Technical Interviews – Includes programming, statistics, ML fundamentals, and scenario-based questions.
- Step 5: Hiring Manager Round – Discussion on expectations, interests and team fit.
- Step 6: Offer – Selected candidates receive internship offer and onboarding details.
How to Prepare
- Revise probability theory, hypothesis testing, distributions
- Practice Python (pandas, numpy, sklearn)
- Develop ML mini projects on Kaggle or GitHub
- Understand A/B testing and statistical inference
- Prepare structured answers for behavioral questions
- Learn to explain ML models and metrics clearly
- Prepare 2–3 projects you can explain in depth
Stipend & Benefits
Internship compensation at Microsoft is competitive and includes various perks depending on the region and team. Benefits may include:
- Stipend (competitive with industry standards)
- Free snacks and cafeteria access
- Professional training resources
- Opportunity to attend internal tech talks and workshops
- Access to Microsoft product ecosystem
- Networking with global engineering teams
Apply Online
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Who can apply?
Students in Data Science, CS, Statistics, Economics, or related fields.
2. Is experience required?
No, this is a fresher-friendly internship.
3. Is this fully on-site?
Yes, interns work from the Bangalore campus.
4. How long is the internship?
The duration depends on team requirements; usually 10–12 weeks.
5. Does Microsoft hire interns full-time?
Yes. Many interns convert to full-time Software/Data Science roles.
6. What skills matter most?
Strong fundamentals, problem solving, clear communication, and ML basics.