Senior Security Researcher

Security remains a critical priority for our customers as they navigate growing digital threats, regulatory pressure, and complex estates. Microsoft Security’s mission is to make the world safer by delivering simplified, end‑to‑end solutions that empower every user, customer, and developer. Our organization accelerates Microsoft’s mission by securing digital platforms, devices, and clouds across heterogeneous environments while protecting our own internal estate. We embrace a growth mindset, pursue excellence, and encourage teams to bring their best each day, driving innovations that impact billions worldwide.

The Microsoft Defender Experts team is seeking threat hunters to help customers detect, investigate, and respond to advanced attacks using Microsoft 365 Defender. We combine deep knowledge of the attacker landscape with rich telemetry to perform root‑cause analysis, generate high‑fidelity alerts, and ensure no human adversary can operate silently. We leverage Microsoft’s trillions of security signals to identify emerging behaviors, deliver context‑rich detections, build hunting tools and automations, and advance methods for identifying sophisticated tradecraft.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and organization to achieve more. We work with a growth mindset, innovate to support others, and collaborate toward shared goals. Our culture—rooted in respect, integrity, and accountability—fosters an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive.

• Explore and correlate large data sets to uncover novel and sophisticated attack techniques, monitor and catalog changes in activity group tradecraft, and generate custom alerts for enterprise customers. 

• Work with customer support teams to support investigation and response during an enterprise’s time of need. 

• Collaborate with our data science and threat research teams to develop and maintain accurate and durable cloud-based detections. 

• Build hunting tools and automations for use in the discovery of human adversaries.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Doctorate in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Security, or related field OR Master's Degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Security, or related field AND 3+ years experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, threat analysis or modeling, cybersecurity, vulnerability research, and/or anomaly detection.
  • OR Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Security, or related field AND 4+ years experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, threat analysis or modeling, cybersecurity, vulnerability research, and/or anomaly detection.
  • OR equivalent experience.

Other Requirements:

Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:

Microsoft Cloud Background Check:

• This position will be required to pass the Microsoft background and Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.
• This position requires verification of U.S. citizenship due to citizenship‑based legal restrictions. Specifically, this position supports United States federal, state, and/or local government agency customers and is subject to certain citizenship‑based restrictions where required or permitted by applicable law. To meet this legal requirement, and as a condition of employment, the successful candidate’s citizenship will be verified via a valid passport.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Doctorate in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Security, or related field AND 3+ years experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, threat analysis or modeling, cybersecurity, vulnerability research, and/or anomaly detection.
  • OR Master's Degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Security, or related field AND 6+ years experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, threat analysis or modeling, cybersecurity, vulnerability research, and/or anomaly detection.
  • OR Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Security, or related field AND 8+ years experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, threat analysis or modeling, cybersecurity, vulnerability research, and/or anomaly detection.
  • OR equivalent experience.
• 4+ years of experience in a technical role in the areas of Security Operations, Threat Intelligence, Cyber Incident Response, or Penetration Testing/Red Team. 
• Knowledge of operating system internals and security mechanisms. 
• Experience analyzing attacker techniques that leverage email and cloud-service tactics. 
• Skilled working with extremely large data sets, using tools and scripting languages such as: Excel, SQL, Python, Splunk, and PowerBI. 
• Candidates should have knowledge of operating system internals, security mitigations, and security challenges across Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, and iOS platforms. Familiarity with the kill‑chain model, the MITRE ATT&CK framework, and modern penetration testing techniques is expected.
• Cross‑group collaboration and communication skills are required, with the ability to clearly articulate the business need for detection improvements.
• Knowledge of major cloud and productivity platforms, identity systems, and associated security concerns.
• Experience curating threat intelligence, engaging directly with customers in service delivery roles, and using data to tell a clear story is important.
• Backgrounds in reverse engineering, DFIR, incident response, or machine learning models are also valuable.
• Experience with system administration in large enterprise environments—including Windows and Linux systems, network administration, and cloud administration—is preferred.
• Offensive security experience, including use of tools such as Metasploit, exploit development, OSINT techniques, and designing approaches to test or breach enterprise networks, is beneficial.
• Advanced technical degrees or cybersecurity certifications such as CISSP, OSCP, CEH, or GIAC are a plus.

Security Research IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 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 $160,200 - $261,000 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.