Principal Applied Threat Intelligence Analyst

Microsoft•Redmond, WA

6d•$142,800 - $304,200

About The Position

Security represents the most critical priorities for our customers in a world awash in digital threats, regulatory scrutiny, and estate complexity. Microsoft Security aspires to make the world a safer place for all. We want to reshape security and empower every user, customer, and developer with a security cloud that protects them with end to end, simplified solutions. The Microsoft Security organization accelerates Microsoft’s mission and bold ambitions to ensure that our company and industry is securing digital technology platforms, devices, and clouds in our customers’ heterogeneous environments, as well as ensuring the security of our own internal estate. Microsoft Security Research is at the front line of defending Microsoft customers and the broader ecosystem against the world's most sophisticated threat actors. Our Applied Threat Intelligence team tracks the threat landscape and the threat actors that target our customers; where they have been, where they are today, and predict where they will be tomorrow. We partner deeply across Microsoft Threat Intelligence, product engineering, and research to ensure our customers stay ahead of threats.

Requirements

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 4+ 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 6+ years experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, threat analysis or modeling, cybersecurity, vulnerability research, and/or anomaly detection.
OR equivalent experience.
Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role.
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.

Nice To Haves

Doctorate in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Security, or related field AND 5+ 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 8+ 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 12+ years experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, threat analysis or modeling, cybersecurity, vulnerability research, and/or anomaly detection.
OR equivalent experience.
10+ years of experience in cyber threat intelligence, threat hunting, incident response, or a closely related security discipline.
Attribution experience creating threat groups, assessing connections between established threat groups, and communicating attribution assessments to internal stakeholders and customers in a timely manner.
Demonstrated experience producing finished threat intelligence reporting for technical and/or executive audiences.
Working experience with Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Defender XDR (or directly comparable SIEM/XDR platforms).
Understanding of adversary tradecraft, the cyber kill chain, and frameworks such as MITRE ATT&CK, the Diamond Model, and structured analytic techniques.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a portfolio of public or customer-facing intelligence writing.
Experience tracking and defending against financially motivated threat actors.
Experience with endpoint, cloud, network, and identity-based attacks and datasets.
Experience with AI tools and large language models, building agents and skills for information security applications and pipelines.
Comprehensive OS security/internals knowledge.
Understanding of network protocols and analytical experience with network infrastructure data & telemetry.
Reverse-engineering with static and behavioral binary analysis experience.
Functional understanding of common threat analysis models such as the Diamond Model, Cyber Kill Chain, and MITRE ATT&CK.
Programming or scripting background (Python, PowerShell, C#, C++, etc.)

Responsibilities

Lead with AI to understand the threat landscape and the latest attacker tradecraft.
Track threat actors, including financially motivated threat actors; their infrastructure, their targets, and their shifting techniques, tactics, and procedures.
Translate complex technical findings into clear, prescriptive guidance for security operations teams, executives, and the broader defender community.
Partner with product, research, marketing, and communications teams to ensure high-quality intelligence experiences through Microsoft's customer-facing surfaces and managed services (Agentic Security, Defender XDR, Defender Experts, Sentinel, blogs, briefings).
Build and refine the pipelines, tooling, and workflows that allow Microsoft to stream insightful cyber threat intelligence to customers machine speed.
Represent Microsoft Threat Intelligence in customer briefings, industry conferences, and cross-industry working groups.
Mentor analysts and contribute to tradecraft, analytic standards, and team-wide knowledge sharing.