Principal Security Researcher

Microsoft•Redmond, WA

About The Position

Microsoft Security Research combines security expertise, threat intelligence, and Microsoft security telemetry to understand evolving threats and improve customer protection. The Principal Security Researcher will lead research across the Microsoft Defender ecosystem and collaborate with Microsoft Security teams to turn security signals into high-confidence, actionable intelligence. The role combines threat knowledge with large-scale security data to develop customer-specific finished intelligence and broader insights into emerging threats, attacker behavior, exposure, and protection trends. The researcher will apply security judgment to determine what findings matter, why they matter, and what security operations practitioners and leaders can do about them. They will work with customer-facing teams and practitioners to test intelligence concepts, incorporate real-world feedback, and refine approaches. The role also uses AI to accelerate research and analysis, prototype new capabilities, and help scale effective solutions. The researcher will establish analytical methodologies and quality standards and translate novel research into durable capabilities for customer engagements, Microsoft products and services, and AI-powered security experiences.

Requirements

Doctorate in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Security, or a related field and 3+ years of experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, threat analysis or modeling, cybersecurity, vulnerability research, and/or anomaly detection; or a master's degree in a listed or related field and 4+ years of such experience; or a bachelor's degree in a listed or related field and 6+ years of such experience; or equivalent experience.
Ability to meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements, including passing the Microsoft background and Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire or transfer and every two years thereafter.

Nice To Haves

Doctorate in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Security, or a related field and 5+ years of relevant experience; or a master's degree in a listed or related field and 8+ years of relevant experience; or a bachelor's degree in a listed or related field and 12+ years of relevant experience; or equivalent experience.
Hands-on security research experience in one or more areas such as threat analysis, threat intelligence, security telemetry analysis, incident investigation, threat hunting, detection engineering, or vulnerability research.
Experience analyzing security telemetry or other large-scale security datasets to investigate threats, assess security impact, or develop and validate research conclusions.
Experience applying AI, machine learning, large language models, or agentic workflows to security research, threat analysis, or security operations.

Responsibilities

Lead research that transforms threat intelligence and large-scale security telemetry into actionable intelligence, identifying emerging threats and attacker behavior, assessing customer impact and protection effectiveness, and translating evidence into defensible conclusions and prioritized actions.
Establish and evolve analytical methodologies, research standards, and quality criteria for rigorous, repeatable, scalable analysis and high-quality finished intelligence.
Collaborate across Microsoft Defender and partner teams, bringing together security research, threat intelligence, data and applied science, engineering, and product expertise to turn research and analytical approaches into durable capabilities.
Prototype, validate, and iterate on intelligence capabilities, incorporating feedback from customers and security practitioners and using AI to accelerate research, analysis, experimentation, and scaling.
Provide Principal-level technical and industry leadership by shaping research direction, mentoring researchers, communicating complex findings to technical and executive audiences, and influencing security investments and product direction.