Principal Security Researcher

Microsoft • ,

1d • $142,800 - $304,200

About The Position

Microsoft’s Cloud & AI organization is hiring a Principal Security Researcher for the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC). MSTIC aims to make Microsoft threat intelligence an authoritative source of high-quality information on threats. The team provides context on threats affecting customers, delivers a central voice for Microsoft threat intelligence, supports customer-facing services with threat intelligence fusion and customer-ready content, and contributes content to the Microsoft Defender threat intelligence library and the Microsoft Threat Intelligence blog.

The role focuses on researching and analyzing cybercrime threats, contextualizing findings, and producing customer-facing threat intelligence. The researcher will create profiles and briefings about current threats, communicate findings to internal and external audiences, and adapt content to business needs, customer feedback, and changes in the threat landscape. The position requires citizenship and export-control eligibility verification, as well as Microsoft and applicable customer or government security screening.

Requirements

• Doctorate in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Security, or a related field and at least 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 one of these fields and at least 4 years of such experience; or a bachelor's degree in one of these fields and at least 6 years of such experience; or equivalent experience.
• Must 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.
• Must provide citizenship or qualifying residency/protected-status documentation for assessment of eligibility to access export-controlled information; citizenship verification is required for this position.
• Experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, threat analysis or modeling, cybersecurity, vulnerability research, and/or anomaly detection, as applicable to the stated education-and-experience pathways.

Nice To Haves

• At least 5 years of experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, modeling, cybersecurity, and/or anomaly detection, or a master's degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Experience researching and analyzing cybercrime threats and actors, including phishing, commodity malware, and ransomware.
• Experience writing customer-facing threat intelligence products.
• Experience writing about threat actors and their activities, malicious tools, common techniques, and vulnerabilities.
• Ability to understand how Microsoft technologies interact and how that interplay may create opportunities for attackers.
• Ability to exercise judgment in identifying research projects and priorities and to advocate priorities.

Responsibilities

• Research, analyze, and contextualize cybercrime-related threat intelligence involving threat actors, tools, techniques, and vulnerabilities.
• Write customer-facing profiles on current cybercrime threats.
• Create briefings and brief internal and external teams on the latest security threats.
• Adapt writing style and create content in response to business needs and customer feedback.
• Research critical security areas such as cybercrime, current attacks, adversary tracking, and the broader cybersecurity landscape, including collaborating across disciplines and teams.
• Solicit feedback, evaluate research results, and incorporate findings into future research and priorities.
• Synthesize research findings with others into recommendations for mitigating security issues, share findings across teams, and drive team changes based on the research.
• Contribute to customer-facing products and the professional community through publications.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal