Senior Researcher - Security - Microsoft Research

Microsoft • Redmond, WA

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About The Position

The Security Research Group at Microsoft Research Redmond is pushing the boundaries of data‑driven security. By leveraging the massive volume and diversity of security‑relevant events observed across Microsoft’s platforms and customer environments, our mission is to detect security breaches accurately, quickly, and at an unprecedented scale. In this role as a Senior Researcher - Security, you will work alongside leading researchers and engineers to design and build next‑generation intrusion detection systems. Our work combines security expertise with advanced data processing and modeling techniques—including large‑scale streaming analytics and graph‑based representations—to enable near‑real‑time detection of sophisticated attacks. At Microsoft, our mission—to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more—guides how we partner with customers to deliver trusted, impactful solutions. With a growth mindset culture, we innovate responsibly and measure success by shared progress—people, teams, and customers. Join us to do meaningful work that changes the world and helps shape what’s next for everyone.

Requirements

• Doctorate in relevant field OR Master's Degree in relevant field AND 3+ years related research experience OR Bachelor's Degree in relevant field AND 4+ years related research experience OR equivalent experience.
• A PhD (or equivalent experience) in computer science or a related field, with a research background in security, machine learning, data mining, systems, or a closely related area.
• Experience working with large‑scale data, including log analysis, streaming data, or distributed data processing systems.
• Demonstrated foundations in machine learning or statistical modeling, and interest in applying these techniques to real‑world security problems.
• The ability to independently drive research projects from problem formulation through implementation, evaluation, and dissemination.
• A collaborative mindset and interest in bridging foundational research and deployed security systems.

Responsibilities

• Analyze large‑scale, heterogeneous security event logs spanning endpoints, identities, cloud services, and networks.
• Develop and train novel machine learning and statistical models for intrusion detection, anomaly detection, and adversarial behavior discovery.
• Design and prototype scalable data processing and analytics platforms capable of operating on high‑volume, high‑velocity security data, with a focus on low‑latency detection.
• Explore and apply advanced techniques such as graph‑based modeling, streaming computation, and representation learning to improve detection accuracy and timeliness.
• Collaborate closely with other researchers, product teams, and engineering partners to transition research ideas into practical systems with real‑world impact.
• Publish and present research results in top security, systems, and data management venues, and contribute to Microsoft’s broader security strategy.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree