Security Researcher II

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE) is a product for preventative protection, post-breach detection, automated investigation, and response. Our team, the core machine learning and data science team, is a cross-discipline team responsible for building ML, LLM, and automation solutions that defend over a billion end users and enterprises from cybersecurity attacks through Microsoft Defender AntiVirus, Microsoft Defender Endpoint Detection and Response, and Network Protection products. We are a mix of machine learning engineers, data scientists, data engineers, and security researchers who develop big data pipelines, run experiments, and deploy our protection to production to protect customers at scale.

Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

* Investigate attacks through threat hunting on top of product telemetry - identifying protection gaps and opportunities for systems to better protect our customers.
* Experiment with and apply large language models and agentic systems to protect our customers and improve our internal systems.
* Propose, design, experiment, and implement machine learning and automation designs to protect our customers.
* Collaborate closely with engineering and product teams to design security sensors, validate protection concepts, and measure effectiveness using data-driven methodologies.

Required/minimum qualifications:

• Master's Degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Security, or related field AND 1+ year(s) 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 2+ 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.

Additional or preferred qualifications:

• 1+ years experience developing systems with Large Language Models or Machine Learning (eg Logistic Regression, LightGBM, XGBoost, PyTorch, BERT, or similar).
• 1+ years of experience with large-scale data, utilizing either distributed data processing frameworks (e.g., Apache Spark, Hadoop), real-time data streaming platforms (e.g., Kafka), or query languages like SQL and KQL.
• 1 + Years of experience in Software development.

Security Research IC3 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $100,600 - $199,000 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 $131,400 - $215,400 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.