below marketmost similar roles pay hereabove market
This role pays more than
53%
of similar roles. Most pay
$194,112–$231,000
— the blue band above.
At the midpoint, this role pays about
$209k
versus about
$213k
for comparable roles.
Based on 240 similar postings.
Employer
About Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is a global technology leader producing software, hardware, and cloud services including Windows, Office 365, Azure cloud platform, Xbox gaming, and Surface devices. Industry: Software & Cloud Computing
Microsoft currently has
694 open roles
on FindRole.
Listed pay typically runs
$119,800–$234,700
across 651 roles with salary data.
As a Principal Software Engineering Manager within the Microsoft Red Team Intelligence team, you will lead and grow a software engineering team responsible for a foundational intelligence platform. You will own the technical strategy and execution for services that provide reconnaissance, data, and attack-graph capabilities for human operators and autonomous agents. Your daily work involves driving the design of AI-driven services leveraging LLMs and autonomous agents to identify critical attack paths across the Microsoft estate. You will collaborate with security researchers and data scientists to turn fragmented data into actionable intelligence packages. Required skills include proficiency in languages such as C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python. You will solve complex problems by modeling identities, assets, and exposures to accelerate red team operations and adversary emulation.
What does a Software Engineering Manager earn?
Median $214394 from 123 postings across 39 companies.
Lead, grow, and coach a team of software engineers to build an inclusive, high-trust culture.
Own the technical strategy, roadmap, and execution for the intelligence pillar within Microsoft Red Team engineering.
Drive the design and delivery of AI-driven services using LLMs and autonomous agents to identify critical attack paths.
Deliver intelligence packages that help human red team operators understand target environments and plan high-impact operations.
Contribute engineering leadership to the broader AI-driven adversary emulation platform by partnering with global peer teams.
Partner with security researchers and product management to align investments with the highest-impact attack paths.
Drive engineering excellence through design reviews, code quality, secure development practices, and live-site health.
What we're looking for
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field and 6+ years of technical engineering experience with coding in languages like C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python (or equivalent experience).
Ability to meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements, including the Microsoft Cloud Background Check.
Experience with offensive security, such as red teaming, penetration testing, malware/tooling development, or offensive cyber operations (preferred).
Experience with applications leveraging LLMs or autonomous agents, including agentic architectures, prompt engineering, or integrating generative AI into production (preferred).
Experience leading teams through growth or charter expansion and developing engineers into senior and principal contributors (preferred).
Familiarity with the modern attacker kill chain, MITRE ATT&CK, and adversary tradecraft against cloud and AI environments (preferred).
10+ years of professional hands-on software development experience with a track record of shipping and operating production systems (preferred).
3+ years of people management experience leading software engineering teams, including hiring, coaching, and performance management (preferred).
C
C++
C#
Java
JavaScript
Python
Azure
AWS
GCP
Red Teaming
Exploit Development
Vulnerability Discovery
Post-Exploitation
Agent Platform Development
Threat Intelligence
Adversary Emulation