This role pays more than
52%
of similar roles. Most pay
$151,475–$212,750
— the shaded band above.
At the midpoint, this role pays about
$177k
versus about
$182k
for comparable roles.
Based on 239 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
598 open roles
on FindRole.
Listed pay typically runs
$119,800–$234,700
across 586 roles with salary data.
Senior Security Researcher
The Senior Security Researcher joins the Engineering Excellence organization to define security engineering standards within an agentic AI era. In this role, you will design and scale AI-first engineering systems, shared platforms, and secure, compliant workflows to improve developer productivity across Microsoft Security. You will be responsible for modernizing fragmented tooling into a cohesive foundation while establishing reusable standards for build, validation, observability, experimentation, and cost-aware design. The ideal candidate possesses expertise in infrastructure, developer tool chains, and integrating AI into coding, testing, deployment, and operations. Key technical competencies include experience with large-scale computing, threat analysis or modeling, cybersecurity, vulnerability research, and anomaly detection. You will solve the challenge of creating durable systems that improve engineering velocity and system health while navigating complex security, compliance, and policy constraints to enhance overall researcher productivity and operational excellence.
Design and scale AI-first engineering systems and shared platforms to improve developer productivity.
Integrate AI into real development workflows including coding, testing, deployment, and operations.
Modernize fragmented tooling into a cohesive foundation for the Microsoft Security organization.
Establish reusable standards for build processes, validation, observability, experimentation, and cost-aware design.
Build durable systems that improve engineering velocity and system health across the organization.
Develop secure, compliant workflows that are broadly adopted by internal engineering teams.
Use automation and security telemetry to accelerate threat research and streamline investigations.
Translate data analysis and experimental findings into solutions that improve overall security posture.
What we're looking for
A Doctorate in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Security, or a related field.
A Master's degree in a relevant field and 3+ years of experience in software development, large-scale computing, threat analysis, cybersecurity, or vulnerability research.
A Bachelor's degree in a relevant field and 4+ years of experience in software development, large-scale computing, threat analysis, cybersecurity, or vulnerability research.
Equivalent experience to the specified educational and professional requirements.
Ability to pass Microsoft and Microsoft Cloud background checks.
Expertise in building reusable security research capabilities, platforms, or services (preferred).
Experience leveraging automation, AI-assisted workflows, and security telemetry to accelerate threat research (preferred).
Proven track record of identifying security gaps through data analysis and translating findings into solutions (preferred).
LLMs
AI Agents
Model Evaluation
CI/CD
Data Pipelines
SAST
SCA
SARIF
Telemetry
System Design
Automation Frameworks
Security Engineering
Vulnerability Management
LLMs
AI Agents
Model Evaluation
CI/CD
Data Pipelines
SAST
SCA
SARIF
Telemetry
System Design
Automation Frameworks
Cybersecurity
Vulnerability Management
Software Development Lifecycle
Generative AI
Adversarial Machine Learning
Red Teaming
Penetration Testing
Python
C#
C/C++
PowerShell
Kali Linux
Burpsuite
Nmap
Nessus
Vulnerability Research
Threat Analysis
Anomaly Detection