Senior Security Researcher - CTJ - Secret

About the role

Security is one of the most critical priorities for customers navigating an increasingly complex landscape of digital threats, regulatory requirements, and rapidly evolving technology environments. Microsoft Security is committed to making the world a safer place by empowering every user, customer, and developer with a comprehensive security cloud that delivers end-to-end protection through simplified, integrated solutions.

As part of Microsoft's Cloud & AI organization, we advance Microsoft's mission to secure digital technology platforms, devices, applications, and cloud environments for customers worldwide, while also protecting Microsoft's own global infrastructure. Our culture is built on a growth mindset, a commitment to excellence, and a belief that diverse perspectives drive innovation.

As a Senior Applied Intelligence Researcher, you will apply the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center's (MSTIC) intelligence to active investigations across Microsoft's products, services, and customer environments. Operating at the intersection of threat intelligence and incident response, you will enrich investigations with threat actor context, drive attribution efforts, produce actionable intelligence, identify emerging adversary activity, and contribute to Microsoft's threat actor tracking mission.

In this role, you will collaborate closely with incident response, threat intelligence, and product teams across Microsoft, including organizations such as GHOST and DART, to help protect both Microsoft and its customers. You will leverage intelligence-driven insights to support investigations, strengthen strategic partnerships, and build new relationships with key stakeholders to advance Microsoft's security objectives and deliver meaningful impact for customers worldwide.

Responsibilities

• Support high-impact investigations by providing threat intelligence expertise to both proactive security research initiatives and reactive incident response engagements across Microsoft and customer environments.
• Lead attribution and threat actor analysis by collecting, modeling, attributing, and documenting intelligence gathered during investigations. Serve as the primary owner for attribution efforts while partnering with incident response teams responsible for forensics and customer engagement.
• Enable Microsoft Security teams by delivering actionable intelligence and attribution insights that support the detection, investigation, and remediation of advanced threats across Microsoft's security ecosystem.
• Drive product and service improvements by translating intelligence on adversary activity, exploitation techniques, and emerging attack trends into recommendations that strengthen the security of Microsoft's products and services.
• Identify and track emerging threats by discovering previously untracked adversary activity, developing new threat clusters into tracked actor groups, and conducting deep analysis across the Diamond Model and multiple Microsoft telemetry sources to advance Microsoft's understanding of the threat landscape.
• Communicate intelligence to diverse audiences through written reports, executive briefings, and customer-facing presentations. Support customer notifications related to imminent, ongoing, or impactful threat activity.
• Strengthen the intelligence feedback loop by ensuring insights gained during investigations, including novel capabilities, infrastructure, targeting patterns, and tradecraft, are rapidly shared with Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) tracking teams to improve detection, attribution, and future investigations.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Security, or related field AND 4+ years experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, threat analysis or modeling, cybersecurity, vulnerability research, and/or anomaly detection.
• OR Master's Degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Security, or related field AND 3+ years experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, threat analysis or modeling, cybersecurity, vulnerability research, and/or anomaly detection.
• OR Doctorate in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Security, or related field OR equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Security, or related field AND 8+ years experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, threat analysis or modeling, cybersecurity, vulnerability research, and/or anomaly detection.
• OR Master's Degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Security, or related field AND 6+ years experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, threat analysis or modeling, cybersecurity, vulnerability research, and/or anomaly detection.
• OR Doctorate in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Security, or related field AND 3+ years experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, threat analysis or modeling, cybersecurity, vulnerability research, and/or anomaly detection.
• OR equivalent experience.
• Background in cloud and identity-based intrusions — token theft, OAuth abuse, SaaS-native tradecraft.
• Detection engineering or hunting query development at scale.
• Use of automation, data science, or AI tooling to accelerate triage, clustering, and analysis.
• Experience delivering customer or executive briefings under time pressure during active incidents.
• Working knowledge of malware used in targeted campaigns, including triage of malicious capabilities.
• Familiarity with Microsoft security data sources - MDC, Defender XDR, Sentinel, Azure Resource Graph.
• Strong technical knowledge of adversary capabilities, infrastructure, and techniques, and the ability to develop new methods to discover and track them.
• Experience tracking advanced financially motivated or state-sponsored adversaries using the Diamond Model; ability to characterize TTPs, infrastructure, and operational campaigns.
• Demonstrated experience producing actionable intelligence that changed the outcome of an investigation or hardened a defended network.
• Familiarity with host, log, and network forensics, common protocols, and a range of adversary command-and-control methods.
• Demonstrated experience with log analysis and query languages (KQL/Kusto, SQL, or equivalent) across SIEM, identity, endpoint, or cloud telemetry.
• Experience with large-scale cloud, identity, and endpoint telemetry.
• Experience supporting incident response and familiarity with common IR procedures and tooling.
• Ability to communicate findings clearly, with appropriate confidence language, to technical and executive audiences.

Security Clearance & Compliance

• Active U.S. Government Secret Security Clearance required.
• Must be able to meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements; failure to maintain or obtain appropriate clearance may result in employment action up to and including termination.
• Clearance verification required prior to offer of employment.
• Must pass Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.
• U.S. citizenship required and will be verified via valid passport, other approved documents, or verified U.S. government clearance due to citizenship-based legal restrictions for supporting U.S. federal, state, and/or local government agency customers.

Pay

Security Research IC4 — The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 per year. For specific work locations