Security represents the most critical priorities for our customers in a world awash in digital threats, regulatory scrutiny, and estate complexity. Microsoft Security aspires to make the world a safer place for all. We want to reshape security and empower every user, customer, and developer with a security cloud that protects them with end to end, simplified solutions. The Microsoft Security organization accelerates Microsoft’s mission and bold ambitions to ensure that our company and industry is securing digital technology platforms, devices, and clouds in our customers’ heterogeneous environments, as well as ensuring the security of our own internal estate. Our culture is centered on embracing a growth mindset, a theme of inspiring excellence, and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. In doing so, we create life-changing innovations that impact billions of lives around the world.
Do you have a passion for helping Microsoft’s clients defend themselves against targeted exploitation?
Are you interested in being intimately involved in the latest, cutting-edge developments in the security industry and having a direct impact on the security of all Microsoft customers?
Do you want to be on the front lines of helping our customers go toe-to-toe against advanced adversaries?
Are you interested in a fast-paced job full of new opportunities?
If so, you may be a fit for a Principal Security Researcher role for the Global Hunting, Oversight, and Strategic Triage (GHOST) team!
We are looking for an experienced Principal Security Researcher with a strong analytical background to join our team to perform threat hunts, assist with investigations, develop threat intelligence, and to cultivate investigation best practices into Microsoft tooling and products. Researchers will support a global team to identify and catalog new attacker TTPs, victims, and deliver customer notifications to protect worldwide enterprise customers and empower customers to protect themselves via constantly improving Microsoft products.
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.Responsibilities
Conduct proactive AI-driven threat hunting across enterprise environments to identify novel attack vectors and anomalous behaviors.
Develop and refine AI-based detection models to improve threat visibility and reduce false positives.
Analyze AI-generated malware and adversarial techniques targeting machine learning systems.
Collaborate with data scientists and security engineers to integrate AI/ML into security operations workflows.
Reverse engineer malicious AI models and payloads to understand tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs).
Create and maintain threat intelligence reports focused on AI-enabled threats and emerging trends.
Design and implement automated pipelines for malware classification and behavioral analysis using AI.
Evaluate and test AI/ML models for robustness against adversarial attacks and evasion techniques.
Participate in red/blue team exercises to simulate and defend against AI-powered threats.
Stay current with advancements in AI security, adversarial ML, and threat actor capabilities.
Qualifications
Strong experience in cybersecurity threat hunting and malware analysis.
Proficiency in Python or similar languages used in AI/ML and security tooling.
Familiarity with AI/ML frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-learn).
Deep understanding of adversarial machine learning and AI model vulnerabilities.
Experience with sandboxing, reverse engineering tools (e.g., IDA Pro, Ghidra), and dynamic/static malware analysis.
Knowledge of MITRE ATT\&CK framework and threat intelligence platforms.
Ability to interpret and manipulate large datasets for threat detection and analysis.
Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills with a research-oriented mindset.
Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. Consistent with applicable law, 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 and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.