Senior Applied AI Security Researcher

Job ID: 200046521Posted: 2026-08-04Location: United States, Washington, RedmondSalary: USD $119,800 - $234,700 per yearEmployment type: Full-TimeWork site: 3 days / week in-officeRole type: Individual ContributorTravel: Less than 25%Profession: Security EngineeringDiscipline: Security ResearchCompany: MicrosoftOverviewSecurity 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.Microsoft Threat Protection Research is recruiting security professionals with experience and passion to apply AI techniques to protect customers. We are looking for a Senior Applied AI Security Researcher to join the Microsoft Defender Experts research team to help us deliver Managed Security Services to our customers.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.ResponsibilitiesAs a Senior Applied AI Security Researcher, you will:Work with researchers and partners across Microsoft to apply AI techniques that help deliver Microsoft Defender Experts services.Innovate new approaches for detecting and tracking threats, investigating attacks in customer environments, all in a rapidly evolving and cloud focused threat landscape.Leverage AI techniques and security operations experience to explore and correlate large data sets to uncover novel attack techniques and hunting in enterprise customer environments.Partner with researchers and engineering teams, and Defender Experts analysts, to use AI to improve our service delivery outcomes.Use advanced techniques and in-the-wild data to identify, prioritize, and target complex security issues that cause negative impact to customers.Design and lead experiments in the use of AI to transform our managed services business.QualificationsMinimum Qualifications:Doctorate in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Security, or related field.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 detectionOR 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 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.Preferred Qualifications: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 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 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 equivalent experience.Experience investigating security attacks, with knowledge of endpoint, cloud, network, and identity-based attack patterns, threat actors behind those attacks, and the ability to use large data sets to conduct those investigations.Experience in security research, incident response and attacker tradecraft.Communication skills and investigative practices.Experience applying generative AI to the information security domain, including creating solutions with a variety of large language models, understanding differences between models and how to compare them.#MSsecurity #CyberSecurity #dexjobsSecurity Research IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 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 $160,200 - $261,000 per year. Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: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.