Principal Security Researcher (Red Team)

Overview Security is one of the most critical priorities for our customers in a world of growing digital threats, regulatory scrutiny, and estate complexity. Microsoft Security aspires to make the world safer by empowering every user, customer, and developer with a security cloud that delivers end-to-end, simplified protection. The Microsoft Security organization advances this mission by helping secure digital technology platforms, devices, and clouds across customers’ heterogeneous environments, while also protecting Microsoft’s internal estate. Our culture is grounded in a growth mindset, inspiring excellence, and enabling teams and leaders to bring their full potential each day. The Microsoft Threat Protection Research (MTP-R) Purple Team sits at the intersection of offense, defense, and intelligence, working across Microsoft Defender technologies to ensure telemetry, detections, and protections are effective against real-world cyberattacks. We are looking for a Principal-level red team security researcher with experience in adversary emulation, offensive tooling, and malware development to design and execute realistic attack simulations in an AI-first environment. This role will use agentic systems and LLM-driven workflows to scale attack development, automation, and simulation fidelity, while helping shape how AI-enabled offensive research is used to emulate modern adversaries in controlled, high-impact ways. This role is for someone who has experience in offensive security and wants to shape how AI-enabled adversary emulation is performed at scale. You will define methodologies, influence product direction, and drive innovation in agentic red team capabilities. Responsibilities As a Principal Security Researcher (Red Team), you will: · Lead the design and execution of complex, multi-stage adversary simulations across endpoint, identity, cloud, and SaaS environments. · Architect and develop advanced offensive tooling, including scalable C2 frameworks, custom implants, and malware tradecraft. · Conduct deep research into modern attacker techniques, including novel evasion strategies, cloud abuse patterns, and identity-based attacks. · Drive threat modeling and adversary emulation strategy, aligning simulations with real-world campaigns and emerging threats. · Leverage and contribute to threat intelligence by producing new insights from simulation results, tradecraft research, and adversary behavior analysis. · Design and implement AI-enabled and agentic systems to automate offensive operations, generate adaptive attack paths, and scale simulation complexity. · Evaluate the effectiveness of defensive systems, including AI-driven detections, and provide strategic recommendations for improvement. · Partner with engineering, detection, and intelligence teams to influence product direction and improve security outcomes. · Deliver executive-level briefings, technical reports, and strategic recommendations. · Act as a technical leader, shaping offensive research methodology, mentoring team members, and driving long-term innovation. Qualifications Minimum 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 4+ 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 6+ 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. This position requires verification of U.S. citizenship due to citizenship‑based legal restrictions. Specifically, this position supports United States federal, state, and/or local government agency customers and is subject to certain citizenship‑based restrictions where required or permitted by applicable law. To meet this legal requirement, and as a condition of employment, the successful candidate’s citizenship will be verified via a valid passport. Preferred Qualifications: Doctorate in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Computer Security, or related field AND 5+ 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 8+ 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 12+ years experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, threat analysis or modeling, cybersecurity, vulnerability research, and/or anomaly detection. OR equivalent experience. 5+ years of experience in red teaming, offensive security, or adversary emulation. Security related certifications such as OSCP, OSCE, OSEP, OSWE, GPEN, GXPN, GREM Expertise in C2 framework design, implant development, and offensive infrastructure. Background in malware development, reverse engineering, or exploit development. Experience leveraging and producing threat intelligence at the campaign or actor level. Knowledge of MITRE ATT&CK and threat modeling methodologies. #MSFTSecurity Security Research IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $139,900 - $274,800 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 $188,000 - $304,200 per year. Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay 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. Insights from previous hires Top skills: Architecture, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Analytics, Business, Adoption, Administration, Value Realization and Outcome Mapping, Risk and Scope Management, Partner and SI Ecosystem Orchestration, Local Area Networks (Lan) Common previous titles: Senior Solution Architect, Principal Security Researcher, Strategic Account Director, Senior Specialist, Senior Security Researcher, Senior Partner Manager, Senior, Learning Manager, Senior Customer Engineer, Senior Security Engineer