Principal Applied Scientist
Microsoft
Join a team that’s redefining modern security research with AI-first, agentic systems—moving beyond manual, expert-only workflows to scalable, automation-driven threat discovery. You’ll work at the intersection of security research, applied ML, and agentic orchestration to build end-to-end investigation capabilities that automate analysis of attacker techniques and accelerate researcher velocity and consistency.
Your work will help power AI-driven campaign discovery, surfacing emerging attack patterns at scale and enabling proactive threat monitoring that continuously hunts for new attack classes—especially across Linux and macOS, where reducing blind spots is a key focus.
You’ll also collaborate across engineering and research partners on data-driven programs that turn telemetry into action—such as pipelines that identify active customer evaluations early and help predict security performance, enabling faster prioritization and response
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.
Responsibilities
Invent and build AI‑driven agents and systems that transform how we analyze entities, telemetry, and behavioral data—pushing the boundaries of modern threat detection and protection.
Turn deep analysis into decisive action by generating insights that drive durable detection and prevention strategies across the full attack kill chain, exposing protection gaps and directly influencing product improvements.
Operate with high autonomy and ownership, defining the right technical approach and designing, improving, or creating novel data science and ML models that deliver measurable impact to Microsoft products and services.
Collaborate across research, engineering, and partner teams—both internal and external—to establish new partnerships and strengthen existing ones that accelerate product maturity and unlock richer insights.
Communicate complex findings with clarity and impact, distilling results into compelling narratives through data visualizations, infographics, and written and verbal briefings for researchers, developers, and engineers.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's Degree or higher in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field OR equivalent industry experience
- 10+ years of experience with data analysis involving statistical software tools, Big Data systems, Data Pipelines and Reporting
- Should have experience in Python / C#
- Experience with Azure/AWS/GCP (3+ years)
Good to have
- Industry experience in the cybersecurity area
- Experience with Generative AI / LLMs / NLP (1+ years) Prompt Engineering (1+ year)
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.