Senior Security Analyst

Overview The Cyber Defense Investigations – Escalations (CDI-ESC) team is Microsoft's deep-dive investigative arm within Cyber Defense Operations (CDO). We lead the most complex, high-severity, and nation-state security incidents across Microsoft's first-party cloud estate, conducting root cause analysis, blast radius assessment, threat actor attribution, and intelligence-driven hunting.

Our work directly disrupts adversaries targeting Microsoft and our customers, and feeds platform-level fixes, detections, and intelligence back into the ecosystem. Join Microsoft's CDI Escalations team and work at the forefront of cyber defense, investigating the most complex nation-state, supply chain, cloud, and identity-based attacks targeting Microsoft.

Our team goes beyond traditional incident response, we combine deep investigations, threat hunting, intelligence operationalization, and cross-organizational collaboration to identify adversaries, drive platform-wide security improvements, and build defenses that prevent future attacks.

You'll partner with leaders across MSTIC, GHOST, Detection Engineering, and service teams, leverage AI-powered investigation techniques, and directly influence Microsoft's security posture while solving some of the industry's hardest security challenges.

We are looking for a Senior Security Analyst to join the team! Starting February, 2026, Microsoft employees are expected to work from a designated Microsoft office at least three days a week if they live within 50 miles (U.S.) or 25 miles (non-U.S., country-specific) of that location.

This expectation is subject to local law and may vary by jurisdiction. 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 Lead deep-dive investigations into the most complex and high-severity security incidents, including root cause analysis, blast radius assessment, threat actor attribution, and impact/scope determination. Proactively hunt across Microsoft's cloud and identity telemetry (e.g., MSTIC, Kusto/ADX, ArmProd, ESTS) to surface emerging threats and operationalize threat intelligence into queries, notebooks, and detection logic.

Drive cross-team response for nation-state, supply chain (npm, GitHub, OpenVSX), and identity-based compromises - partnering with MSTIC, OpsHub, Detection Engineering, Evictions, and Service teams to contain and remediate at scale. Translate investigation findings into durable improvements - new detections, platform fixes, playbooks, and process changes - so the same class of attack does not succeed twice.

Raise the bar on investigation quality, contributing to documented standards, peer reviews, and measurable rigor across incidents, hunts, and forensics. Leverage AI and Copilot technologies to accelerate triage, evidence collection, and analysis, helping the team stay ahead of attackers operating at machine speed.

Mentor and uplevel peers in advanced investigation techniques, threat actor tradecraft, and reverse engineering, building a strong culture of investigative excellence. Qualifications Required Qualifications: Doctorate in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or related field OR Master's Degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or related field AND 3+ years experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, threat modeling, cyber security, anomaly detection, Security Operations Center (SOC) detection, threat analytics, security incident and event management (SIEM), information technology (IT), or operations incident response OR Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or related field AND 4+ years experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, threat modeling, cyber security, anomaly detection, Security Operations Center (SOC) detection, threat analytics, security incident and event management (SIEM), information technology (IT), or operations incident response OR equivalent experience.

Other Requirements: Candidates must be able 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 Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter