The Cloud & AI 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. Microsoft is one of the largest enterprise service companies in the world.
Team Overview: The Azure Security Operations team is responsible for helping protect some of the world's most critical cloud services and platforms. We bring together security engineering, incident response, data analytics, automation, and AI-driven innovation to identify emerging threats, drive rapid response, and continuously strengthen Azure's security posture. Our team operates at hyperscale, partnering across engineering and security organizations to solve complex challenges, improve resilience, and ensure customers can trust the services they rely on every day. If you are passionate about cybersecurity, enjoy solving high-impact problems, and want to help shape the future of cloud defense, you'll find an unparalleled opportunity to make a difference on our team.
We are looking for a Principal Security Operations Engineering Manager to join the team!
Role Overview: As the leader of our Incident Response function, you will play a critical role in defending Microsoft's cloud environment against emerging threats and helping shape the future of cybersecurity operations. You will investigate complex security events, lead cross-functional response efforts, and develop innovative solutions that improve detection, response, and resilience. This is a rare opportunity to combine hands-on technical depth with strategic influence, working alongside some of the industry's leading security professionals to solve problems that matter at global scale. If you thrive in fast-paced environments, are energized by continuous learning, and want your work to have visible impact, we'd love to hear from you.
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
People Management:
- Deliver success through empowerment and accountability by modeling, coaching, and caring.
- Lead a team responsible for protecting Microsoft's cloud ecosystem through world-class incident response, threat investigation, and security operations capabilities.
- Drive strategic investments that improve Microsoft's ability to detect, respond to, and recover from sophisticated security threats at scale.
- Partner across engineering, product, and security organizations to solve complex security challenges and deliver durable, defense-in-depth solutions.
- Foster a culture of operational excellence through data-driven decision making, automation, AI innovation, and continuous improvement.
- Represent the organization with senior leadership, communicating security risk, operational health, and strategic priorities to executive stakeholders.
- Attract, develop, and retain exceptional security talent while building an inclusive, high-performing team that delivers measurable impact for Microsoft and its customers.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications:
- Doctorate 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 Master'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 Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or related field AND 6+ 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.
- 1+ year(s) people management experience.
- Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Doctorate in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or related field AND 5+ years experience in software development lifecycle, large scale computing, threat modeling, cyber security, or anomaly detection
- OR Master's Degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or related field AND 8+ years experience in software development lifecycle, large scale computing, threat modeling, cyber security, or anomaly detection
- OR Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or related field AND 12+ years experience in software development lifecycle, large scale computing, threat modeling, cyber security, or anomaly detection
- OR equivalent experience.
- 2+ years people management and/or informal/indirect team leadership experience.
- 1+ years experience leading a security function (e.g., Security Operations Center [SOC], threat and vulnerability management [TVM]).
- 1+ years experience leading multi-disciplinary teams.
- CISSP CISA CISM SANS OSCP Security+
#AzureSecurity
Security Operations Engineering M5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $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.
Skills Required
- Degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or related field OR equivalent experience (Doctorate/Master's/Bachelor's with specified years).
- Relevant experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, threat modeling, cybersecurity, anomaly detection, SOC detection, threat analytics, SIEM, IT, or incident response (per degree path).
- 1+ year people management experience.
- Ability to pass Microsoft Cloud background check and periodic customer/government security screenings.
- Experience with SIEM and SOC detection tools and threat analytics.
- Experience with cloud platforms (Azure) and AI-driven security automation.
- Experience leading a security function (e.g., SOC, TVM).
- Experience leading multi-disciplinary teams.
- 2+ years people management and/or informal/indirect leadership experience.
- Industry certifications such as CISSP, CISA, CISM, SANS, OSCP, Security+.
Microsoft Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Microsoft and has not been reviewed or approved by Microsoft.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is presented as broadly competitive overall, with clear role/level/location variation and an emphasis on using posted ranges and band information for apples-to-apples comparisons.
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Retirement Support — Retirement benefits are described as a standout, highlighted by a strong 401(k) match structure and immediate vesting, plus additional plan features for tax-advantaged saving.
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Parental & Family Support — Family-oriented benefits are portrayed as a meaningful strength, with substantial paid parental leave and added supports like back-up care and adoption/surrogacy assistance.
Microsoft Insights
What We Do
At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our mission is grounded in both the world in which we live and the future we strive to create. Today, we live in a mobile-first, cloud-first world, and the transformation we are driving across our businesses is designed to enable Microsoft and our customers to thrive in this world.
