Senior Security Engineer

Overview

Microsoft is a company where passionate innovators come to collaborate, envision what can be and take their careers further. This is a world of more possibilities, more innovation, more openness, and the sky is the limit thinking in a cloud-enabled world.

Microsoft's Azure Data engineering team is leading the transformation of analytics in the world of data with products like databases, data integration, big data analytics, messaging & real-time analytics, and business intelligence. The products our portfolio include Microsoft Fabric, Azure SQL DB, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure PostgreSQL, Azure Data Factory, Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Service Bus, Azure Event Grid, and Power BI. Our mission is to build the data platform for the age of AI, powering a new class of data-first applications and driving a data culture.

Wi thin Azure Data, the databases team builds and maintains Microsoft's operational Database systems. We store and manage data in a structured way to enable multitude of applications across various industries. We are on a journey to enable developer friendly, mission-critical, AI enabled operational Databases across relational, non-relational and OSS offerings.

Microsoft's Azure Data, Databases Security team is hiring a Senior Security Engineer. Our team employs a wide range of adversarial security techniques to continuously evaluate and strengthen the security posture of Azure Database platforms and services. We are dedicated to maintaining customer trust by anticipating and outpacing real-world adversaries. We engage across both pre-release and post-release lifecycles through security reviews, penetration testing, and other adversarial exercises.
We operate in a highly collaborative environment: partnering closely with our blue-team counterparts to improve detection and monitoring, with product engineering teams to drive secure design and systemic improvements, and with security teams across Microsoft to identify cross-cutting risks and share adversarial insights. As a Senior Security Engineer, you will lead high-impact engagements, shape security strategy, and raise the security bar for Azure Database services.

We do not just value differences or different perspectives. We seek them out and invite them in so we can tap into the collective power of everyone in the company. As a result, our customers are better served.

Responsibilities

Security Assurance

• Stay current on emerging security trends, vulnerabilities, and threat techniques relevant to cloud and database platforms, and apply these insights to improve Azure Databases security posture.
• Participate in security design and threat-model reviews, offering clear, balanced guidance on tradeoffs, risk prioritization, and mitigation strategies.
• Share knowledge through reusable security training, playbooks, and learnings from previous penetration tests or security incidents.

Penetration Testing & Adversarial exercises

• Rapidly understand new architectures, features, and cross-service integrations as they are developed, identifying high-risk areas early in the design cycle.
• Plan, scope, and execute comprehensive penetration tests of features and large-scale distributed systems-mapping attack surface, prioritizing depth vs. breadth, and delivering clear risk insights.
• Identify and validate security vulnerabilities across cloud database services and their integrations, translating findings into clear, actionable fixes for engineering teams.
• Navigate complex multi-team ecosystems-coordinating with engineering, blue team, and partner security groups-to drive issues to closure and strengthen systemic defenses.

Embody our culture and values

Qualifications

Required/Minimum Qualifications

• Master's Degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or related field AND 3+ years experience in security or related field OR Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or related field AND 4+ years experience in security or related field OR equivalent experience.

Job Requirements: Other & Additional

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 Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

Preferred/Additional Qualifications

• Substantial programming and debugging capabilities in languages such as C/C++, .NET, JavaScript, Python, and SQL, with the ability to quickly build proof-of-concept exploits, custom testing harnesses, or automation frameworks to support research and adversarial testing efforts.
• Demonstrated curiosity, integrity, and persistence, with a drive to uncover weaknesses in complex systems and communicate findings with clarity and impact.

• Robust foundational understanding of security principles across native applications, web applications, distributed systems, and modern database architectures.

• Deep familiarity with security challenges in large-scale cloud environments, including identity boundaries, multi-tenant isolation, service-to-service authentication, and network segmentation.

• Experience identifying, analyzing, and exploiting vulnerabilities across cloud, software and networks - with the ability to quickly understand new attack surfaces created by emerging technologies.

• Proficiency in adversarial tooling and techniques, such as fuzzing, exploit development, protocol analysis, and threat modeling from an adversary's perspective.

#azdat #azuredata #cloud #databases #appsec #pentest #security

Penetration Testing 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 $158,400 - $258,000 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.