Microsoft
Principal Security Engineer
$143K–$304K
Redmond, WA +3 · On-site · Principal · Full-time · Posted Oct 29, 2026
- Location
- Redmond, WA
Atlanta, GA
Reston, VA
Pittsburgh, PA - Experience
- Master's degree route: 4+ years; bachelor's degree route: 6+ years; or equivalent experience. Preferred qualifications also state 4+ years in security-related work and 4+ years with systems-level programming languages.
- Education
- Master's Degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or related field; or Bachelor's Degree in those fields; or equivalent experience.
About the job
Researches vulnerabilities in Microsoft operating systems and platform components, then drives mitigations and security improvements across engineering teams.
What you'll do
- Identify and analyze vulnerabilities through design and code review, fuzzing, and variant analysis.
- Develop protections and security tooling, and influence secure engineering practices across teams.
- Provide technical leadership, coordinate vulnerability resolution, and mentor peers.
What they ask for
- Master's degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or related field plus 4+ years of security or related experience; or bachelor's degree in those fields plus 6+ years; or equivalent experience.
- Meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements, including passing the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.
Nice to have
- Relevant public or internal security research track record; understanding of operating system security, including kernel or low-level platform components.
- Vulnerability research experience; experience with mitigations; 4+ years in security-related software engineering or another security-related field; 4+ years with C, C++, or Rust.
Pay
USD $142,800 - $274,800 per year (base salary); USD $188,000 - $304,200 per year (base salary)
Tools
Windows, Azure, C, C++, Rust
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative