Senior Data Scientist

Security represents the most critical priorities for our customers in a world awash in digital threats, regulatory scrutiny, and estate complexity. Microsoft Security aspires to make the world a safer place for all. We want to reshape security and empower every user, customer, and developer with a security cloud that protects them with end to end, simplified solutions. The Microsoft Security 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. We are looking for a Senior Data Scientist to join our Detection Engineering team and lead the development of AI/ML models that enhance the efficiency and impact of Microsoft’s Security Operations Center (SOC). In this role, you will drive the design and optimization of scalable, data-driven solutions that transform massive security signal data into actionable intelligence. You’ll bring deep technical expertise to guide model architecture, platform integration, and best practices in security engineering, while collaborating closely with analysts, responders, and engineers to align on goals, scope, and strategy. Beyond technical leadership, you’ll continuously evolve our advanced detection frameworks to improve accuracy, reduce false positives, and stay ahead of emerging threats. You’ll mentor early-in-career engineers, foster a culture of learning and innovation, and contribute to a strong, inclusive team environment grounded in Microsoft’s values. If you’re passionate about applying data science to real-world security challenges and thrive in a fast-paced, mission-driven space, 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

• Develop and implement machine learning models and algorithms to detect security threats and attacks within Microsoft.
• Analyse large and complex datasets generated to identify patterns and anomalies indicative of security risks.
• Collaborate with security experts to understand threat landscapes and incorporate domain knowledge into models.
• Continuously monitor and improve the performance of security models to adapt to evolving threats.
• Lead the design and implementation of data-driven security solutions and tools.
• Mentor and guide junior data scientists in best practices and advanced techniques.
• Communicate findings and insights to stakeholders, including senior leadership and technical teams.
• Stay up to date with the latest advancements in data science, machine learning, and cybersecurity.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in Data Science, machine learning, natural language processing, and deep learning preferably with a focus on Cyber Security or related fields.
• Experience in programming languages such as Python, R, or Scala, with hands-on experience in data analysis, experimental design principles and visualization.
• Experience in translating complex data into actionable insights and recommendations that drive business impact.
• Excellent technical design skills and proven ability to drive large scale system designs for complex projects or products.
• Expertise in machine learning frameworks and libraries (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, scikit-learn and others).
• In-depth knowledge of cybersecurity principles, threats, and attack vectors.
• Experience with big data technologies (e.g., Hadoop, Spark, Kafka) and data processing.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to think creatively.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain complex concepts stakeholders.
• Master's Degree in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 5+ years data-science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results)
• Bachelor's Degree in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 8+ years data-science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results) or equivalent experience.

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  Experience in developing and deploying machine learning models for Cyber security applications.
• Experience in Big Data preferably in the cybersecurity or SaaS industry.
• Experience with data science workloads with the Azure tech stack; Synapse, Azure ML, etc.
• Knowledge of anomaly detection, fraud detection, and other related areas.
• Familiarity with security fundamentals and attack vectors
• Publications or contributions to the field of data science or cybersecurity.
• Excellent track record of cross team collaboration.
• Ambitious, self-motivated.
• Agile, can-do attitude and great at dealing with ambiguity.