Principal AI Engineer

Job description

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.

NEXT is the incubation and research arm of Microsoft Security AI (MSECAI), building the next generation of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-native security products, and we're hiring a **Principal AI Engineer.** In the 18 months since our founding, we’ve driven the science behind Microsoft Security Copilot and delivered both foundational and specialized models.

We pursue long horizon bets while landing near term impact, taking ideas from zero-to-one (0→1) prototypes to Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) and then one-to-many (1→N) platform integration across Microsoft Defender, Sentinel, Entra, Intune, and Purview.

Our culture blends ambition and scientific rigor with curiosity, humility, and customer obsession; we invest in new knowledge, collaborate across worldclass scientists and engineers, and tackle the immense challenge of protecting millions of customers.

We are looking for a Principal AI Engineer for our team.

In this role, you will set the multi-year strategy and roadmap for AI-first security experiences and the underlying platform.

You will lead zero-to-one (0→1) incubation and one-to-many (1→N) scale-out, provide hands-on technical leadership across architecture, data, and model layers, and orchestrate cross-discipline teams to deliver responsible, high-quality AI features end to end.

You are a builder who rapidly prototypes code to de-risk ideas, navigate ambiguity, and drive clarity and results across organizations.

You are a presenter who commands your audience to demonstrate amazing ideas from both you and the team.

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.

**Responsibilities**

+ Define the technical vision, strategy, and roadmap for AI-native incubation initiatives; align stakeholders across Security Copilot, Defender, Sentinel, Entra, Purview, Azure AI Foundry and Microsoft AI to deliver cohesive customer value.
+ Lead zero-to-one (0→1) incubation R&D through MVP and private preview, then drive one-to-many (1→N) platformization and scale to GA; make principled tradeoffs across quality, latency, reliability, cost, and safety.
+ Provide hands-on technical leadership: prototype in code, review designs and Pull Requests (PRs), define Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)/data contracts, build comprehensive well-architected systems, and establish evaluation frameworks to de-risk complex systems.
+ Set strategy for AI-native security experiences and platform components: where to use Large Language Models (LLMs) versus classical Machine Learning (ML), retrieval/Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) design, grounding, model routing/fallbacks, and safety guardrails to meet customer outcomes and Service Level Objectives (SLOs).
+ Ensure Responsible AI, privacy, and security guardrails are designed in from day one, coordinate safety reviews, abuse prevention, compliance, and incident readiness.
+ Lead v-teams and mentor others; cultivate a builder culture of velocity and quality as a force multiplier.
+ Engage directly with enterprise customers and field to co-design solutions and land adoption; communicate program status and strategy to executives with hands on real code demonstrations.

**Qualifications**

**Required Qualifications:**

+ Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
+ OR equivalent experience.
+ 6+ years of experience driving complex, cross-functional initiatives; experience leading without authority across multiple teams.
+ 3+ years working with Machine Learning (ML)/Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems (e.g., Large Language Models (LLMs)/Generative AI (GenAI), retrieval/Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), model serving, experimentation platforms, data pipelines) including establishing evaluation metrics and improving model quality.

**Other Requirements**
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 background and Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

**Preffered Qualifications:**

+ Master's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 12+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR equivalent experience.
+ Experienced in program leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence leaders and make data-informed decisions.
+ Proven track record shipping cloud services or platforms at scale (multi-tenant, high-throughput) with measurable customer and business impact.
+ Security domain expertise (e.g., threat detection/response, SIEM/SOAR, identity, endpoint, cloud security) and familiarity with analyst workflows.
+ Experience with GenAI/LLM techniques and tooling (prompt engineering, retrieval/vector stores, agents/tool use, content safety/guardrails, offline/online eval frameworks, vibe coding).
+ Hands-on coding ability in one or more languages (e.g., Python, C#, C++, Rust, JavaScript/TypeScript); comfortable prototyping, reading Pull Requests (PRs), and engaging deeply in technical design reviews.
+ Demonstrated success driving zero-to-one (0→1) initiatives from ambiguity to Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to General Availability (GA) and then to one-to-many (1→N) platform adoption across multiple product teams.

What makes a great Principal AI Engineer here
+ Model-literate and pragmatic: you know when to use a Large Language Model (LLM), when a deterministic/rules-based or classical Machine Learning (ML) approach is better, and how to hybridize them with retrieval, caching, routing, and fallbacks to meet Service Level Objectives (SLOs) and cost targets.
+ Evaluation-obsessed: you can define the right metrics and datasets (clarity, groundedness, precision/recall, latency/cost etc.), build the eval harness, and insist on measurable improvements before broad rollout.
+ Zero-to-one (0→1) builder and one-to-many (1→N) integrator: you turn ambiguous ideas into Minimum Viable Products (MVPs), then lead General Availability (GA) platformization and integration into large, multi-tenant Microsoft Security products.

You define durable data/Application Programming Interface (API) contracts and Software Development Kits (SDKs), negotiate dependency graphs across partner teams to meet delivery dates and Service Level Objectives (SLOs) within complex cost, security/privacy/compliance constraints to ensure operational readiness.
+ Customer-back and outcome-focused: you spend time with defenders and admins, translate workflows into crisp specs, land adoption, and iterate quickly based on feedback and telemetry.
+ Clear communicator and connector: you create clarity in ambiguity, align diverse stakeholders across research/engineering/design/field, and mentor others to raise the bar.

Software Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $139,900 - $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

Microsoft will accept applications and processes offers for these roles on an ongoing basis.

#MSFTSecurity #MSECAI #AI #SecurityAI #GenerativeAI #Cybersecurity #ResponsibleAI #Azure

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer.

Consistent with applicable law, 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 and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations (https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/accessibility.html) .

Required Skill Profession

Other General