Security Researcher - Cybersecurity Lead Investigator

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Microsoft's Detection and Response Team (DART) is seeking a skilled and experienced Cybersecurity Lead Investigator to join the team in United Kingdom. DART is the first port of call for many customers during a security incident. This pivotal, customer-facing role calls for a technically deep and agile investigator who can lead complex, high-impact incident response across on-premises and cloud environments and turn incomplete evidence into clear, defensible response decisions.

You will lead the investigation, establish technical priorities and act as the primary technical point of contact for customers, including executive stakeholders. Working with threat hunters, reverse engineers, infrastructure engineers and incident coordinators, you will bring together investigative findings, and direct response recommendations, balancing investigation with rapid recovery and containment. Incident coordinators support staffing, scheduling and operational escalation; the Lead Investigator owns investigation direction and technical judgement within the agreed engagement scope.

As part of a globally distributed, mission-driven team, you will share research, mentor colleagues and help shape the future of Defender Experts Cybersecurity Incident Response. Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Employees are expected to demonstrate a growth mindset, innovation, collaboration, respect, integrity, accountability, and inclusion.

As a Lead Investigator, you will orchestrate evidence-driven investigations and technical incident response, align specialist workstreams and communicate clear findings, priorities and recommendations to customers.

• Set investigation objectives, hypotheses, priorities and evidence requirements; lead hands-on analysis and specialist workstreams across enterprise on-premises and cloud environments.
• Contextualise and prioritise findings, correlate disparate evidence and build cohesive incident timelines. Establish what is known, what remains uncertain and what additional collection or analysis is needed.
• Assess adversary activity, compromise scope and potential data collection or exfiltration; validate key findings and explain the confidence and limitations of conclusions.
• Direct technical response planning and recommendations to secure enterprise environments, balancing containment and recovery urgency with evidence preservation and customer business constraints. Coordinate execution with customer-authorised teams and relevant specialists.
• Serve as the primary technical point of contact for complex investigations; brief technical teams, executives, legal, compliance, engineering and other stakeholders with clear objectives, findings and decision options.
• Identify skill, access, telemetry and resource gaps early; work with incident coordinators and leadership to resolve dependencies, obtain specialist support and escalate delivery risks.
• Maintain investigative documentation and clear follow-the-sun handovers covering evidence, hypotheses, decisions, risks and next actions; support final reporting and lessons learned.

Required / Minimum Qualifications

•    A relevant degree in Computer Science, Computer Security, Statistics, Mathematics or a related field, or equivalent practical experience in cybersecurity, incident management or related operations, and industry experience.
•    Demonstrated hands-on experience leading large-scale, high-pressure cybersecurity incident response across on-premises and cloud environments, including setting investigation direction and guiding evidence-driven customer decisions.
•    Ability to correlate and assess evidence from multiple sources, reconstruct incident timelines, evaluate compromise scope and possible exfiltration, and clearly explain findings and uncertainty.
•    Experience directing response activities while balancing rapid recovery, technical dependencies and business impact.
•    Demonstrated ability to lead technical specialists and stakeholders, identify engagement gaps, request appropriate resources and manage investigations using a global follow-the-sun model.
•    Customer-facing written and verbal communication, including executive briefings.
•    Flexibility to work non-standard business hours that may include evening, nighttime, weekends, and/or holidays.

Preferred Qualifications

•    Experience analysing nation-state or cybercrime activity and applying adversary knowledge to complex enterprise investigations.
•    Demonstrated research, analytical automation, data-quality improvement and technical mentoring that strengthen investigation capability.
•    Experience developing reviewed technical publications, presentations or other knowledge-sharing material while protecting sensitive information.

Security Clearance Requirements

The successful candidate should have or be able to obtain the Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV) clearance as issued by the United Kingdom Security Vetting Unit (UKSV). Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role.  

Security Research IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across United Kingdom is £ 74,700.00 - £ 122,600.00 per year. Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation.

Find additional benefits and pay information here:
https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/corporate-pay/united-kingdom-corporate-pay.html

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.