Senior Security Engineer and Principal Security Engineer (Multiple Positions) at Microsoft
Redmond, WA
—
Jul 27, 2026
Redmond, WA
Jul 29, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
This role sits at the intersection of security research and engineering on the Windows platform, with responsibilities spanning vulnerability discovery, code and architecture review, and building automated security tooling including AI agents. The ideal candidate has hands-on experience exploiting bugs and bypassing OS-level mitigations, and will serve as the primary security contact for teams developing next-generation Windows products and devices.
Senior level · 5+ years · Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA · Bachelor's required · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 110 people in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (information security analysts). range 40–140
Applicant volume Moderate — A normal amount of company. The rare requirements below are what will separate a shortlisted application from the rest.
What the occupation pays Median $165,338 (middle half $132,613–$190,632).
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 29, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
The posting lists two overlapping degree+experience tiers. The lower gate (Bachelor's + 4 years OR Master's + 3 years in security) and a higher gate (Bachelor's + 6 years OR Master's + 4 years OR equivalent experience) appear to represent a minimum and a preferred/target level respectively. The degree requirement is set to Bachelor's as the minimum hard gate; the 'equivalent experience' clause in the higher tier suggests the degree itself is not strictly required at the senior level.
The overall years minimum is set to 5, reflecting the explicit '5+ years of experience in software engineering or security-related engineering' requirement, which is the clearest single role-level gate stated.
The '2+ years identifying vulnerabilities in operating systems and/or native (C/C++) applications' requirement is a named-technology/domain gate and is captured on the relevant skills rather than as a separate role-level figure.
The role is inferred to be based in the Seattle/Redmond, WA area given the Windows/devices context and the employer's known headquarters; no explicit location was stated in the posting.
The alt SOC (15-1252 Software Developers) is noted because the role explicitly involves building reusable agents and automated security tools — a meaningful software development component alongside the primary security analysis work.
Several skills (e.g., 'vulnerability research', 'operating system security', 'exploit development') describe domains rather than specific named tools, but are included because the posting explicitly gates on them with firm language and they represent concrete, assessable competencies central to the role.
Ignored 2 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): security agent/automation tooling, exploit development.
Read the full posting
The employer publishes the full description on their own site — read it there ↗. Or sign in to read it here — it's free, and it also lets you track this application.