Security Operations Engineer II

Security Operations Engineer II

Overview

The Cloud & AI 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. Microsoft is one of the largest enterprise service companies in the world.

Security represents one of the most critical priorities for our customers in a world awash in digital threats, regulatory scrutiny, and estate complexity. The Office of the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) is accountable for managing and prioritizing cybersecurity risks for Microsoft. This team oversees the company’s overall cyber defense, including the security of Microsoft products and business operations, and collaborates with Engineering teams to advance Secure Future Initiative (SFI) objectives. 

Security is a core priority for Microsoft, and strong Identity and Access Management protections are essential to protecting Microsoft at global scale. We are looking for an experienced Individual Contributor to join the IAM Protection team and drive security operations, remediation, and execution across identity platforms. This role combines identity security expertise, data-driven operational analysis, and program execution to identify and reduce security risks, strengthen governance, and improve the overall identity security posture. The role will work closely with Software Engineers and partner teams to translate security requirements into actionable engineering improvements, leveraging automation, telemetry, and tools such as Power BI and Azure DevOps to drive measurable outcomes and enable secure, scalable identity operations.

Responsibilities

• Drive execution of identity security operations and remediation initiatives, partnering with Software Engineering teams to identify, prioritize, and address security risks across identity platforms.
• Conduct identity security assessments and track remediation across authentication, authorization, application identities, privileged access, and identity lifecycle management.
• Analyze security posture, operational health, access risks, and remediation trends using telemetry, operational data, and enterprise reporting tools.
• Build and maintain Power BI dashboards and executive-ready reporting that provide actionable visibility into security posture, remediation progress, risks, trends, and program outcomes.
• Own tracking of security findings, dependencies, risks, exceptions, and remediation commitments from identification through closure, ensuring timely follow-through and measurable outcomes.
• Partner with Software Engineers, security teams, and service owners to translate security requirements into actionable engineering work and drive adoption of secure identity practices.
• Identify recurring security and operational issues and work with engineering teams to develop automation, tooling, and durable platform improvements that reduce manual effort and identity-related risk.
• Support identity security incidents and operational investigations by coordinating technical analysis, remediation, root-cause analysis, and preventative actions.
• Establish and improve operational processes, governance mechanisms, and metrics that strengthen identity security posture, compliance readiness, and execution predictability.
• Independently manage multiple technical security initiatives, communicate progress, risks, and dependencies to stakeholders, and influence partner teams to deliver committed security outcomes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Technology, Cybersecurity, or related technical field AND 4+ years of experience in cybersecurity, identity and access management, security operations, or a related technical field
• OR equivalent experience.
• 4+ years of experience with identity and access management, including authentication, authorization, application identities, privileged access, or identity lifecycle management.
• Experience conducting security assessments, identifying risks, and driving remediation across complex technical environments.
• Experience using data, Power BI, Excel, Azure DevOps, or similar tools to analyze security posture, track remediation, manage execution, and communicate actionable insights.
• Experience independently driving multiple technical security initiatives and partnering with Software Engineering teams to manage dependencies, resolve risks, and deliver measurable outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Microsoft Entra ID, Active Directory, Azure, or other enterprise-scale identity platforms, with a strong understanding of cloud identity and access management.
• Experience with cloud security, Zero Trust, identity governance, application identities, privileged access, or identity lifecycle security.
• Experience developing automation, scripts, or operational tooling to improve security monitoring, remediation, reporting, or operational efficiency.
• Experience analysing identity telemetry, security signals, and operational data, including supporting security incidents, root-cause analysis, and preventative remediation.
• Experience driving cross-organizational security and governance initiatives involving engineering, security, compliance, application owners, and other technical stakeholders.

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.

Experience Level

Mid Level