hero

Find Your Dream Job Today

Out for Undergrad
companies
Jobs

Principal Defender Threat Response Team Lead

Microsoft

Microsoft

Redmond, WA, USA
USD 139,900-274,800 / year
Posted on Jan 10, 2026
Overview

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.

As a member of the Microsoft Threat Protection Security Research (MTP-R) team, you’ll be joining a diverse global community of engineers, program managers, data scientists, security researchers, and threat hunters. We cultivate extensive knowledge of attacker tactics and leverage cutting-edge technology to combat them effectively. We are looking for a driven Principal Technical Program Manager Lead in the Threat Response Team within MTP-R. This team is accountable for creating and driving customer engagement and response programs across the entire MTP suite as part of our end-to-end protection value . You will lead a team of Incident Response and customer escalation security professionals with the mission to reimagine how we engage with customers to deliver unified, impactful, and delightful security experiences. This is a critical role at the intersection of technology, operations, and customer experience.

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
  • Define and drive the vision, charter, and execution strategy for the Defender Threat Response Team as part of MTP Research organization, ensuring alignment with Defender and Sentinel goals.
  • Lead a distributed team of threat response managers across the globe.
  • Oversee the delivery of customer focused cross-functional threat response programs that span pre-breach and post-breach scenarios, ensuring end-to-end Cx cohesion and measurable impact.
  • Partner closely with engineering, research, product, and field teams to ensure protection programs are deeply integrated and responsive to customer needs.
  • Embody our culture and values


Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

  • Bachelor's Degree AND 6+ years experience in engineering, product/technical program management, data analysis, or product development
    • OR equivalent experience.
  • 1+ years people management experience.
  • 3+ years experience managing cross-functional and/or cross-team projects and experience managing globally distributed teams and driving alignment across complex organizational structures.

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.

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Bachelor's Degree AND 12+ years experience engineering, product/technical program management, data analysis, or product development
    • OR equivalent experience.
  • 8+ years of experience managing cross-functional and/or cross-team projects
  • 1+ year(s) of experience reading and/or writing code (e.g., sample documentation, product demos).
  • Proven track record of leading large-scale, cross-functional programs in security, cloud, or enterprise software domains.
  • Background in cybersecurity, threat protection, or enterprise security platforms.
  • Ability to demonstrate technical acumen, understand and communicate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
  • Demonstrated ability to translate complex or technical concepts into clear, compelling, customer‑focused narratives that articulate business value, with proven experience tailoring messages to diverse audiences and validating customer understanding and impact.


Technical Program Management M5 - 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


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.