Principal Security Software Engineer
Technology, Data & Digital · Software & Web Development · Software Engineering · Cybersecurity
In short
Microsoft is seeking a Principal Security Software Engineer to architect and build the security foundation for COSMIC's high-scale infrastructure. This role involves leading the delivery of platform capabilities for PKI, certificate and key lifecycle management, workload identity, and secure service-to-service communication across globally distributed fleets.
Responsibilities
- Own the security architecture, technical strategy, implementation, rollout, and operation of foundational COSMIC security services.
- Design and build highly available certificate lifecycle systems.
- Build resilient key and secrets management capabilities.
- Advance identity and authorization for multi-tenant Kubernetes and cloud-native infrastructure.
- Own trust and issuer-change readiness across public and sovereign environments.
- Threat model complex distributed systems and investigate privilege boundaries.
- Establish security invariants, SLOs, inventories, expiry alerts, telemetry, detection, audit, and post-change validation.
- Lead production readiness and operations through ring-based deployment, feature gating, and incident response.
- Drive end-to-end security features across control planes, resource provisioning, and workload consumption paths.
- Lead cross-team architecture and execution, clarify ownership, resolve dependencies, and mentor engineers.
Requirements
- 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.
- Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements.
- Microsoft Cloud Background Check: required upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.
Desired 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.
- 3+ years of experience designing, building, or operating security-critical software or infrastructure in areas such as PKI, certificates, cryptographic key management, secrets management, identity, authentication, or authorization.
- Experience designing and operating distributed systems or cloud services with high availability, reliability, observability, and incident-response requirements.
- Experience with X.509, certificate authorities, TLS/mTLS, cryptography, key management, HSMs, KMS, and workload identity systems.
- Expertise in securing multi-tenant Kubernetes, distributed infrastructure, zero-trust architectures, workload isolation, and security policy enforcement.
- Proven ability to lead cross-team security initiatives.
- Proficient in threat-modeling, security review, incident investigation, and operational risk management skills.
- Ability to communicate complex security decisions clearly, influence senior stakeholders, build alignment across teams, and mentor engineers.
Benefits
- The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $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.
Skills
PythonJavaC#C++CJavaScriptKubernetesPKImTLSX.509
#security#software engineering#cloud#kubernetes#pki#identity management#cryptography#distributed systems
About Microsoft
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Company
MicrosoftJob Posted
1 hour ago
Employment Type
Full Time
Work mode
Hybrid
Salary
US$142,800–274,800 · Negotiable
Experience Level
Senior
Locations
United States
Qualification
Bachelor, Master
Applicants
Be an early applicant
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