Job description

Overview Are you interested in working on cutting-edge cloud security products Would you like to be part of one of the world’s most advanced cyber-security solutions and protect millions of computers from thousands of active attack attempts, every month Look no further than the Microsoft Defender engineering team. We are looking for a Senior Site Reliability Engineer who will be building and delivering cloud solutions to meet the scale that few companies in the industry are required to support. Leveraging state-of-the-art technologies, you will be instrumental in delivering holistic protection within highly sensitive and secure government environments. The Microsoft Defender team is responsible for delivering a constantly evolving set of services and solutions to meet the challenging landscape of our ever-evolving attackers. This is a team which provides on-call operational support and improvements to the operational posture of the Microsoft Defender products within US Government clouds. You will operate our production services, and work closely with other engineering teams to ensure services and systems are highly stable, meet performance SLAs, and meet the expectations of Internal and external customers and users. The Microsoft Defender team is responsible for delivering a constantly evolving set of services and solutions to meet the challenging landscape of our ever-evolving attackers. 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. Responsibilities • Ensure 24x7 Service Reliability : Act as a Designated Responsible Individual (DRI) in an on-call rotation, leading incident response and resolution to maintain uptime and performance for Microsoft’s most critical services. • Support and Automate Deployments: Execute and improve manual operations and deployments for our products, while designing automation to scale and streamline those processes across environments. • Build Scalable Systems: Develop automation for monitoring, alerting, debugging, and deployment to reduce manual effort and accelerate safe, reliable delivery. • Drive Compliance and Security: Ensure systems meet Microsoft’s standards for security, privacy, and accessibility, especially when onboarding new technologies. • Lead Post-Incident Learning: Conduct postmortems, share insights, and implement solutions that prevent recurrence—fostering a culture of learning and continuous improvement. • Collaborate Across Teams: Partner with engineering and product teams to align reliability goals with customer needs and deliver seamless user experiences. • Stay Ahead Technically: Continuously invest in your technical growth to improve system availability, observability, and performance at scale. Other: • Embody our company's Culture and Values Qualifications Required Qualifications: • Master's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND 2+ years technical experience in software engineering, network engineering, or systems administration • OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND 4+ years technical experience in software engineering, network engineering, or systems administration • OR equivalent experience. Other Requirements: Security Clearance Requirements: Candidates must be able 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: • Candidates must have an active TS and be willing and eligible to upgrade to TS/SCI (with polygraph) or have an active TS/SCI and be willing and eligible to upgrade to TS/SCI (with polygraph). This role will require candidates to maintain the TS/SCI (with polygraph) clearance. Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required pre-offer and post-hire for this role. Failure to maintain or obtain the appropriate clearance and/or customer screening requirements may result in employment action up to and including termination. • Clearance Verification : This position requires successful verification of the stated security clearance to meet federal government customer requirements. You will be asked to provide clearance verification information prior to an offer of employment. • Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter Preferred Qualifications: • Doctorate Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND 3+ years technical experience in software engineering, network engineering, or systems administration • OR Master's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND 6+ years technical experience in software engineering, network engineering, or systems administration OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND 8+ years technical experience in software engineering, network engineering, or systems administration • OR equivalent experience. • 3+ years technical experience working with large-scale cloud or distributed systems. • Demonstrated experience applying software engineering principles to production systems, including designing, building, or improving services and platforms. • Proficiency in one or more programming languages such as C#, Go, Java, or Python, with the ability to develop and maintain production-quality code. • Experience with automation that results in measurable improvements (e.g., reduced toil, fewer manual steps, improved system reliability). • Experience with debugging and troubleshooting complex distributed systems in production environments. • Ability to independently identify problems and implement solutions that improve system reliability and operational efficiency. • Hands-on experience with CI/CD pipelines, testing, deployment, and reliability tooling. Site Reliability Engineering IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 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 $160,200 - $261,000 per year. Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: careers.microsoft.com 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.

Requirements

Must-haves

Support and Automate Deployments: Execute and improve manual operations and deployments for our products, while designing automation to scale and streamline those processes across environments.
Build Scalable Systems: Develop automation for monitoring, alerting, debugging, and deployment to reduce manual effort and accelerate safe, reliable delivery.
Drive Compliance and Security: Ensure systems meet Microsoft’s standards for security, privacy, and accessibility, especially when onboarding new technologies.
Lead Post-Incident Learning: Conduct postmortems, share insights, and implement solutions that prevent recurrence—fostering a culture of learning and continuous improvement.
Collaborate Across Teams: Partner with engineering and product teams to align reliability goals with customer needs and deliver seamless user experiences.
Stay Ahead Technically: Continuously invest in your technical growth to improve system availability, observability, and performance at scale.
Embody our company's Culture and Values
Master's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND 2+ years technical experience in software engineering, network engineering, or systems administration
OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND 4+ years technical experience in software engineering, network engineering, or systems administration
OR equivalent experience.
Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter
Doctorate Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND 3+ years technical experience in software engineering, network engineering, or systems administration
3+ years technical experience working with large-scale cloud or distributed systems.
This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Nice-to-haves

OR equivalent experience.
Demonstrated experience applying software engineering principles to production systems, including designing, building, or improving services and platforms.
Proficiency in one or more programming languages such as C#, Go, Java, or Python, with the ability to develop and maintain production-quality code.
Experience with automation that results in measurable improvements (e.g., reduced toil, fewer manual steps, improved system reliability).
Experience with debugging and troubleshooting complex distributed systems in production environments.
Ability to independently identify problems and implement solutions that improve system reliability and operational efficiency.
Hands-on experience with CI/CD pipelines, testing, deployment, and reliability tooling.
Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:

Application prep

Use the role’s language and application details while tailoring your materials.

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