Senior Economist

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. Our culture is centered on embracing a growth mindset, a theme of inspiring excellence, and encouraging teams and leaders each day. In doing so, we create life-changing innovations that impact billions of lives around the world. 

Microsoft Security's Economics and Decision Sciences team provides rigorous scientific analyses that inform decisions on business strategy, product performance, industry dynamics, and customer security investment. We use a variety of tools, including experimentation, econometric analysis, machine learning, and economic theory to develop insights that drive executive action. We work on ambiguous, high-profile problems and bring a unique and valued perspective to the Security division.  

We are looking for a Senior Economist to join our team. This person will find principled ways to answer difficult questions. They will have sharp economic intuition and deep technical skills combined with the gumption to start hacking away at difficult problems. Their crisp writing will give executives easy access to complex ideas. Does that sound like you? If so, please apply. 

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

• Conduct cutting-edge research in security science and AI, pursuing high-risk, high-reward opportunities impacting our strategic business roadmap
• Collaborate with research teams across Microsoft Security to build practical solutions that impact our security products and services
• Share research findings and innovations through academic publications, open-source releases, blog posts, patents, and industry conferences
• Participate in partnerships with academia and industry to advance the state of the art in security science and AI

Other

•  Embody our Culture  &  Values 

Qualifications

Required/Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 4+ years related experience (e.g., statistics predictive analytics, research)
  • OR Master's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 3+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
  • OR Doctorate in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 1+ year(s) related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
  • OR equivalent experience.

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.

Additional or Preferred Qualifications 

• Preferred Doctorate in Economics, especially in applied microeconomics, industrial organization, or causal inference econometrics.  
• 3+ years experience creating publications (e.g., patents, libraries, peer-reviewed academic papers). 
• Experience presenting at conferences or other events in the outside research/industry community as an invited speaker. 
• 3+ years experience conducting research as part of a research program (in academic or industry settings). 
• 1+ year(s) experience developing and deploying live production systems, as part of a product team. 
• 1+ year(s) experience