Member of Technical Staff, Microsoft Robotics (Robot Security & Safety)

Overview

Microsoft's Discovery and Quantum (MDQ) division develops and delivers advanced artificial intelligence (AI), cloud-enabled capabilities, and strategic technologies to help solve the world's major challenges. From accelerating scientific discovery with advanced AI tools, to pioneering breakthroughs in quantum computing, to advancing robotics and AI capabilities that drive real-world impact, joining MDQ means building the future, partnering with fast-moving innovators, and operating in a high-impact, mission-driven environment.

At Microsoft Robotics within MDQ, we build and deploy technologies that enable people, robots, and AI agents to collaborate and achieve more.

We are building Microsoft's platform for physical intelligence\u2014an integrated robotics software and AI platform that brings together humans, robots, and agents through robotics AI models, innovative teaming solutions and experiences, physically grounded agentic AI workflows, trustworthy test and evaluation, and real-world customer-focused validation. Built on Microsoft's core platforms and delivered through and with a global ecosystem of partners and customers, this platform accelerates AI for the physical world and helps robotics solutions move from experimentation to reliable, scaled deployment.

We are hiring a Member of Technical Staff, Microsoft Robotics (Robot Security & Safety) at the Senior level, to define and implement security and safety frameworks for Microsoft's robotics platform, ensuring that robots, AI models, and cloud-connected infrastructure operate safely, securely, and in compliance with applicable standards across all deployment contexts. This role bridges cybersecurity, functional safety, and AI safety for physical systems, a uniquely challenging domain where software vulnerabilities can result in physical harm and where autonomous AI behaviors must be bounded by robust safety envelopes. The engineer will develop threat models, safety architectures, monitoring systems, and incident response capabilities tailored to the specific considerations of responsibly deploying AI-enabled robots in the real world.

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.

#MicrosoftRobotics #MDQ

Responsibilities

• Design and implement end-to-end security and safety architectures for robotic systems, spanning the full hardware-software robot stack, including device-level security (secure boot, firmware integrity, encrypted communications), platform-level security (identity, access control, certificate management), and cloud-to-edge security for robot fleet management.

• Develop and maintain safety analyses and threat models (FMEA, FTA, HAZOP, STPA) specific to robotic systems operating in human-populated environments, identifying risks from cyber-attack vectors, AI behavior failures, hardware faults, and environmental uncertainties.

• Define and enforce safety envelopes and runtime safety monitors for autonomous robot behaviors, including collision avoidance, force limiting, workspace boundaries, and graceful degradation under sensor or actuator failure conditions.

• Analyze key security metrics, KPIs, and telemetry data to identify trends in security posture and safety incidents, implementing mitigation strategies and driving continuous improvement of the platform's security and safety posture.

• Design and scale solutions to address identified security control issues (network, identity, applications) and current threats specific to robotics deployments, anticipating and articulating risks to leadership.

• Develop and implement incident response processes for robotics-specific security and safety events, including physical safety incidents, AI behavior anomalies, fleet compromise scenarios, and supply chain integrity concerns.

• Collaborate with robotics engineers, AI researchers, and platform engineers to embed security and safety requirements into the software development lifecycle, including secure coding standards, security testing in CI/CD pipelines, and safety validation in simulation.

• Contribute to the development and implementation of security policies and standards for robotic systems, aligning with industry frameworks (NIST, MITRE ATT&CK for ICS, IEC 61508, ISO 13482, ISO 10218, RIA standards) and Microsoft's security requirements.

• Engage with regulatory bodies, industry standards organizations, and Microsoft internal AI safety and security communities (e.g., Microsoft's Office of Responsible AI), to stay current on evolving safety and security requirements for autonomous and AI-enabled physical systems.

• Leverage automation and AI to improve effectiveness of security operations, including automated vulnerability scanning, anomaly detection in robot telemetry, and AI-assisted threat hunting across the robotics fleet.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 4+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
• 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 Cloud Background Check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master'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 Bachelor'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 equivalent experience.
• Experience with functional safety standards (IEC 61508, ISO 13482, ISO 10218) or safety engineering methodologies (FMEA, FTA, STPA, HAZOP) applied to robotic or autonomous systems.
• Experience with AI safety, including runtime monitoring of autonomous system behaviors, safety envelope enforcement, or red-teaming of AI-enabled physical systems.
• Familiarity with robotics system architectures, ROS/ROS2 security models, and cloud-to-edge communication security for robot fleets.
• Industry certifications in cybersecurity (CISSP, GICSP, CEH) or functional safety (TUV, CFSE) are a plus.
• Background in IoT security, embedded systems security, or operational technology (OT) security for connected physical devices.
• Experience developing and executing security breach drills, tabletop exercises, or incident response simulations for cyber-physical systems.

Software Engineering IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800.00 - $234,700.00 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 $160,200.00 - $261,000.00 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.