Microsoft

Principal Security Specialist

Microsoft$129K — $220K *
Enterprise Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Business Administration, or related field AND 7+ years of technology-related sales or account management experience OR 9+ years of relevant experience.
  • Master's degree in Business Administration or Information Technology preferred with 8+ years of technology-related sales experience OR Bachelor's degree with 10+ years of experience.
  • 6+ years of solution or services sales experience.

Responsibilities

  • Demonstrate executive presence and deep cybersecurity expertise, relating technology to business outcomes and risks.
  • Serve as a trusted advisor for strategic growth accounts, discussing business risk and cyber resilience with C-level clients.
  • Align Microsoft Security and partner solutions with customer priorities such as AI security and Zero Trust models.
  • Lead high-level technical conversations about AI and IT infrastructure confidently.
  • Understand competitors deeply and leverage concessions to win sales against them.
  • Assist in major deal pursuits to increase market share and influence customer decisions.
  • Create and distribute coaching materials and engage in co-selling efforts with Digital Solution Specialists.

Benefits

  • Access to a wide range of professional development resources.
  • Opportunities for continuous learning and innovation in cybersecurity.
  • Networking opportunities through industry presence and thought leadership.
Full Job Description
Overview

As a Principal Security Specialist, you will lead Security strategy for the Sales Unit's most strategic, complex, and high-risk customers. You will shape cybersecurity thought leadership, build resilient security foundations for AI and digital transformation, and drive executive engagement that delivers measurable business and risk outcomes. We are seeking a high-impact sales and technical individual with executive presence-equally adept at deep cybersecurity architecture and controls, translating technology into business risk and outcomes, leading C-level "CISO room" conversations, and winning complex pursuits while building credibility with even the most skeptical stakeholders.

In our Digital Solution Specialist team, you need to thrive in dynamic, sometimes ambiguous environments - learning fast, collaborating across teams, rebuilding trust with customers, and leading decisive defensive positioning when competitors threaten established Microsoft relationships. As a field multiplier and coach, you transfer sales plays, talk tracks, and judgment that elevate peers' capability and confidence, accelerating deals and strengthening customer trust.

Responsibilities
  • Sales & Technical Leadership
    • Demonstrate executive presence and deep cybersecurity expertise, connecting technology to business outcomes and risk.
    • Serve as a trusted CISO/CIO advisor for strategic growth accounts, leading conversations on business risk, cyber resilience, regulation, and industry change.
    • Align Microsoft Security and partner solutions to customer priorities such as Defend with AI, Security for AI, Secure Data, Unified SecOps, and Zero Trust.
    • Lead Level 200+ technical and architectural conversations with confidence understanding AI and infrastructure.
  • Sales Execution & Compete
    • Own compete execution by deeply understanding competitors and leveraging customer compete concessions and programs to win.
    • Assist with top-deal pursuits to grow SU market share and influence business and technical decisions; defend the base with proactive, competitive positioning to prevent at-risk churn.
    • Lead virtual, cross-organizational teams on strategic projects and high-impact solution deployments that enable digital transformation.
    • Document and share key competitive insights with the field to improve sales motions.
    • Help the SU attain its security growth and revenue metrics.
  • Field Multiplier & Coaching
    • Create and share compete playbooks, executive talk tracks, and discovery guides; co-sell with Digital Solution Specialists (DSS) and partners to strengthen overall team capability.
    • Provide real-time coaching during high-value engagements and deliver actionable post-engagement feedback to raise execution quality.
    • Scale field capability through enablement on competitive scenarios and emerging security trends.
    • Build mindshare through thought leadership and industry presence.
  • Disciplined Operator & Orchestrator
    • Orchestrate account teams, engineering, partners, customer success, and leadership to accelerate outcomes.
    • Maintain operational rigor that accelerates secure deployment and measurable customer value.
  • Scale Through Partners
    • Scale Microsoft Security reach and impact through the partner ecosystem.
  • Growth Mindset
    • Bring impactful industry insights, market perspective, and threat intelligence into customer engagements.
    • Demonstrate a commitment to continuous learning in cybersecurity and foster innovation within the team.


Qualifications

Required/minimum qualifications

  • Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Business Administration, or related field AND 7+ years of technology-related sales or account management experience OR 9+ years of technology-related sales or account management experience.


Additional or preferred qualifications
  • Master's Degree in Business Administration (e.g., MBA), Information Technology, or related field AND 8+ years of technology-related sales or account management experience OR Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology, or related field AND 10+ years of technology-related sales or account management experience OR 11+ years of technology-related sales or account management experience.
  • 6+ years of solution or services sales experience


Digital Solution Area Specialists IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $62.16 - $105.96 per hour. 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 $80.67 - $115.29 per hour.

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.

About Microsoft

Microsoft is an American multinational corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports, and sells a range of software products and services. Microsoft’s devices and consumer (D&C) licensing segment licenses the Windows operating system and related software, Microsoft Office for consumers, and the Windows Phone operating system. The company’s computing and gaming hardware segment provides Xbox gaming and entertainment consoles and accessories, second-party and third-party video games, and Xbox Live subscriptions; surface devices and accessories; and Microsoft PC accessories. Its phone hardware segment offers Lumia smartphones and other non-Lumia phones. Its D&C segment provides Windows Store, Xbox Live transactions, and Windows phone store; search advertising; display advertising; Office 365 Home and Office 365 Personal; first-party video games; and other consumer products and services as well as operating retail stores. Microsoft’s commercial licensing segments license server products, including Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Visual Studio, System Center, and related Client Access Licenses (CALs); Windows Embedded; Windows operating system; Microsoft Office for business, including Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, and related CALs; Microsoft Dynamics business solutions; and Skype. Its commercial segment offers enterprise services, including premier support services and Microsoft consulting services; commercial cloud comprising Office 365 Commercial, other Microsoft Office online offerings, Dynamics CRM Online, and Microsoft Azure; and other commercial products and online services. The company markets and distributes its products through original equipment manufacturers, distributors, and resellers, as well as online.

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Learn more about Microsoft
Size
181,000 employees
Market Cap
$1,762.4 billion
Industry
Net Income
$51.3 billion
Founded
1975
5 Year Trend
+15.5%
Revenue
$153.2 billion
NASDAQ

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