The Site Reliability Engineer II role at Microsoft Defender involves building and delivering cloud solutions to enhance security for government environments. The team focuses on providing operational support and improving the stability of Microsoft Defender products. This position requires collaboration with engineering teams to ensure high performance and reliability of services. The role also emphasizes continuous learning and adherence to compliance and security standards.

• Master's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND 1+ year(s) technical experience in software engineering, network engineering, or systems administration OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND 2+ years technical experience in software engineering, network engineering, or systems administration OR equivalent experience.
• 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).
• Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required pre-offer and post-hire for this role.

• Serve as a Designated Responsible Individual (DRI) in a 24x7 on-call rotation, monitoring service health and responding to incidents within SLA timelines.
• Contribute to automation efforts and validate code functionality in non-production environments to ensure smooth deployments.
• Support compliance processes by verifying security, privacy, and accessibility standards during onboarding of new technologies.
• Stay current with industry trends and internal tools to improve reliability, performance, and observability at scale.
• Apply proven development and scaling practices to meet performance and customer requirements.
• Communicate effectively with engineering partners to align on goals and deliver user-centric solutions.
• Address complex live site issues, implement mitigations, and document learnings through postmortems.

• Employees at Microsoft are often offered comprehensive, “world-class” benefits—including health and mental-wellness programs, competitive pay with bonuses and stock awards, and retirement/savings options. Time-off and flexibility are common, with generous vacation and holidays, parental and caregiver leave, and flexible work schedules, alongside learning support, employee resource groups, product discounts, and matching-gifts/volunteering programs. Specific benefits can vary by region.