Job Description
Position Summary:
We are hiring a Cybersecurity Data Scientist to join the Cybersecurity Automation & AI team. This is a builder role inside a cybersecurity engineering organization-not a research lab, not an analytics reporting team. Your job is to develop real models that drive containment, response, and automation at scale using telemetry from platforms like Microsoft Defender XDR, Sentinel, Wiz, and ServiceNow.
Job Description:
This role is about impact. You will work on systems that directly affect enterprise risk posture, automating decisions around isolation, escalation, and prioritization. The models you build must work reliably inside operational pipelines, integrate with engineering workflows, and be explainable under pressure.
We are building adaptive, system-aware automation-models that reason over behavior and drive real-time action. That means everything you create must be @contextual, actionable, and robust enough to operate in live production environments.
If you're used to exploratory notebooks with no consequences or haven't worked with security data before, this role will be hard. You must understand the stakes, the complexity, and how automation changes enterprise behavior. We're not looking for theoretical modelers-we need someone who can think in systems and ship.
Key Responsibilities:
Build and maintain ML scoring logic in Databricks using telemetry from security platforms
Engineer behavior models, anomaly detectors, or confidence scoring systems that directly support automation
Collaborate with security engineers to embed models into workflows across Defender, Sentinel, ServiceNow, and other platforms
Think critically about automation safety, control boundaries, and unintended consequences
Validate and tune models based on stakeholder input and real-world telemetry
Document model logic, assumptions, edge cases, and operational safety mechanisms
Work with platform and automation engineers to integrate outputs cleanly into orchestration layers
Required Qualifications:
1-2 years of experience in applied data science, machine learning, or automation-focused analytics
Proficient in Python and libraries like pandas, scikit-learn, and XGBoost
Hands-on experience with Databricks or similar environments for pipeline development
Strong working knowledge of telemetry, logs, time series, or event-based data
Foundational cybersecurity knowledge-if you don't understand why systems are secured, why identity matters, or how detection works, you will struggle in this role
Ability to engineer models that support live security automation-not just insight or dashboards
A degree is not required; proven experience, portfolio work, or adjacent technical background in cybersecurity or enterprise engineering is valued more
Preferred Qualifications:
Familiarity with Defender XDR, Microsoft Sentinel, Wiz, ServiceNow, or related platforms
Experience building risk scoring, behavior classification, or signal enrichment models
Understanding of automation frameworks and how model outputs trigger action
Ability to document clearly, reason across technical domains, and work across multiple security teams
Current Employees apply HERE (https://wd5.myworkday.com/msd/d/task/1422$6687.htmld)
Current Contingent Workers apply HERE (https://wd5.myworkday.com/msd/d/task/1422$4020.htmld)
US and Puerto Rico Residents Only:
Our company is committed to inclusion, ensuring that candidates can engage in a hiring process that exhibits their true capabilities. Please click here (https://survey.sogosurvey.com/r/aCdfqL) if you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process.
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EEOC Know Your Rights (https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2022-10/22-088\EEOC\KnowYourRights\10\20.pdf)
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U.S. Hybrid Work Model
Effective September 5, 2023, employees in office-based positions in the U.S. will be working a Hybrid work consisting of three total days on-site per week, Monday - Thursday, although the specific days may vary by site or organization, with Friday designated as a remote-working day, unless business critical tasks require an on-site presence.This Hybrid work model does not apply to, and daily in-person attendance is required for, field-based positions; facility-based, manufacturing-based, or research-based positions where the work to be performed is located at a Company site; positions covered by a collective-bargaining agreement (unless the agreement provides for hybrid work); or any other position for which the Company has determined the job requirements cannot be reasonably met working remotely. Please note, this Hybrid work model guidance also does not apply to roles that have been designated as "remote".
San Francisco Residents Only: We will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance
Los Angeles Residents Only: We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles' Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance
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Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company. No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails.
Employee Status:
Regular
Relocation:
VISA Sponsorship:
Travel Requirements:
Flexible Work Arrangements:
Remote
Shift:
Valid Driving License:
Hazardous Material(s):
Required Skills:
Business Intelligence (BI), Database Design, Data Engineering, Data Modeling, Data Science, Data Visualization, Machine Learning, Software Development, Stakeholder Relationship Management, Waterfall Model
Preferred Skills:
Job Posting End Date:
05/13/2025
*A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.
Requisition ID: R347251
