Cyber Security Analyst – Microsoft Security (Manchester)

About the role

Join a growing cyber security team focused on protecting modern Microsoft environments for a diverse client base. This hands‑on position is ideal for a well‑rounded analyst who wants to move beyond traditional SOC monitoring into threat detection, identity security, and vulnerability management.

Key responsibilities

• Lead investigations across Microsoft Defender XDR and Sentinel, owning incidents through to resolution.
• Develop and optimise detections, analytics rules, and automation within Sentinel using KQL.
• Identify security gaps, misconfigurations, and emerging threats in Microsoft environments.
• Strengthen identity security (Azure AD/Entra ID, MFA, RBAC) and support secure access controls.
• Own and evolve vulnerability management processes, prioritising remediation.
• Contribute to incident response, digital forensics, and root‑cause analysis.
• Collaborate with engineering teams to improve security tooling and overall posture.
• Support compliance initiatives such as Cyber Essentials and internal security standards.
• Mentor junior analysts and drive best‑practice improvements.

Required profile

• 3+ years of experience in a cyber security, blue‑team or security‑engineering role.
• Strong hands‑on expertise with Microsoft Defender (MDE/M365 Defender) and Microsoft Sentinel.
• Proven ability to build and tune detections using KQL.
• Solid understanding of identity & access management (Azure AD/Entra ID, MFA, RBAC).
• Experience with vulnerability management tools and remediation processes.
• Effective communicator able to engage technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Based within commuting distance of Manchester and eligible to work in the UK.

Required skills

• Microsoft Defender
• Microsoft Sentinel
• KQL (Kusto Query Language)
• Azure AD / Entra ID
• MFA and RBAC
• Vulnerability management
• PowerShell
• Python
• Digital forensics
• Incident response
• Threat investigation
• Security analytics
• Security engineering