Senior Detection & Automation Engineer · Microsoft

CODY CRANFILL.

I turn manual security operations into autonomous, AI‑driven systems — eleven years building the automation platforms, detections, and agentic AI that let global security teams operate at scale.

Agentic AI Security Automation Detection Engineering Platform Architecture

01 — About

Engineer at the intersection of
security, automation & AI.

I'm a senior engineer at Microsoft who has spent over a decade turning high‑volume, manual security work into scalable, self‑running systems. I've grown from a front‑line security responder into the automation architect behind a global cloud fraud‑and‑abuse operation — designing the platforms, detections, and AI systems a modern security team depends on.

Today my focus is agentic AI: building orchestrated, tool‑using AI systems that reason over problems and carry out entire operational workflows end to end. It's the convergence of everything I love — detection engineering, large‑scale automation, and applied AI — on a secure, production‑grade foundation.

Colleagues describe me as a force multiplier: I care as much about raising the engineering bar of the people around me as I do about shipping. The best systems make the humans around them more capable, not less — and that's the standard I build to.

02 — Expertise

What I bring to the table

◆

Agentic & Applied AI

Designing orchestrator agents and tool‑using AI systems — reasoning, retrieval‑augmented knowledge, and secure action‑taking woven into real workflows.

⚡

Security Automation

Architecting automation platforms that replace repetitive analyst work with reliable, self‑running systems — freeing experts to focus on what matters.

◎

Detection Engineering

Authoring and tuning high‑fidelity detections that surface real threats and cut noise — the signal quality a security operation is built on.

▣

Platform Architecture

Modernizing legacy systems into scalable, reusable platforms with the guardrails, standards, and patterns teams build on for years.

⟡

Secure by Design

Zero‑trust auth, identity, and least‑privilege built in from the start — because automation that acts on production must be trustworthy first.

✦

Technical Leadership

Mentoring engineers through real production challenges, driving clarity in ambiguity, and aligning teams across organizational boundaries.

03 — Signature Work

Systems I've built

A high‑level look at the platforms and initiatives I've led — the details stay internal, but the shape of the work speaks for itself.

01
Flagship

An Agentic AI Automation Platform

A security‑first platform that lets an operations team hand investigation and remediation work to orchestrated AI agents. An intelligent orchestrator reasons over requests and calls specialized tools — querying telemetry, taking secure actions, and searching institutional knowledge — all behind a zero‑trust access layer and a clean, role‑aware web experience. It represents the convergence of my automation and AI work into a single autonomous system.

  • Agentic AI
  • Orchestration
  • RAG
  • Zero‑Trust Auth
  • Cloud‑Native
02

Security Automation Platform Modernization

Led the modernization of a large body of security‑automation workflows onto a scalable next‑generation platform — retiring legacy dependencies and establishing the reusable patterns, guardrails, and engineering standards the team builds on today. The result: faster, safer, more consistent automation across the organization.

  • Platform Engineering
  • Migration
  • Standards & Guardrails
03

Detection Engineering at Scale

Designed and refined detections across a major cloud platform — engineering signals for precision and dramatically reducing noise so responders spend their time on real threats. Quiet, high‑leverage work that quietly makes an entire operation sharper.

  • Detection Engineering
  • Signal Quality
  • Threat Response
04

Reusable Automation Frameworks

Built the templates and standardized building blocks that turned automation from a weeks‑long custom effort into a repeatable, days‑long process — multiplying what a small team could deliver and setting a durable foundation for everything that followed.

  • Frameworks
  • Developer Experience
  • Scalability
11

Years driving security & automation at Microsoft

Autonomous

Systems that run entire workflows end to end

Force
Multiplier

How peers and leaders describe my impact

The thesis

FROM NOISE
TO SIGNAL.

Every system I build exists to do one thing: pull clear, actionable signal out of overwhelming noise — then act on it, autonomously.

04 — Journey

A decade of growing scope

2015 – 2019

Security Operations

Began as a vendor supporting cloud security operations — front‑line response, triage, and the first automations that hinted at a bigger calling.

2019 – 2022

Detection & Automation Engineer, Microsoft

Joined Microsoft full‑time and scaled a growing security operation through automation and detection enrichment — building the reusable frameworks that multiplied the team's output.

2022 – Present

Senior Detection & Automation Engineer, Microsoft

Promoted to Senior. Became the automation architect for a global cloud fraud‑and‑abuse operation — modernizing platforms, setting standards, and now leading the move into agentic AI.

05 — Voices

What colleagues say

"A true force multiplier — he doesn't just solve problems; he enables others to solve them at the same level."
Engineering Manager
"Your technical expertise in automation and troubleshooting is unparalleled. You are a master of your craft."
Senior Partner
"You operate at a system level, connecting constraints across teams and engineering realities. A trusted senior partner."
Partner Team Lead
"A remarkable ability to break down complex engineering challenges into clear, actionable paths forward."
Engineering Partner
"Your leadership is exceptional — composed, thoughtful, and precise, even in high‑pressure situations."
Program Partner
"You are a fearless advocate for your whole team — and you give credit where it's due just as fiercely."
Platform Engineer

Contact

LET'S BUILD.

Open to conversations about agentic AI, security automation, and detection engineering.