Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced the company has recruited Jay Parikh to its senior leadership team after stints as Facebook head of engineering and Lacework CEO.

Lacework specializes in “data-driven cloud security at scale,” and boasts and impressive portfolio of clients. Parikh’s background as CEO of Lacework makes him a perfect fit for Microsoft’s ambition, especially as it works to improve security as it continues to scale.

Nadella highlighted Parikh’s value in his blog post.

When I look to the next phase of Microsoft, both in terms of our scale and our massive opportunity ahead, it’s clear that we need to continue adding exceptional talent at every level of the organization to increase our depth and capability across our business priorities – spanning security, quality, and AI innovation.

With that context, I’m excited to share that Jay Parikh is joining Microsoft as a member of the senior leadership team (SLT), reporting to me. Jay was the global head of engineering at Facebook (now Meta) and most recently was CEO of Lacework. He has an impressive track record, with a unique combination of experiences building and scaling technical teams that serve both commercial customers and consumers. His deep connections across the start-up and VC ecosystems, coupled with his leadership roles at Akamai and Ning, will bring valuable perspective to Microsoft.

Nadella goes on to say that Parikh’s expertise goes beyond technology and includes strong leadership qualities.

Over the years I’ve known Jay, I’ve admired him as a technology leader and respected engineer with a deep commitment to driving innovation and striving for operational excellence. His focus extends beyond technology, with his passion for and dedication to developing people, fostering a strong culture, and building world-class talent, all in service of delivering faster value to customers and driving business growth. In fact, there are very few leaders in our industry with Jay’s experience in leading teams through the rapid growth and scale required to support today’s largest internet businesses.

As he onboards, Jay will immerse himself in learning about our company priorities and our culture and will spend time connecting with our senior leaders and meeting with customers, partners, and employees around the world. We will share more on his role and focus in the next few months.

It will be interesting to see the specific role Parikh takes on within the company.