Principal Product Manager

Overview

The Azure High Performance Computing & Artificial Intelligence (HPC & AI) compute platform team defines and delivers the hardware roadmap, software, and services that enable our users to run technical computing workloads in Azure – extreme scale AI training and inference including large language models, traditional HPC modelling and simulations, remote visualization, and immersive gaming experiences. We are responsible for providing Azure customers with supercomputer-class capabilities to accelerate their research, drive competitive differentiation, and finding answers to some of the most difficult questions of science and industry.

We are looking for a Principal Product Manager with expertise in AI who has a proven track record working with complex and distributed computer systems serving the needs of mission critical customers. This role requires a candidate with an ability to articulate a vision, inspire and get key stakeholder buy-in and delivery, model Microsoft values and lead cross-organization teams to program success.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

Responsibilities

Analysis of Customer and Market Signals

Leverages AI to anticipate customers’ unmet or unknown needs and market opportunities for enhancements or development and new products/services of multiple feature areas (e.g., product, service) across divisional boundaries via quantitative (e.g., usage, telemetry) and qualitative analyses (e.g., customer usage, various listening systems, feedback channels of market and industry trends), analyzes security and ethical compliance, looks for patterns in the data across a portfolio, and scopes the impact and prioritization of a problem. Brings together internal and external customer groups around a specific scenario and engages in direct 1:1 (e.g., visits, interviews) or many (e.g., social media, events) customer engagements to solicit feedback and understand their experiences with Microsoft’s products and services using industry-accepted methods (e.g., Moneyball). Acts as a subject matter expert in performing market or user research through AI in collaboration with the User Research team, conducting competitive analyses, and examining market and industry trends, as well as industry-specific requirements or regulations. Shares insights with senior internal/external stakeholders and internal team to ensure cross-team alignment. Leads contract negotiations and partnerships across the organization and company-wide alignment. Assesses acquisition targets to enhance the migration offering. Shares insights with internal team and ensures cross-team alignment on creating products that are easy to adopt and provide a positive experience for customers.

Demonstrates and builds experiences across multiple feature areas (e.g., product, service) across divisional boundaries. Leads process defining problems and incubating solutions for a team or organization. Understands the broader ecosystem of Microsoft products and where to leverage capabilities and functionalities across the ecosystem. Coaches and mentors internal team to develop problem statements and forms hypotheses of new feature areas (e.g., product, service) across divisional boundaries to address highly complex customer needs and/or market opportunities; identifies dependencies of other feature areas. Uses AI for trend analysis and sentiment evaluation to generate hypotheses, understand problems, and predict customer preferences, leading experiments and A/B tests to improve model performance and inform feature development. Establishes clarity of patterns of root problem and how it relates with previously seen trends across customers, determines the customers/sectors impacted, foresees future opportunities, and uses research evidence to influence feature prioritization. Ensures product-market fit and alignment between the customer, the market, internal stakeholders, senior leadership, and the goals and strategy of Microsoft. Collaborates with others (e.g., Software Engineering [SWE], Hardware Engineering [HWE], Product Marketing, Design, Security Subject Matter Experts) to ensure that they can satisfy customer and security requirements. Validates the market size, explores new opportunities to determine products or features of greatest value, and collaborates with other teams (e.g., Finance) to build the Long Range Plan (LRP). Defines and optimizes AI-driven solution options across multiple feature areas across divisional boundaries (e.g., product, service), incorporating insights into refinement and experimentation processes. Partners with senior colleagues on other teams (e.g., SWE, HWE) in refinement sessions to synthesize hypothesis results into solutions tied with Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) progress. Resolves alignment issues, contributes to portfolio level solutions, and drives cross-functional clarity with senior leadership.

Go To Market

Collaborates with Product Marketing, Business Planning, and Engineering to identify product release criteria (including security requirements such as Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) compliance), customer acquisition, usage, retention, and monetization strategies. Helps scale Product Marketing teams by building marketing and roll-out plans and/or content such as product overviews, blogs, and landing pages for individual features or smaller products that ladder up to marketing plans for an overall product solution area. Creates and drives strategy for taking the multiple feature areas across divisional boundaries from private preview to public preview and then to general availability. Begins to orchestrate the creation and/or automation of customer support plans (e.g., frequently asked questions [FAQs], scripts), HyperCase, change management, and communication plans.

Executes on opportunities to evangelize the supported feature areas worked on, including AI-driven solutions, with internal and external stakeholders, partners, analysts, and customers in the industry via presentations, blog posts, social media, and other forums. Presents at Executive Briefing Centers (EBCs) and industry/company events. Acts as a primary interface with Product Marketing to educate on the product and leverages AI to develop content.

Product/Service Definition

Translates complex technical AI concepts into business value, engaging with executives and customers to build consensus and support for AI-first product strategies. Influences and drives engagement with cross-functional internal partnerships, external partners, including early adopting customers, senior leadership, and other key stakeholders to gather input and garner support for product/service vision, strategy, and roadmap for multiple feature areas across divisional boundaries. Provides thought leadership and is sought out to address questions and challenges from group managers and other leaders. Rallies the team around a common vision. Leverages AI-driven workflows to collaborate with cross-functional teams and secure buy-in from senior leadership for product vision and strategy for multiple feature areas across organizational boundaries. Advocates for priorities and resources needed to deliver desired outcomes for multiple feature areas (e.g., product, service) across divisional boundaries. Partners to rally others around shared priorities. Balances listening and sharing of information to obtain alignment.

Serves as an expert in identifying AI-informed, long-term or overall solution-level investment opportunities, evaluating tradeoffs, and prioritizing investments in consultation with cross organizational partners for multiple feature areas (e.g., product, service) across divisional boundaries. Guides others to determine the features or experiences to prioritize in the roadmap that will support achievement of success criteria and Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).

Owns or partners with others around driving significant business impact across the organization and simulating and tracking success criteria and performance metrics (e.g., Objectives and Key Results [OKRs], Key Performance Indicators [KPIs] such as engagement, usage, acquisition, retention, user love/net promoter score (NPS), revenue, profitability, and in-project features) and provides clarity on the fundamentals (e.g., quality, privacy, security, compliance, accessibility, cost of goods sold [COGS]) of multiple feature areas (e.g., product, service) across divisional boundaries. Sets and defines success metrics for AI related features and products (e.g., precision/recall, relevance scores). Works with internal partner teams (e.g., SWE and HWE) to identify needed data and ensure needed telemetry is developed and obtains it responsibly and compliantly; reports and explicates reasons for outcomes and drives decision making thereafter. Deeply understands the COGS of multiple feature areas (e.g., product, service) across divisional boundaries and the KPIs that will help improve profitability. Performs advanced insights analyses (e.g., customer acquisition, customer retention). Identifies OKRs for multiple feature areas (e.g., product, service) across divisional boundaries and ensures alignment of the product with organization-level OKRs, including success/performance metrics that represent the security posture of products or features (

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