Principal Product Design Lead

At Microsoft AI, we are inventing an AI Companion for everyone – an AI designed with real personality and emotional intelligence that’s always in your corner. Defined by effortless communication, extraordinary capabilities, and a new level of connection and support, we want Copilot to define the next wave of technology. This is a rare opportunity to be a part of a team crafting something that challenges everything we know about software and consumer products. 

We’re a small, friendly, fast-moving team, supporting one another to do the best work of our lives, always looking to break new ground with an unshakeable dedication to the user. We are proud of what we build, how we build it, and that our products define the AI era while earning the trust of our users. We run lean, prioritize quality, meaningful innovation and polish, and always root our decisions in research and evidence. We ship regularly, so your work will have real and immediate impact.  

Our Core Values: 

Quality. We only deliver category-defining products that delight with their ease of use, guaranteed reliability, and beautiful, coherent design.    

Simplicity. We don’t overcomplicate. Less is more, always.    

Safety & Security. The highest standards of security, safety and responsibility are non-negotiable across all our business areas.    

Evaluation. We pay close attention to signals and aren’t afraid to change course when data and our experience tells us to. We are also careful with our metrics, focusing on delivering long-term sustainable value (rather than short-term KPIs).  

Kindness. Kindness is at the heart of our org and how we conduct ourselves. We care for, and support and respect one another, beginning again and learning every day. 

We’re on the lookout for a talented and passionate Principal Product Design Lead to help build the next wave of capabilities of our personal AI companion, Copilot. We're looking for someone who has experience and passion for driving the end-to-end process of setting design vision and execution for innovative zero-to-one consumer products. We’re looking for someone with an abundance of positive energy, empathy, and kindness, in addition to being highly effective. The right candidate takes the initiative and enjoys building world-class consumer experiences and products in a fast-paced environment.  This is a player/coach role. In addition to setting vision and direction, the ideal candidate is a maker who can craft high quality design work at a fast pace within our design principles. 

Our Design Principles: 

Create Magical Moments 

Guide the Journey 

Personality is Pivotal 

Always be Earning Trust 

Sweat the Details 

Be in Service to People 

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.

By applying to this U.S. Mountain View, CA position, you are required to be local to the San Francisco area and in office 3 days a week. 

Responsibilities

• Ship world-class AI applications that delight consumers with an emphasis on craft, quality, trust, and positive user and societal impact. 
• Own a product area and be responsible for understanding user needs and behaviors, defining product requirements, managing end-to-end product development, launches and iterations.  
• Cross-functional communication and dependency management, scoping and scheduling, and seeing through implementation by collaborating with engineering through the finish line. 
• Find your own path to get things done despite roadblocks to get your work into the hands of users quickly and iteratively.   
• Set the bar for excellence and quality and hold the team accountable to that standard. 
• Enjoy working in a fast-paced, design-driven, product development cycle.  
• Translate business goals into strategy, user experience and technical requirements in close collaboration with UX designers and AI model training teams.  
• Define goals and performance indicators, set up and oversee experiments, measure success with data and research.  
• Collaborate effectively and communicate clearly with cross-functional teams, including product managers, designers, and other engineers, to build exceptional consumer-grade applications.   

Qualifications

Required Qualifications: 

• Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Design, Product Design, Human Computer Interaction, User Experience, Interaction Design, or related field AND 8+ years experience working in product or service design 
  • OR Master's Degree in Industrial Design, Product Design, Human Computer Interaction, User Experience, Interaction Design, or related field AND 6+ years experience working in product or service design 
  • OR equivalent experience (e.g., demonstrated experience working in product or service design or using design thinking to solve problems). 

Preferred Qualifications 

• A portfolio or work samples that demonstrate at least 5 years of experience designing world class consumer products from vision through launch.
• Proven track record of setting design vision for innovative products that require bold thinking and risk taking. 
• Ability to break large bodies of work into a phased execution plan, and lead a cross-functional team from idea to polished implementation. 
• Demonstrate high craft in design work; must value craft and translate vision into well-polished design prototypes. 
• Experience that demonstrates proven ability to advocate for design thinking, effectively influence design outcomes, discover problems and tackle them in fast-paced and ambiguous environments. 
• Experience with diving into research and leveraging both qualitative and quantitative signals for design impact. 
• Experience prompting LLMs, working with generative AI, or an intense desire to learn. 
• Ability to own your work in a fast-paced. start-up like environment, manage multiple priorities, and adapt to ever-changing requirements and deadlines. 
• Proven ability to collaborate and contribute to a positive, inclusive work environment, fostering knowledge sharing and growth within the team. 
• Optional, but lovely: Prototype-level engineering experience like JavaScript or Python. 

Product Design IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $137,600 - $267,000 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $180,400 - $294,000 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

Microsoft will accept applications and processes offers for these roles on an ongoing basis.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.  We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

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