About the team 

Data is the new currency of the digital world, and Microsoft is uniquely positioned to help businesses and consumers get the most out of theirs. With the leading database in the world - SQL Server, and the rapidly growing Azure Data platform, Microsoft has made an enormous bet on cloud-based platform components that companies will need to derive knowledge and insights from big data and analytics. This bet helps us achieve our bold ambitions: Empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

To make it a reality, Microsoft’s Data Cloud Studio DesignOps team is charged with driving the operational strategy that turns a product vision into action. How? By designing inclusive environments that promote creative exploration and building productivity frameworks that allow Design to operate at the peak of efficiency and effectiveness. 

About the role

We are looking for a user focused DesignOps Program Manager to help define and drive strategy for teams consisting of Interaction Design, User Research, Content Design and Design Engineering, and to collaborate across multiple organizations including Design, Product Management, Engineering, Marketing, and our Senior Leadership.  

The ideal candidate knows how to bring the best design strategy together across multiple teams and workstreams. You’ll play a critical role in creating clarity and priority for the Platform Design team as it grows and scales to support the organization. You will help drive sprints to burn down the needs of our platform experiences, coordinate rhythm of business that reduces ambiguity between teams, and ensure Design plays an impactful role in business success as we scale to include new products and capabilities.

DesignOps manages key areas:

Design Program Management— work closely with our Product, User Research, and Content Design Leads to drive our operational strategy and raise the bar of our practice. This includes building and overseeing our UX roadmap, and supporting organizational development efforts such as hiring, onboarding, and career development.

Design Operations—partner with leadership across the product studio, and work closely with program managers, engineers, designers, researchers, and content to develop systems for how we work. Explore better ways to prototype creative solutions, ensuring we are building the best solutions for the right problems at the right time for our customers.

You will be responsible for creating efficiencies in our design process to enable designers, researchers, and content designers to stay focused on delivering high quality work.

Responsibilities

 As a DesignOps Program Manager I, you will have the following responsibilities:

• Support team rhythm of business and operations and direct the day-to-day operations of the design team
• Iterate and document team processes to maximize the team’s time and effectiveness
• Build and refine multidisciplinary process for maximum efficiency and quality output
• Partner with DesignOps and Product Design leadership to forecast resourcing needs

• Identify capacity and forecast for design workloads
• Manage team backlog including work items, scope, and requirements
• Support design leads to negotiate scope and priority with product partners
• Track the metrics used to measure success
• Keep a pulse on team health and morale, and generate positive energy

• Be an advocate for human-centered design and research

Qualifications

Required:

• Strong communication and organizational skills 
• 3-5 years of relevant experience     
• Experience managing projects and working with diverse teams 
• Self-starter with passion for user experience and Design 
• Desire to learn about how Design supports business objectives

• Customer-centric mindset and a desire to learn
• Familiarity and working knowledge of current management tools such as Jira or DevOps

Preferred:

• Familiarity and working knowledge of current design tools (Figma, Sketch, Invision, Adobe suite, and others) 

• Experience working on a design systems or library team
• Awareness of inclusive design and how it supports Microsoft's mission 
• Willingness to question established thinking in pursuit of better outcomes 
• Familiarity with agile or lean methodologies 

Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings: Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

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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.