Principal Technical Program Manager

Lead partnership operations

• Own and continuously improve the operating model for the Microsoft-OpenAI partnership.

• Create structure across a complex portfolio of priorities, workstreams, stakeholders, decisions, commitments, and dependencies.

• Establish effective operating rhythms, governance mechanisms, communication channels, and decision processes.

• Ensure the partnership operates as a coordinated system rather than as a collection of disconnected initiatives.

• Identify friction in how teams work together and drive practical improvements that increase speed, clarity, and effectiveness.

Maintain the full partnership context

• Develop and maintain a comprehensive view of Microsoft's priorities, activities, commitments, risks, opportunities, and unmet needs across the partnership.

• Connect information across product, engineering, research, infrastructure, safety, security, Legal, business, and executive discussions.

• Understand the strategic and technical context behind major workstreams so that operational decisions reflect Microsoft's broader objectives.

• Identify patterns, cross-workstream dependencies, and emerging issues that may not be visible to any individual team.

• Serve as a trusted source of context for the Head of OpenAI Partnership and other senior stakeholders.

Drive execution and accountability

• Translate partnership priorities and leadership decisions into clear plans, owners, milestones, dependencies, and expected outcomes.

• Ensure important commitments are documented, understood, and followed through to completion.

• Recognize when work has stalled, determine what is preventing progress, and drive the appropriate path to resolution.

• Hold stakeholders accountable for commitments regardless of organizational boundaries or seniority, while maintaining productive working relationships.

• Distinguish between issues that teams can resolve independently and those requiring broader alignment, leadership attention, or escalation.

• Maintain a strong focus on outcomes rather than activity, reporting, or process for its own sake.

Apply strategic judgment to operations

• Connect day-to-day execution to Microsoft's broader partnership objectives and long-term AI strategy.

• Evaluate not only whether work is progressing, but whether it is being approached in the right way and remains focused on the right problem.

• Identify gaps between strategy and execution and recommend changes to priorities, operating models, sequencing, or stakeholder engagement.

• Anticipate second-order effects, downstream dependencies, and potential risks before they become urgent.

• Use operational insight to help the Head of OpenAI Partnership refine priorities and make better-informed decisions.

• Challenge assumptions and surface concerns when the current approach is unlikely to produce the intended outcome.

Provide leadership visibility and decision support

• Give the Head of OpenAI Partnership and other senior leaders a clear, current, and decision-oriented view of the partnership.

• Synthesize complex information into concise explanations of what is happening, why it matters, what is at risk, and what action is recommended.

• Prepare leadership for important reviews, decisions, and discussions with OpenAI.

• Ensure communications are tailored to the audience, grounded in context, and designed to produce clarity and action.

• Reduce surprises by surfacing material changes, unresolved decisions, and emerging risks early.

• Ensure leadership discussions result in clear decisions, owners, and follow-through.

Launch new partnership initiatives

• Help turn new partnership ideas and executive priorities into executable engagements with Microsoft and OpenAI stakeholders.

• Clarify the objective, intended outcome, scope, stakeholders, dependencies, ownership model, and success criteria for new initiatives.

• Bring together the right leaders and teams across Microsoft and OpenAI to establish alignment and begin execution.

• Create the initial operating structure, governance, communication model, and execution plan needed to build momentum.

• Guide new engagements from early concept through initial execution and integration into the broader partnership operating model.

• Transition mature initiatives to the appropriate long-term owners while retaining visibility into dependencies and partnership-level implications.

Coordinate across Microsoft and OpenAI

• Build trusted relationships with product leaders, engineers, researchers, business leaders, legal professionals, and executives across both companies.

• Ensure Microsoft teams remain coordinated when engaging OpenAI on shared priorities or interconnected work.

• Navigate differing perspectives, unclear ownership, and competing priorities with sound judgment and professionalism.

• Facilitate difficult discussions and help stakeholders reach clear decisions without creating unnecessary process or bureaucracy.

• Represent Microsoft's priorities, needs, and context clearly in operational discussions with OpenAI.

Required/minimum qualifications 

• Bachelor's Degree AND 6+ years experience in engineering, product/technical program management, data analysis, or product development OR equivalent experience. 

Additional or preferred qualifications 

• Bachelor's Degree AND 12+ years experience engineering, product/technical program management, data analysis, or product development OR equivalent experience. 

• 8+ years of experience managing cross-functional and/or cross-team projects. 

• 3+ years of experience managing cross-functional and/or cross-team projects. 

• 1+ year(s) of experience reading and/or writing code (e.g., sample documentation, product demos). 

• Extensive experience leading complex, cross-functional technical programs, strategic operations, business operations, or company-wide initiatives. 

• Demonstrated ability to create structure and drive execution in fast-moving environments with unclear ownership, competing priorities, and incomplete information. 

• Strong strategic judgment and the ability to connect operational decisions to broader business and technology objectives. 

• Exceptional organizational ability, including the capacity to maintain context across many concurrent workstreams while identifying the issues that matter most. 

• Proven ability to influence across organizational boundaries, drive accountability, and move complex work toward resolution without direct authority. 

• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, including experience advising senior leaders and synthesizing complex information into clear, decision-oriented recommendations. 

• Familiarity with AI development, cloud platforms, infrastructure, product commercialization, or emerging technologies. 

• Experience supporting a major technology partnership or cross-company initiative, including communicating and coordinating directly with external partners on complex technical or strategic work.