Business Program Manager

Microsoft • Redmond, WA

9h • $116,900 - $222,600

About The Position

The Business Program Manager works within Microsoft’s Customer Service & Support (CSS) Strategy & Operations organization, which enables strategic planning, governance, business performance, operational execution, and transformation across CSS. The role independently leads complex, cross-functional planning workstreams and brings structure to ambiguous problems, ensuring financial, capacity, operational, and execution dependencies are visible in planning decisions.

The position owns the planning integration approach and the planning portions of key plans of record, including DFD documents and related planning artifacts. It establishes consistent methods for documenting measures of success, financial levers and scope, assumptions, decision workflows, dependencies, risks, and operational implications. The role partners with Business Impact / LRP and AI Planning Impact leads and incorporates Support Operations considerations such as skills-based routing, scheduling, and capacity planning.

Success requires strong planning and operational judgment, the ability to synthesize information across workstreams, and credibility influencing senior stakeholders without direct authority. The Business Program Manager recommends practical tradeoffs, identifies risks early, and improves coordination and decision-making mechanisms. Principal planning leads and CSS leadership retain accountability for organization-wide strategy, investment direction, and final enterprise tradeoff decisions.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Operations, Finance, or a related field and 6+ years of experience in program management, process management, or process improvement, or equivalent experience.
• Ability to meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements, including passing the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire or transfer and every two years thereafter.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in Business, Operations, Finance, or a related field and 8+ years of experience in program management, process management, or process improvement; or a bachelor’s degree in a related field and 12+ years of such experience; or equivalent experience.
• Demonstrated experience independently leading complex cross-functional programs or planning initiatives from problem definition through measurable outcomes.
• Experience structuring ambiguous problems, evaluating tradeoffs, and recommending a practical path forward with limited oversight.
• Experience influencing across organizational boundaries, securing commitments, and managing dependencies and risks without direct authority.
• Strong understanding of annual planning, plan-of-record management, and the connection between business priorities, financial levers, operational implications, and execution requirements.
• Strong synthesis and communication skills, including experience creating clear, executive-ready recommendations and decision materials.
• Experience establishing reusable planning processes, templates, or operating rhythms that improve effectiveness across teams.
• Experience with customer support, skills-based routing, scheduling, capacity planning, workforce planning, or large-scale support operations.
• Experience integrating financial, workforce, operational, AI, or technology considerations into planning and using data or AI-enabled tools to improve decision support.

Responsibilities

• Lead integration of assigned annual planning workstreams across CSS Planning, Strategy, PCMO, Support Operations, Business Operations, and partner teams.
• Translate established CSS priorities into coordinated workplans, milestones, decision points, dependencies, and planning deliverables.
• Own planning portions of DFD documents and plans of record, including success measures, financial scope and levers, assumptions, risks, dependencies, operational implications, and accountable owners.
• Integrate Support Operations considerations—including skills-based routing, scheduling, capacity, and workforce planning—into planning artifacts and decisions.
• Partner with Business Impact / LRP and AI Planning Impact leads to align assumptions, timing, dependencies, measures, and updates across related workstreams.
• Structure ambiguous planning problems, identify gaps and tradeoffs, and develop decision-ready recommendations and leadership updates.
• Establish reusable planning mechanisms, standards, decision workflows, and operating rhythms that improve clarity, consistency, and execution readiness.
• Drive cross-functional alignment, secure stakeholder commitments, and proactively manage risks, escalations, and assigned outcomes.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior