Learning & Development Manager

Microsoft•Redmond, WA

6d•Hybrid

About The Position

Microsoft Advertising (MSA) is seeking a Learning & Development Manager for its global sales organization and external client audiences, with a focus on North America. This role sits at the intersection of learning strategy, business enablement, and digital advertising. The manager will translate business priorities, customer needs, and emerging technologies into practical, scalable learning experiences that build capability, support adoption, and advance business goals. The role involves partnering with subject matter experts, business stakeholders, instructional designers, and other training experts to create learning curriculum across multiple modalities, including live in-classroom, virtual webinars, and on-demand courses, along with job aids and supporting resources. Additionally, the role will utilize data to evaluate relationships and trends, analyze effectiveness using AI tools (e.g., learning survey analyses, program metrics, ROI, behavior change, business impact), identify key performance indicators (KPIs), define capability gaps, improve benchmarking, and drive learning priorities through a learner-centric methodology. This position combines expertise in learning and development methodology, learning technology, and creative content delivery through scalable, data-driven efforts aligned with business needs. Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees, we foster a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to achieve shared goals, guided by our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create an inclusive culture where everyone can thrive.

Requirements

Master's Degree or equivalent 1+ year(s) experience in learning and development, relevant technical roles, business development, quota management, human resources (HR), customer success, collection management, research/restoration evaluation, industry, program/project management, or corporate education OR Bachelor's degree or equivalent AND 2+ years experience in learning and development, relevant technical roles, business development, field or sales, HR, customer success, collection management, research/restoration evaluation, industry, or program/project management, corporate education OR equivalent experience.

Nice To Haves

Master's Degree or equivalent AND 6+ years experience in learning and development, relevant technical roles, business development, field or sales, human resources (HR), customer success, collection management, research/restoration evaluation, industry, program/project management, or corporate education OR Bachelor's degree or equivalent AND 8+ years experience in learning and development, relevant technical roles, business development, field or sales, HR, customer success, collection management, research/restoration evaluation, industry, program/project management, or corporate education OR equivalent experience.
Experience owning learning strategy, then executing the creation, delivery, management, and analytics of learning programs in partnership with business stakeholders.
Experience with Learning technology to create and manage courses, AI for program management and content creation, and LMS platforms.
Experience modernizing content creation, evolving content libraries, and using modern technology/AI to improve speed, quality, and internal processes.
Analytical experiences, data driven measurement success, and problem-solving skills with experience using data to drive recommendations and program improvements.
Experience in Digital Advertising or a global sales organization.
Experience designing learning curriculum across multiple formats, tailoring it to different audiences.
5+ years managing projects, including planning, managing timelines, and tracking progress, and/or change management experience.
Proven experience leading complex, cross‑functional programs that span multiple teams, stakeholders, or feature areas, with demonstrated ability to define strategy, evaluate customer and market signals, and prioritize initiatives across a portfolio of work.
Demonstrated ability to identify unmet or emerging customer needs through both quantitative (e.g., usage data, telemetry, operational metrics) and qualitative (e.g., customer interviews, listening systems, market trends) insights and translate those needs into scalable solutions or program improvements.
Ability to operate effectively in highly ambiguous environments, independently scoping problems, defining success criteria, and driving execution across organizational boundaries.

Responsibilities

Partner with business leaders and cross-functional teams to define learning priorities, requirements, and measures of success.
Collaborate with subject matter experts to develop, maintain, and evolve learning content, standards, and program frameworks that reflect changing business needs and industry trends.
Deliver learning programs across multiple modalities including in-classroom, virtual, and on-demand courses.
Design and develop engaging learning content by applying proven instructional design principles, ensuring materials are learner-centric, interactive, and aligned to business objectives.
Establish AI-first content approach, including when to leverage assistants vs curate or create content manually.
Provide expert guidance on data analytics to evaluate trends, tell the data story, identify capability gaps, improve benchmarking, and drive learner-centric priorities.
Lead end-to-end curriculum lifecycle, including program governance, operational readiness, launch planning, program maintenance, and periodic refresh cycles based on data.
Partner with Marketing, Sales, Product Marketing and other teams for promotional opportunities to highlight new content and generate support for external learning programs.
Travel to key client sites in North America to deliver in-classroom and bootcamp workshops for key programs (some international travel is possible).