Principal Design Architect

Microsoft•Redmond, WA

About The Position

About Microsoft AI (MAI) Microsoft AI (MAI) is a newly formed organization advancing Copilot and other consumer AI products. We partner across Bing, Edge, MSN, and Shopping to shape the future of AI powered personal computing. Our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. We innovate with a growth mindset, build on respect, integrity, and accountability, and foster a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive. The MAI Brand and Design Systems team is building a cohesive, AI native design system that unifies Microsoft products across desktop, web, and mobile—creating fast, scalable, and intuitive experiences for our customers. Why Join Us? Shape the future of consumer AI experiences Collaborate with teams worldwide Advance intuitive, inclusive, trustworthy AI Work in a culture that encourages creativity and rapid experimentation Role Overview As a Principal Design Architect (also known as a Creative Technologist), you’ll be a highlevel individual contributor working at the intersection of design systems, engineering, and AI tooling. You’ll define how Microsoft’s design system evolves in the AI era—building adaptive, intelligent systems that accelerate designer and developer workflows. Your work spans intelligent tools, designtocode automation, and AIaugmented processes that boost velocity and quality at scale. This isn’t just about UI design; it’s about shaping AI behavior and how people collaborate with machine intelligence.

Requirements

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 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 equivalent experience (e.g., demonstrated experience working in product or service design or using design thinking to solve problems)
Continue to explore emerging AI techniques—prompting, prototyping, and experimentation
Build handson prototypes that advance design ideas
Partner with engineering and data science to influence systems, model requirements, and AI behaviors
Drive strategic decisions that shape longterm AI experience patterns
Work simultaneously on present execution and 6–12month future vision
Elevate team fluency through coaching, frameworks, and crossdisciplinary collaboration

Nice To Haves

Experience with LLMs, generative UI, and broader AI/ML technologies
Experience designing AI/LLM- powered experiences; familiarity with conversational and voice systems
Strong foundation in design systems and frontend engineering
Ability to prototype and ship intelligent designtocode workflows
Proficiency in Figma and AI prototyping tools; experience with design automation and component libraries
Portfolio demonstrating strong visual design craft
Ability to thrive in fastpaced, evolving environments
Strong communication and storytelling skills
Collaborative mindset across design, engineering, and research
Experience influencing technical decisions and strategic design direction
Experience shipping products, services, or games end-to-end
Portfolio including AI behavior, model shaping, orchestration, or agent based prototypes
Experience with agents, tool integration, or evaluation frameworks
Comfort with ambiguity in AI systems, including uncertainty and fallbacks

Responsibilities

Bring an AIforward mindset; evaluate system behavior and define quality for complex scenarios
Blend design craft with technical curiosity, working beyond pixels using real data and prototypes
Influence across PM, Engineering, Data Science, Research, and Design
Provide strategic design vision and business rationale
Build AIpowered tools and pipelines that move concepts to production quickly
Embed advanced AI capabilities into the design system for adaptability and workflow integration
Prototype intelligent components and adaptive UI patterns
Operationalize LLMs, generative UI, and multimodal systems into practical workflows
Ensure seamless designsystemtocode integration using AIdriven utilities
Act as a force multiplier—accelerating cycles, scaling quality, and shaping AIaugmented design