Senior Director, Frontier Continuous Improvement

Microsoft•Redmond, WA

9d•$130,900 - $303,600

About The Position

Microsoft’s Continuous Improvement team is seeking a Senior Director, Frontier Continuous Improvement to shape and deliver customer AI transformation engagements with Microsoft Frontier Company. Frontier Company helps customers achieve business transformation through AI by combining industry expertise, AI engineering, services delivery, continuous improvement, and outcome-driven execution. As part of a Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) team, you will bring continuous improvement and process design expertise to customer engagements. You will lead workflow discovery and redesign alongside engineers, Industry Advisors, and customer teams, connecting business objectives, process design, and technical delivery. The role includes observing work firsthand, quantifying current-state performance, identifying opportunities for AI, defining roles and performance measures, translating future-state designs into implementation plans, and remaining engaged through delivery and adoption so teams can measure results and refine workflows. Successful candidates apply continuous improvement practices to complex business processes and deliver measurable improvements. They think rigorously, navigate ambiguity, work across business and technical teams, and influence from frontline teams to senior executives. Regular travel to customer locations is required, up to 50%.

Requirements

Master’s degree in Engineering, Business, or a related field and 6+ years of process management, process execution, process optimization, or related experience; OR bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, or a related field and 8+ years of such experience; OR equivalent experience.
4+ years of demonstrated experience leading enterprise transformation, process redesign, and operating-model change from discovery through adoption and sustained results.
4+ years of experience advising executive leaders, facilitating high-stakes decisions, shaping complex engagements, and influencing across organizations without direct authority.
1+ year of experience redesigning workflows with generative AI, agents, or automation and partnering with technology or engineering teams on large-scale implementations.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in Engineering, Business, or a related field and 12+ years of process management, process execution, process optimization, or related experience (e.g., data analytics); OR bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, or a related field and 15+ years of such experience; OR equivalent experience.
Management consulting, professional services, or enterprise sales experience in customer transformation or technology-enabled operating-model change.
Hands-on applied AI experience with agentic workflow design, responsible AI, evaluation, human oversight, and failure-mode planning.
Advanced experience with Lean, Six Sigma, operational excellence, or equivalent continuous improvement methods.

Responsibilities

Work as an integrated member of a Forward Deployed Engineering pod, partnering with engineers, Industry Advisors, and customer teams to translate business opportunities into redesigned workflows and measurable outcomes.
Lead discovery, voice-of-customer activities, gemba, and current-state analysis; quantify performance and identify waste, constraints, and unmet needs.
Guide customers and the FDE pod through Kaizen and collaborative design sessions to redesign workflows across people, AI, and technology, including roles, decisions, and handoffs.
Identify where AI and agents can automate work, support judgment, or enable new capabilities; define human oversight, decision rights, exception handling, and fallback paths.
Translate future-state workflows into clear requirements and acceptance criteria, and partner with engineers through prototyping and deployment.
Break future-state designs into actionable changes, establish owners, milestones, and execution routines, surface barriers, and support adoption.
Establish performance baselines and targets tied to customer outcomes, validate results, and build customer ownership and continuous improvement capabilities to sustain performance.
Communicate with frontline teams, technical partners, and executive leaders; explain complex issues, facilitate tradeoffs, and build commitment across organizational boundaries.
Turn customer experience into reusable playbooks and design patterns, coach colleagues and customer teams in continuous improvement practices, and provide feedback to engineering and product teams.
Create clarity in ambiguity, challenge the status quo with evidence, foster collaboration and ownership, and deliver results with respect, integrity, and accountability.