Senior Hardware Program Manager

Microsoft•Redmond, WA

10d

About The Position

Are you passionate about creating amazing devices that empower people to achieve more? The Surface team focuses on building devices that fully express the Windows vision, and the Surface Wireless Team focuses on the wireless features that transform that vision into reality. Creating these devices requires close coordination between a wide variety of internal Microsoft teams and strategic technology partners. Program Managers drive that coordination and play a crucial role in the overall product realization process. As a Senior Hardware Program Manager on the Surface Wireless Team, you will lead complex and multidisciplinary hardware development efforts to enable premium wireless connectivity and location features in the Surface device portfolio. You will coordinate with the product planning team, device program managers and your wireless Software Program Manager counterpart to define the wireless subsystem requirements rapidly and efficiently. You will work diligently to construct, maintain, and adapt program plans and schedules; coordinate and drive the engineering, verification, certification, compliance, sourcing, and manufacturing teams; and continuously adapt our processes to improve overall team execution. You will succeed in this role by leading without authority; communicating clearly and effectively; effectively building consensus among key team members; leveraging your excellent cross-functional management skills; driving coordination with external partners; adapting in a dynamic and demanding environment; identifying gaps and working with functional managers and leads to fill those gaps; removing obstacles that are blocking or slowing progress; managing and communicating risks; and efficiently reporting status to relevant teams and leaders. Your expertise from successfully shipping cellular enabled devices will be particularly useful in this role as we expand our cellular connected Surface device offerings. Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree AND 5+ years experience in product/service/program management or software development
OR equivalent experience.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering with wireless communication systems emphasis.
Professional RF design experience with basic understanding of antenna and conducted RF engineering processes.
3+ years of direct experience shipping multiple cellular enabled devices with recent certification experience.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Proficient in deploying and adapting lean processes in a dynamic organization.
Basic understanding of wireless system verification processes, mobile operator and industry (such as GCF, PTCRB, WFA and BTSig) certifications.
Moderate technical understanding of modern wireless communication systems and device side architectures.
Basic understanding 3GPP/3GPP2 air interface protocols such as 5G-NR, 802.11 air interfaces, Bluetooth, GNSS, NFC, UWB and hybrid wireless location technologies.

Responsibilities

Align with the device program team on overarching business goals and high-level requirements.
Define wireless non-functional requirements to ensure device within the business constraints.
Coordinate with program and software teams to ensure bottom-up schedules merge with the program top-down schedules.
Align with the certifications team to ensure accurate requirements for launch window carrier and industry and regulatory requirements.
Partner with managers, leads, and cross‑functional teams to build and adapt program execution plans and schedules, aligning closely with validation and certification groups to ensure smooth, on‑time delivery and proactively mitigate risks.
Ensure cross-functional and cross-organizational alignment throughout all phases of the program.
Adapt where necessary for specific programs, but maximize commonality for multiple program efficiencies.
Ensure proper critical design reviews by relevant teams (DFx, etc.) and members strategic partners as needed.
Facilitate coordination with the manufacturing test team and the NPI team to ensure proper device specific test fixture delivery and to ensure efficient production and yield ramps.
Coordinate with the sourcing team to confirm viable key, long lead time, and second source component strategy.
Identify hidden costs and adapt execution strategies to eliminate from future programs.
Continuously manage, mitigate, and communicate risks, and proactively inform senior leadership as necessary.
Organize and present program status to the business, engineering, and senior leadership teams.
Coordinate transition to the sustaining engineering team.
Embody our Culture and Values