Senior Operations Program Manager - CoreAI

Microsoft•Redmond, WA

About The Position

The CoreAI Senior Operations Program Manager leads end-to-end procurement operations for external staffing and third-party software. The role develops outsourcing strategies, optimizes vendor spend, simplifies procurement workflows, and provides leadership with clear visibility into budgets, supplier performance, dependencies, and risk.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in Business, Operations, Finance, or related field AND 4+ years experience in program management, process management, or process improvement OR equivalent experience.
Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role.
This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years

Nice To Haves

Ability to translate business strategy into clear execution plans.
Self-motivated and proven problem-solving skill.
Detail oriented and great organization skill.
Proven analytical capability with experience using standard reporting, BI tools, and data-driven insights to support leadership decisions.
Proven stakeholder management skills across senior leaders, Business Manager, Finance, Procurement, Legal and legal Operations teams.
Ability to drive simplification, standardization, automation, and adoption of scalable operating models.
Proven communication skills, including the ability to simplify complex operational topics and influence cross-functional partners.
Growth mindset, inclusive leadership behaviors, learning agility, and comfort operating in a fast-changing, matrixed environment.
Experience in business operations and procurement processes.
Work experience in products team as Engineering or PM
Experience working with senior business leaders and cross-functional stakeholders to drive governance, planning, reporting, and performance management.
Familiarity with AI-enabled transformation, automation, standardized reporting.

Responsibilities

Serve as a member of CoreAI’s Procurement-as-a-Service team, owning strategy, spend management, and end-to-end execution for external staffing and third-party software procurement.
Partner with cross-functional stakeholders (e.g. Business managers , senior team leader, vendor champs ) to Define outsourcing strategy for each group.
Leverage preferred suppliers.
Drive collaboration with vendor champs to Identify duplication across teams and consolidate vendors for efficiency and leverage
Drive cost optimization opportunities through strategic sourcing, including master agreements, pricing initiatives. competitive bidding, schedule commitments, risk allocation, claims resolution, and performance management.
PO submission, manage invoices, renewals, and financial tracking.
Apply value engineering, market intelligence, competitive bidding, and supplier relationship management to reduce costs while maintaining quality and reliability standards.
Maintain a consolidated view of vendors, contracts, spend, and dependencies.
Track budgets, forecasts, and risks across vendor engagements to support fiscal-year planning, budgeting, and trade-off decisions related to vendor spend.
Inventory all roles, groups, and resources then drive a burn down plan to eliminate duplication, consolidate access paths.
Act as a single point of contact so teams don’t navigate finance, legal, and procurement separately.
Standardized workflows and streamline intake, approvals, and onboarding
Establish procurement governance, forecasting, reporting, and operational metrics to provide leadership visibility into spend, schedule, supply chain health, and program risks.
Supplier performance governance through procurement manager engagement at Corp level, escalation management, recovery planning, and continuous improvement initiatives to ensure delivery, quality, and cost objectives are achieved.
Build and maintain strategic partnerships with key suppliers to improve supply assurance, increase flexibility, accelerate deployment schedules, and strengthen long-term capacity planning.