Launch Manager

Organization Summary:If you love the pursuit of excellence and are inspired by the challenges that come through driving innovations that impact how the world lives, works and plays, then we invite you to learn more about Microsoft Operations - and the value we deliver across Microsoft and to our customers and partners. We offer unique opportunities to work on interesting global projects in an environment that appreciates diversity, focuses on talent development and recognizes and rewards great work.The Product, Offer, Price team within Planning & Launch translates business strategy into Product, Program and Pricing data published on Price Lists and used throughout Microsoft to ensure all products and offers are buildable, billable, and orderable for customers and partners worldwide.We make doing business with Microsoft easy.Position Description:The Product, Offer & Price team is looking for an experienced Operations Program Manager/Launch Manager for Product and Pricing and transformation deliverables that support Microsoft’s Product Launch business.The ideal candidate is an effective collaborator who enjoys partnering with project teams to drive business value through new and existing price offerings. You must be able to lead and manage multiple projects simultaneously and propose tradeoffs to stakeholders to ensure appropriate launch priority given available capacity.The ideal candidate will quickly master Microsoft’s vast landscape of price models and pricing details that enable orders and sell through of our products. This is foundational and critical to success.The ideal candidate understands Microsoft Products, business and a competitive environment. You want to increase the speed to market and time to value for both Microsoft and our partners.The ideal candidate has a passion for optimizing processes and understanding the systems environment so that you can troubleshoot issues, propose enhancements, and champion new capabilities to support business models. You have a passion for data and a strong attention to detail. You want to deliver product offerings to Microsoft partners and customers in the most efficient and agile way possible.The ideal candidate is customer and quality focused, able to recognize and evaluate risk and take the appropriate proactive steps for mitigation. You respect MS policy and understand the importance of meeting legal, tax, trade and other regulatory requirements.This role requires strong program management skills, driving projects that impact multiple organizations through collaboration, stakeholder engagement and communication.ResponsibilitiesRisk Assessment and MitigationWith minimal direction, evaluates launch risks landscape and communicates risks to internal stakeholders and senior leaders. Develops mitigation plans or acceptance of risks.

Planning and ExecutionWith minimal direction, develops launch plans and strategies (e.g., readiness) to be delivered through a business model. With minimal direction, considers launch inputs, requirements, risks/issues, impact, and scenarios to capture a working launch plan. With minimal direction, follows the Operational Delivery Lifecycle (ODLC) project lifecycle framework from concept to release of simple, low-impact launches. With minimal direction, coordinates with stakeholders and cross-functional teams in Microsoft (e.g., tax, finance, legal, business planning, operations, engineering, marketing) to ensure successful execution against planned launch and capability deliverables.

Post LaunchWith minimal direction, evaluates or supports evaluation of success metrics for launches post execution. With minimal direction, obtains feedback from partners and customers via multiple tools (e.g., responses to pulse survey or partner sentiment survey) and helps develop insights on launch performance and customer needs.

With minimal direction, examines launches throughout the window or warranty period of 30/60/90 days to troubleshoot any issues and ensure smooth running of the capability executed. With minimal direction, prepares for the transition phase after the window or warranty period to unload the responsibilities of the new capabilities from the launch team.With minimal direction, monitors post-launch health, drives user-adoption, and introduce interventions based on thematic problems. Supports escalations and provides inputs to Workstream Leads or Launch Manager

Change ManagementWith minimal direction, prepares business users for change due to implementation of new launches. With minimal direction, implements and monitors changes/adoptions. With minimal direction, partners across teams to engage and prepare audiences and evaluates results of the changes/adoptions. With minimal direction, facilitates information sharing of change through various tools and employee platforms.

Specialty ResponsibilitiesWith minimal direction, translates requests/obligations/needs from all stakeholders and partners into specific requirements and launch goals to operationalize capabilities from concepts to release. With minimal direction, demonstrates knowledge of the broad operational, functional areas, requirements, and interdependencies to operationalize to translate marketing strategies into operational capabilities for launches.

With minimal direction, defines success outcomes for the launch (e.g., adoption target, time taken to onboard the partners, the number of missing requirements and changes implemented).

With minimal direction, garners support with stakeholders for the roadmaps, deliverables, and objectives of the launch and includes them in all phases (e.g., design, plan, execution) to avoid missing requirements. With minimal direction, brings stakeholders in at the right time, communicates progress and implications for the industry launch to drive alignment, and identify gaps to ensure risks are covered.

With minimal direction, manages and prioritizes investments and launch projects from concept to release, across a portfolio ensuring alignment to go-to-market (GTM) strategies and priorities. With minimal direction, drives messaging and communication for Industry Launch Planning across teams to drive awareness and alignment on plans, roadmaps, and implications for the portfolio.

With minimal direction, addresses expansion blockers and supports escalations between partners and stakeholders as needed. With minimal direction, develops customer-oriented solutions and manages acceptance and resolutions of issues. With minimal direction, identifies, tracks, and manages launch issues and risks, change control, cross-group orchestration, and milestone through effective mitigation strategies and contingency plans to ensure a consistent, predictable, and measurable launch experience.

With minimal direction, develops new or improves launch capabilities that make it easier to do business with Microsoft. With minimal direction, utilizes data and knowledge of launch and partner processes to identify insights to optimize launch processes and infrastructure.

With minimal direction, incorporates internal business requirements and needs of audience, end users, customers, and stakeholders into launch design and execution. With minimal direction, writes the team-specific launch requirements and communicates them to launch managers. †

Collaborates with launch v-teams to ensure all business functions adapt to launch. With some oversight, supports or executes all fulfilment deliverables (e.g., launch readiness materials) for owned functions to a high standard and in a timely manner. †

Note. It was determined that requirements differed among employees in the End-to-End Launch Management specialization/role. These differences are noted where relevant.†Note. It was determined that requirements differed among employees in the teams supporting Launch Management specialization/role. These differences are noted where relevant.QualificationsRequired/Minimum QualificationsBachelor's Degree in Operations, Business Supply Chain, Finance, Business Management, Accounting, Human Resources (HR), Organizational Development or related field AND 2+ years Operations or Process Design or Program/Project Management experience

OR equivalent experience.

Additional or Preferred QualificationsBachelor's Degree in Operations, Business Supply Chain, Finance, Business Management, Accounting, Human Resources (HR), Organizational Development or related field AND 5+ years Operations or Process Design or Program/Project Management experience

OR Master's Degree in Management, Business Administration, or related field AND 3+ years Operations or Process Design or Program/Project Management experience

OR equivalent experience.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form (https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/accommodationrequest) .Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.