Senior Program Manager - Operation Framework Modernization
Our sellers are key to how customers and partners understand Microsoft’s products and strategies, but how do we align the conversations of thousands of sellers with each other and with the company’s strategy? Making sure that the sellers are having the right conversations at the right time is key to the company’s success, and the Incentive Compensation team connects strategy to seller behavior in one of the most important ways: by determining how sellers get paid.
The Worldwide Operations & Regional Delivery Team is a part of the Sales Design and Incentive (SDI) team. The group’s mission is to enable Strategy, Motivate Sellers, and define Reward Results. In pursuit of this mission, the team designs and implements variable incentive-based compensation plans for more than 40,000 sellers, sales leaders and consultants across Microsoft. We are experts in Incentive Compensation at Microsoft, responsible for aligning incentive plans and targets (quotas) to motivate seller behavior and drive the company's strategies.
As the Sr. Program Manager - Operation Framework Modernization, you will lead the reinvention of how we support our seller community, evolving today's business desk and support model into a faster, smarter, and more scalable framework. Partnering with management and key stakeholders across SDI, the field, managed service leadership, and workstream leads, you will reimagine support operations from the ground up in a hands-on role that spans design, build, and operation. You will pinpoint where AI and automation, and process reengineering can create the greatest impact, whether by reusing existing models, customizing them, or introducing new capabilities, to remove friction and manual effort while establishing controls and compliance that keep us audit-ready. You will ensure we meet and exceed SLAs and KPIs, provide executive-level updates on progress and outcomes, and develop ongoing strategies to sustain optimal seller and customer satisfaction, all without disrupting on-time and accurate delivery.
The successful candidate is an individual contributor who excels at influencing without authority, dealing with ambiguity, and operating at all levels. They pair analytical and project management skills with an innovation mindset, demonstrate a keen attention to detail and a dedication to customer focus, and have a passion for cultivating productive relationships and deploying change in a way that motivates users to adopt new solutions. Our team is diverse, inclusive, and mission driven; we encourage a growth mindset and prioritize innovation in our work.
Responsibilities
- Lead the modernization of the seller support framework end to end: assess current-state processes, reimagine the target operating model, and drive the transition while sustaining on-time, accurate, and compliant delivery.
- Identify where AI and automation can remove friction, reduce manual effort, and improve response times, then design and pilot solutions that reuse, customize, or extend existing models for seller support use cases.
- Partner with engineering, data, and managed service teams across the full development life cycle, from requirements analysis and design through testing and implementation, to build and operationalize new support capabilities and tooling.
- Reengineer business desk and support workflows, establishing streamlined processes, clear controls, and "audit-ready" documentation that keeps compliance intact as the framework changes.
- Ensure the modernized framework continues to meet and exceed SLAs and KPIs, and develop actionable metrics that measure improvements in speed, quality, cost, and seller satisfaction.
- Provide project management ownership of compensation administration, to ensure accurate, on-time, and compliant execution. Partner with managed service leadership on innovation, automation, and synergies, and provide the bridge between managed service and Microsoft to ensure timely delivery of intended improvements.
- Own the Sales Operations and Incentive relationship across a portfolio of key stakeholders, communicating a clear business rationale for change and gaining the support of stakeholders at all levels.
- Drive improvements by identifying trends and areas of opportunity, proposing business solutions, and moving strategy to action by creating and evaluating options and establishing the tools and controls for all new processes.
- Provide data-driven insights to address blockers and risks, and create clear paths to green or mitigation plans.
- Provide leadership insight into the MBR/QBR process and report through management on end-to-end support delivery and modernization outcomes.
- Act as an executive-level advocate and evangelist for the modernized framework, providing thought leadership and driving adoption across solution areas and regions.
- Support an environment of curiosity and learning that leads to higher impact and results.
Essential qualities include:
- Adaptability: Demonstrates curiosity and actively explores options. Responds efficiently to changing demands and circumstances, and functions effectively in ambiguous situations.
- Collaboration: Drives alignment and teamwork within a team and across organizational boundaries, combining resources and joining efforts to achieve goals.
- Customer Focus: Anticipates seller and customer needs, proactively meets or exceeds expectations, and facilitates solutions that address the issues customers want to resolve.
- Drive for Results: Tenaciously pursues positive outcomes, delivers on commitments, and takes responsibility while holding others accountable for actions, decisions, and goals.
- Influencing for Impact: Consciously develops influence strategies and anticipates others' reactions.
- Judgment: Effectively solves problems, builds and applies knowledge, and makes decisions with conviction.
Required/minimum qualifications
- Bachelor's Degree in Business, Finance, Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Economics, or related field AND 7+ years of experience in business/sales operations, compensation, finance/analysis, program management, or a related field, OR equivalent experience
Additional or preferred qualifications
- Experience applying AI/ML or automation to modernize operational, support, or service processes.
- 1+ year(s) of experience reading and/or writing code, or working hands-on with data and analytical tooling.
- Experience with D365, Power Platform, and Customer Engagement.
- Knowledge of compensation/incentive principles and/or sales motion and culture.
- Experience working with globally distributed teams and managed service providers.
- Bachelor's or Master's level qualification preferred.
- 3+ years of experience in Program Management, Project Management, Business Process Management, or Business Process Outsourcing.
- 2+ years of experience managing cross-functional and/or cross-team projects.
- Demonstrated experience designing or improving operational processes and driving change through to adoption
Sales Compensation IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $116,900 - $203,600 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $148,400 - $222,600 per year.
Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay
This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.
Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.