Creative Director, Copy - Windows, Surface & Services

Microsoft Consumer Marketing is seeking a highly conceptual, craft-driven Creative Director, Copy - Windows, Surface & Services to help shape the next generation of consumer marketing across Windows, Surface devices, and Services including Bing and Edge.

This role is for a world-class advertising creative and storyteller who can turn technology, product truth, and cultural insight into breakthrough ideas people care about. Someone who can find the big idea, write the line, shape the story, and carry it all the way through execution.

The Creative Director, Copy - Windows, Surface & Services will work across brand advertising, paid media, social, product launches, digital experiences, and integrated campaigns, helping create distinctive, culturally relevant creative across the Windows, Surface, and Services ecosystem.

Film craft is a major focus of this role. We are seeking an accomplished screenwriter and conceptual thinker with deep experience developing scripts, treatments, campaign platforms, and cinematic brand storytelling. They understand how an idea evolves from the page through pre-production, casting, directing, shooting, editing, sound, and final delivery, and are comfortable being an active creative leader throughout the production process.

They have experience working with directors, Directors of Photography (DPs), editors, production companies, and agency partners, and know how to protect and elevate the creative idea on set while collaborating with world-class filmmaking talent.

Social is equally important. This person should understand how brands earn attention in culture and be able to develop social-first creative ideas, platform-native storytelling, creator-led work, reactive opportunities, and paid social campaigns rather than simply adapting traditional advertising into smaller formats.

Above all, this person is highly conceptual. They can generate original ideas at speed, recognize a powerful creative territory early, and push work beyond the expected. They understand advertising craft deeply, from a six-word headline to a 60-second film, and bring exceptional taste, judgment, and creative ambition to everything they touch.

This is not a people management role. It is an individual contributor position for a creative leader who can independently drive major creative assignments from brief through production while mentoring and elevating writers, art directors, freelancers, and agency partners through influence, collaboration, and a consistently high creative bar.

The Creative Director, Copy - Windows, Surface & Services will operate within a highly matrixed organization, partnering closely with Integrated Marketing, Advertising, Media, Product Marketing, Design, Engineering, Social, Production, and external creative partners to create cohesive, high-impact work across Windows, Surface, Bing, Edge, and future experiences within the portfolio.

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.

In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead creative direction across integrated, multi-channel marketing efforts for Windows, Surface devices, and Services including Bing and Edge, spanning brand advertising, product launches, paid media, social, digital, experiential, and ongoing go-to-market communications.
• Develop breakthrough creative concepts and campaign platforms rooted in audience insight, product truth, cultural relevance, and strategic clarity.
• Concept and write film, television, online video, branded entertainment, and other cinematic storytelling, from early creative territories and treatments through finished scripts.
• Play an active creative role throughout film production, including director selection, pre-production, casting, production design, shoots, edit, sound, music, and finishing.
• Partner closely with directors, DPs, production companies, editors, and agency teams to protect the core idea while pushing every element of the work toward the highest level of craft.
• Develop social-first creative ideas and campaigns designed around how audiences actually discover, participate in, and share culture across platforms.
• Create distinctive ideas for paid media, understanding how a campaign system can stretch from major brand moments to short-form, platform-native, and performance-oriented creative without losing the strength of the idea.
• Write and shape work across a wide range of formats including campaign platforms, headlines, scripts, manifestos, social content, digital experiences, product storytelling, launch narratives, and presentations.
• Translate complex technology into simple, memorable consumer ideas without sacrificing intelligence, personality, or product truth.
• Serve as a creative partner across Integrated Marketing, Advertising, Media, Social, Product Marketing, Design, Production, Engineering, and external agencies.
• Develop and present compelling creative territories, scripts, campaign ideas, and strategic narratives to senior and executive stakeholders with clarity, confidence, and conviction.
• Provide clear, actionable creative direction to writers, art directors, designers, filmmakers, production partners, agencies, and other creative collaborators.
• Guide internal creatives, freelancers, writers, production partners, and agencies to deliver strategically grounded, culturally relevant, digitally native creative work.
• Maintain creative consistency and excellence across Windows, Surface, and Services while adapting ideas intelligently across channels, formats, audiences, and markets.
• Stay deeply engaged with advertising, filmmaking, entertainment, design, social culture, creators, and emerging forms of storytelling to continually raise the ambition and relevance of the work.
• Thoughtfully incorporate AI and emerging creative technologies into concept development, writing, experimentation, and production workflows to accelerate ideation and innovation.
• Remain a hands-on creative, regularly concepting, writing, rewriting, editing, and solving creative problems rather than solely directing the work of others.
• Embody our Culture and Values.

Qualifications

Required/minimum qualifications

• Master's Degree in a related field AND 6+ years experience working in a creative space for a global brand.
• OR Bachelor's Degree in a related field AND 8+ years experience working in a creative space for a global brand.
• OR equivalent experience, including demonstrated experience working in a creative space for a global brand.

Additional or preferred qualifications

• Master's Degree in a related field AND 8+ years experience working in a creative space for a global brand.
• OR Bachelor's Degree in a related field AND 12+ years experience working in a creative space for a global brand.
• OR equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of experience creating and leading breakthrough advertising and brand creative for globally recognized brands.
• Experience writing commercials, brand films, short-form video, branded content, and other forms of scripted storytelling.
• Experience taking work through pre-production, production, shoots, post-production, and final delivery.
• Experience collaborating directly with directors, DPs, editors, production companies, and other filmmaking talent.
• Experience with advertising writing across formats, from campaign platforms and headlines to long-form copy, scripts, social content, and brand storytelling.
• Experience developing social-first creative and paid social campaigns for major brands.
• Experience creating integrated campaigns spanning film, social, digital, paid media, experiential, and emerging formats.
• Experience presenting creative work to executives and articulating the thinking behind ideas with clarity, confidence, and impact.
• Experience leading and creatively directing agency partners, freelancers, writers, art directors, designers, filmmakers, and production partners.
• Experience working in both agency and in-house creative environments preferred.
• Experience with emerging creative technologies and AI-enabled creative workflows.
• The ability to provide a portfolio of relevant work for review.

Product Design IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $274,800 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 $188,000 - $304,200 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.