{"id":2790650,"url":"https://alion.io/job/microsoft-principal-strategic-operations-lead","title":"Principal Strategic Operations Lead","company":{"id":18,"name":"Microsoft","domain":"microsoft.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/microsoft","size_band":"5000+","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Eightfold","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":77,"open_postings":216,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.912,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":28,"computed_at":"2026-10-20T05:45:00Z"}},"role":"Operations","role_family":"Operations","seniority":"lead","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":142800,"max":274800,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":274800},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":6,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Incident Management","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-10T18:46:03Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-11","last_verified_at":"2026-10-20T15:25:25Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":39,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":39},"description":"OverviewThe Cloud & AI organization accelerates Microsoft’s mission and bold ambitions to ensure that our company and industry is securing digital technology platforms, devices, and clouds in our customers’ heterogeneous environments, as well as ensuring the security of our own internal estate. Our culture is centered on embracing a growth mindset, a theme of inspiring excellence, and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. In doing so, we create life-changing innovations that impact billions of lives around the world. Microsoft is one of the largest enterprise service companies in the world.\nAI-driven vulnerability discovery is producing findings at machine speed against operating structures built for human speed. Cyber Defense Operations (CDO’s) operating model needs to be aligned to this reality. AI is the connecting factor: rapid remediation must absorb machine-speed findings, evictions and escalations must compress response timelines driven by AI-accelerated threats, and CDO’s broader AI adoption needs intentional structure. This role owns that redesign.\nWe are looking for a Principal Strategic Operations Lead to join the team!\n“Strategic Operations” here means designing how CDO operates, not running day-to-day operations. The role identifies where the operating model needs to more closely align with the emerging threat landscape, design the target-state architecture, and build the structures that close the gap. The work begins in the Incident Management portfolio and extends across CDO where cross-functional integration requires broader coordination. This role is expected to grow into a small strategic capability as charters scale.\nMicrosoft’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.\nIn alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.\nResponsibilities\nIdentify emerging gaps in CDO’s operating posture, including those created by AI-accelerated threat timelines, and define strategic responses before they become crises.\nDefine and drive CDO’s operating model evolution: what needs to change, what needs to be built, and how the organization should sequence the work.\nAdvise CISO org leadership on operating model design, organizational integration, and AI adoption strategy based on cross-functional insights and external landscape analysis.\nDesign and stand up operating structures for priority strategic projects, then decrease involvement as functional leads take ownership.\nDrive AI adoption strategy for CDO: use-case intake, prioritization frameworks, governance guardrails, and maturity measurement.\nServe as the connective layer across functional leads, ensuring dependencies are visible and cross-cutting work streams stay synchronized.\nSurface early signals when a charter is stalling - missed deadlines, shifting goalposts, adoption gaps - and escalate with clarity and recommended action. \nQualifications\nRequired Qualifications:\nBachelor's Degree AND 6+ years experience in engineering, product/technical program management, data analysis, or product developmentOR equivalent experience.\n\n3+ years of experience managing cross-functional and/or cross-team projects.\nOther Requirements:\nCandidates must be able to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:\nMicrosoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.\nPreferred Qualifications:\nDemonstrated experience designing and operationalizing cross-org operating models, including RACI, decision rights, escalation, and governance forums.\nProven ability to run a portfolio of stakeholder relationships and drive structured collaboration frameworks that reduce friction.\nExcellent executive communication: ability to synthesize ambiguity into crisp narratives and decision points.\nOperational rigor and systems thinking (service rhythms, governance patterns, repeatable processes).\nExperience operating in incident response / cyber defense environments where “incident pace” and role clarity are essential.\nExperience working with security governance models that distinguish risk ownership from execution, and managing the seams between them.\nTechnical Program Management 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.\nCertain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:\nhttps://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay\nThis position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.\nMicrosoft 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.","description_format":"text","description_chars":6180,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":6,"management_years_min":3,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Console Games","Cloud Platforms (IaaS & PaaS)","Gaming Consoles","Developer Tools"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-17T19:05:05Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":27,"band":"fade","label":"Fading","p_open":1,"p_active":0.488,"p_room":0.55,"age_days":39,"expected_fill_days":28,"reasons":["conf:1","stale_co","velocity","win:tail","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-10-20T05:45:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":274800,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/microsoft-principal-strategic-operations-lead","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/microsoft-principal-strategic-operations-lead.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-20T18:30:05Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":21325,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-21T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":18},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=18"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fmicrosoft-principal-strategic-operations-lead"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fmicrosoft-principal-strategic-operations-lead"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fmicrosoft-principal-strategic-operations-lead"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/microsoft-principal-strategic-operations-lead\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fmicrosoft-principal-strategic-operations-lead"}]}