Senior Operations Program Manager

Microsoft's Creative, Brand & Advertising organization is seeking a Senior Operations Program Manager to serve as the operational backbone of a high-volume, fast-paced creative organization. This role sits at the intersection of Campaign Operations, Creative Operations, and Platforms & Technology, driving the day-to-day execution of the operating model that enables work to move efficiently from intake through delivery. The role is responsible for managing intake and prioritization, balancing team capacity, coordinating resources, maintaining portfolio visibility, and ensuring work is staffed, tracked, and delivered effectively across a complex portfolio of campaigns and creative initiatives. In addition to running core operational processes, the Senior Operations Program Manager partners across teams to continuously improve workflows, governance, reporting, and planning practices. While not responsible for building operational platforms or systems, this role serves as a key business owner and practitioner, helping shape how those systems are used to support delivery, improve team effectiveness, and scale operations over time. Success in this role requires a blend of strategic thinking and hands-on execution. The ideal candidate is equally comfortable managing the day-to-day flow of work, facilitating resource and capacity decisions, coordinating contractor and agency support, and identifying opportunities to strengthen the processes and operating rhythms that enable the organization to perform at its best.

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

Portfolio, Intake & Delivery Operations

• Own the operational management of the team's portfolio, providing visibility across active and upcoming campaigns, creative initiatives, and strategic projects.
• Intake, triage, prioritization, and staffing processes to ensure work is aligned to business priorities and team capacity.
• Manage the day-to-day flow of work, ensuring projects are appropriately assigned, tracked, and delivered through established operating processes.
• Identify delivery risks, resource constraints, and competing priorities, and drive resolution in partnership with stakeholders.
• Provide leadership visibility into portfolio health, priorities, capacity, risks, and delivery trends.

Resource & Workforce Planning

• Own capacity planning and resource allocation across employees, contractors, freelancers, agencies, and external partners.
• Partner with team leads and leadership to forecast demand, balance workloads, and ensure teams are staffed to meet business needs.
• Manage operational aspects of contractor and agency engagement, including onboarding, offboarding, extensions, and workforce planning.
• Identify capability gaps and make recommendations to address current and future resourcing needs.

Process Excellence & Operational Enablement

• Drive continuous improvement across workflows, planning processes, governance models, and operational rhythms.
• Partner with Platforms & Technology teams to improve and optimize Workfront and other operational tools.
• Champion adoption of operational processes and ensure teams are working consistently within established frameworks.
• Develop reporting, dashboards, and insights that support decision-making and improve organizational effectiveness.
• Translate operational challenges and lessons learned into scalable process improvements and operational best practices.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Partner across Campaign Operations, Creative Operations, Production, Strategy, Design, and Technology teams to coordinate delivery and align priorities.
• Facilitate planning, prioritization, and resource discussions across stakeholders with competing business needs.
• Serve as a trusted operational partner, creating clarity, accountability, and alignment across the organization.
• Embody our Culture & Values.

Qualifications

Required/minimum qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Economics, Public Relations, or related field AND 3+ years integrated marketing (e.g., digital, relationship, social media, campaign), event management, marketing strategy, business planning, marketing operations, or related work experience OR equivalent experience.

Additional or preferred qualifications

• 7- 10 years of experience highly preferred in advertising operations, creative operations, campaign operations, including resource management
• Advertising agency experience within an operations capacity
• Experience supporting in-house creative, brand, advertising, or integrated marketing organizations.
• Experience developing and scaling operational processes, governance models, and ways of working across complex organizations.
• Experience with Workfront or similar project, workflow, and portfolio management platforms.
• Experience with resource forecasting, workforce planning, and vendor management.
• Experience creating reporting frameworks, dashboards, and operational insights that inform business and staffing decisions.
• Demonstrated ability to balance strategic planning with hands-on execution in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience managing complex portfolios of work across multiple stakeholders, teams, priorities, and deadlines.
• Experience leading intake, prioritization, capacity planning, resource management, and operational planning processes.
• Experience managing contractor, freelance, agency, or external workforce operations.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills with the ability to identify risks, dependencies, and opportunities for operational improvement.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence and drive alignment without direct authority.

Integrated Marketing IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $106,400 - $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 $137,600 - $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.