Principal Strategic Planning Program Manager - Data Center Leasing

Microsoft Cloud Operations and Innovation (CO+I) is the team behind Microsoft’s Cloud infrastructure and is responsible for innovating, planning, designing, building, and operating one of the largest datacenter fleets in the world. We support product teams by providing the secure and compliant, cost efficient and highly available global infrastructure that Microsoft’s customers depend on. We are looking for a Principal Strategic Planning Program Manager - Data Center Leasing who can lead the development of strategies and plans that enable the optimal acquisition of our global lease infrastructure in a rapidly evolving business environment.

In your role, you will shape and operationalize strategic planning capability for Lease Acquisition - translating demand and supply strategies into an integrated, multi-year global and regional roadmap. You will architect end-to-end planning mechanisms (portfolio models, scenario plans, decision frameworks, and executive-facing reports) that connect demand signals to supply optionality across regions and time horizons, enabling leaders to make timely, high-confidence investment decisions.

This role requires a leader who thrives in ambiguity, sets direction through influence, and scales impact by building durable capabilities rather than one-off deliverables. You will align and drive decisions with senior stakeholders across Finance, Capacity Acquisition, and Capacity Planning; establish governance and decision frameworks; and ensure a focus on outcomes that are measurable and repeatable. You will combine deep planning and business acumen with strong analytical rigor to surface insights, clarify tradeoffs, and enable creative solutions that advance our complex, rapidly growing cloud infrastructure portfolio.

• Architect and operationalize a strategic planning capability for Lease Acquisition (planning cadence, inputs/outputs, artifacts, and decision rhythms) to enable consistent, high-quality planning.
• Own portfolio-level strategic insights by synthesizing demand signals, supply optionality, financial constraints, and risk into clear narratives, recommendations, and tradeoffs that influence senior leadership decisions and long-term outcomes.
• Establish cross-functional governance (decision rights, forums, escalation paths) and drive alignment across stakeholders to ensure planning decisions are structured and in alignment with business priorities.
• Lead scenario planning and analysis to optimize acquisition strategies, balancing time-to-market, cost, risk, and resiliency across near-, mid-, and long-term horizons.
• Evaluate demand/supply changes against plan, drive cross-org decisioning, and ensure downstream execution reflects the approved plan.
• Drive fiscal accountability by setting financial benchmarks, monitoring trends and performance and developing recommendations for cost optimization. 
• Develop regional strategies that align with global objectives, driving consistency while adapting to local market dynamics.
• Build and evolve planning mechanisms (portfolio models, reporting, executive dashboards) and the underlying data foundation - to be trusted, repeatable, auditable, and increasingly self-serve.
• Scale organizational strategic planning capability through process design, automation, and tooling - reducing cycle time, improving signal quality, and increasing adoption of standardized planning practices.
• Frame complex, ambiguous decisions into crisp executive narratives that clarify tradeoffs and recommendations, influence alignment and drive insight with senior leadership.
• Manage and develop a high-performing team to deliver a best-in-class service, through executive presence and leadership, aligning to Microsoft’s culture.  
• Model - Live our culture; Embody our values; Practice our leadership principles.
• Coach - Define team objectives and outcomes; Enable success across boundaries; Help the team adapt and learn. 
• Care - Attract and retain great people; Know everyone’s capabilities and aspirations; Invest in the growth of others. 

Required Qualifications: 

• Bachelor's Degree AND 6+ years experience in engineering, product/technical program management, data analysis, or product development OR equivalent experience.
   
• 1+ year(s)' project or people management experience.
   
• 3+ years of experience managing cross-functional and/or cross-team projects.

Other Requirements: 

Ability 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: 

• Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Bachelor's Degree AND 12+ years experience engineering, product/technical program management, data analysis, or product development OR equivalent experience.
   
• 4+ years' people management experience.
   
• 8+ years of experience managing cross-functional and/or cross-team projects.
• Demonstrated experience in cloud infrastructure, datacenter development, capacity planning, real estate/lease portfolio planning, or adjacent large-scale capital programs.
• Demonstrated experience with business strategy, portfolio analytics and scenario planning (e.g., investment sequencing, tradeoff analysis, option value). 
• Demonstrated experience defining and operationalizing strategic planning mechanisms (cadence, governance, decision frameworks, and metrics) that improve decision quality and outcomes across an organization.
• Demonstrated ability to build durable, scalable planning capabilities (process, tooling, automation) that deliver enterprise impact and drive adoption/change management across functions.
• Demonstrated experience in data analysis, reporting and modeling, with the ability to translate insights into strategic decisions, and using data to challenge, influence, and align.
• Proficiency with Excel, PowerPoint, and analytics and reporting tools.

#COICareers | #EPCCareers | #DCDCareers

Technical Program Management M5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800.00 - $274,800.00 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 $188,000.00 - $304,200.00 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.