About the role

Aplyr's Quick Take

This role is about leading AI transformation efforts within Microsoft, focusing on integrating AI into business processes to enhance customer success. It's an individual contributor position at a senior level, requiring collaboration with various teams and advising executives on AI adoption strategies.

Good fit

Ideal candidates will have extensive experience in AI implementation and transformation, strong leadership skills, and the ability to navigate complex organizational structures. A collaborative mindset and a strategic approach to problem-solving are essential.

Worth noting

The role is director-level but operates as an individual contributor, which may be unusual for those used to traditional management positions. The emphasis on scaling AI solutions beyond pilot phases indicates a focus on long-term impact rather than short-term projects.

Overview

We are searching for an AI Transformation Lead, a director-level individual contributor who will support our AI Acceleration Program. You will focus on paring human expertise with AI to remove repetitive work so we can foster relationships, solve complex problems, and drive outcomes for our customers. This role sits within the AI Strategy & Business Innovation (AISBI) organization and is designed for a leader who thrives in a highly matrixed, global environment. You will own the enterprise transformation agenda required to move AI from promise to practice, shaping how we adopt AI at scale, redesigning how work gets done, and ensuring value realization is embedded into financial models, operating rhythms, and decision‑making structures.

This is an individual contributor role, but it is recognized as a senior leadership position at Microsoft. You will operate as a trusted advisor to executives, partner deeply across engineering and business teams, and drive change through insight, credibility, and collaboration.

About the Team:

This role sits within Customer Experience & Success (CE&S), a global organization with more than 45,000 employees and partners worldwide who are dedicated to helping customers realize meaningful business value from Microsoft’s products and services. CE&S brings together consulting, customer success, and support to deliver experiences that are human‑centered, digitally enabled, and deeply connected across the company.

Within CE&S, the Global Customer Success (GCS) organization is leading the effort to enable customer success on the Microsoft Cloud by combining AI-powered capabilities and human expertise to deliver innovated solutions that accelerate business value, drive operational excellence, and nurture long-term loyalty.

The AI Acceleration Program sits at the heart of this work—helping the Customer Success organization move faster from AI experimentation to enterprise‑wide impact. The Transformation Lead role exists to ensure that these AI solutions don’t stop at pilots, but scale into sustainable, repeatable capabilities that drive real business change for Microsoft, and ultimately, our customers.

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.

Responsibilities

Enterprise Transformation Strategy

Define enterprise transformation strategies aligned to AI Acceleration priorities.
Translate AI strategy into actionable transformation roadmaps across financial models, workflows, and decision structures.
Identify systemic barriers to AI value realization and drive scalable solutions.

AI Acceleration Program Leadership

Partner with engineering, data, finance, landing & adoption, and business leaders to embed transformation thinking into AI solution design.
Bridge strategy and execution by scaling pilots into enterprise capabilities.

Cross-Group Influence & Orchestration

Influence priorities, sequencing, and trade-offs across stakeholder groups.
Orchestrate alignment across program team, product, engineering, and operations.
Drive clarity and decision-making in complex, ambiguous environments.

Value Realization & Impact Measurement

Define success metrics for transformation outcomes including adoption, efficiency, and business impact.
Partner with analytics and finance teams to track and communicate value realization.
Surface insights, risks, and opportunities through executive-ready narratives.

Change Adoption & Sustainability

Design transformation-level change, communication, and enablement strategies.
Identify adoption risks and readiness gaps across enterprise audiences.
Institutionalize new behaviors, capabilities, and operating models post-deployment.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

Master's Degree in Business Administration or related field AND 4+ years marketing, strategy, business planning, consulting, banking, finance, economics, and/or partner organization experience OR Bachelor's Degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Liberal Arts, Computer Science, or related field AND 6+ years marketing, strategy, business planning, consulting, banking, finance, economics, and/or partner organization experience OR equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications

4+ years experience in Strategy, Management Consulting, and/or Finance.
Experience leading AI-enabled, digital, or data-driven transformation initiatives.
Background in strategy, operations and value realization programs.
Experience working in highly matrixed organizations with engineering and data teams.

Business Strategy IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $130,900 - $251,900 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 $165,600 - $272,300 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.

Skills & Tags

Aplyr's read

Microsoft is a technology giant shaping global computing, attracting talent interested in innovation and impact across software, cloud, and AI sectors.
Synthesized from recent postings & public sources

What's promising

•Strong commitment to innovation in AI and cloud computing.
•Diverse range of roles from technical to managerial, offering career growth.
•Financially stable with a robust global presence and market influence.

What to watch

•Complex organizational structure can slow decision-making processes.
•High competition for roles may limit entry-level opportunities.
•Potential for work-life balance challenges in high-demand positions.

Why Microsoft

•Pioneer in personal and business computing with a legacy of innovation.
•Extensive global reach with a diverse workforce and inclusive culture.
•Leader in integrating AI into mainstream software and cloud services.

Aplyr’s read is generated by AI from public sources. Was it useful?

About Microsoft

Microsoft

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MSFT$506.06+1.21%

Microsoft is a global technology company that develops, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products, services, and devices. Known for its Windows operating system and Office productivity suite, Microsoft has a significant impact on personal and business computing worldwide.