Principal Program Manager / Principal Program Manageress

Overview

The Microsoft Security Office of the CTO drives the long-term technical and strategic direction of Microsoft Security, identifying and incubating the capabilities required to protect organizations worldwide against rapidly evolving threats. The team operates at the intersection of deep technical credibility, cross-portfolio strategy, and executive influence—shaping initiatives that redefine how security is built, adopted, and scaled across Microsoft.

As a Principal Program Manager for Strategic Innovation, you will act as a senior individual contributor within the Office of the CTO. Your primary responsibility will be to identify, shape, and drive portfolio-level security incubations focused on Security for AI and GenAI-driven defense.

This role encompasses highly ambiguous and high-impact problem spaces, requiring you to work closely with product and engineering organizations in the United States and Israel. You will translate emerging AI-driven risks into executable strategies, validated technical directions, and cross-organizational roadmaps that deliver CISO-grade outcomes. Frequent travel will be necessary to collaborate effectively across regions.

At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. We come together with a growth mindset to innovate, collaborate, and realize our shared goals. Each day, we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability, fostering a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive both at work and beyond.

Responsibilities

• Principal-level incubation leadership: Own end-to-end incubation for complex, cross-organizational initiatives—from early problem framing and threat validation through technical feasibility, roadmap definition, and alignment across the Microsoft Security portfolio.
• Executive customer engagement: Engage directly with Fortune 500 CISOs and senior security leaders to validate emerging threat models, operational pain points, and strategic priorities, ensuring incubations are grounded in real-world, CISO-grade requirements.
• Deep cross-geo collaboration: Work day-to-day with product management, engineering, and research teams primarily in the United States and Israel, serving as a connective layer that accelerates decision-making, alignment, and execution across time zones and cultures.
• Portfolio-scale influence: Lead through influence across research, engineering, product, and senior leadership stakeholders; create crisp strategy artifacts (one-pagers, problem statements, architectural options) that unlock alignment and investment.
• On-site engagement and travel: Travel frequently to collaborate directly with U.S. and Israel-based teams, facilitating deep technical discussions, incubation workshops, architecture reviews, and execution alignment that cannot be achieved remotely.
• Engineering-grounded program ownership: Maintain technical depth to guide architecture and execution tradeoffs across performance, reliability, security, and scale—ensuring incubations are both innovative and executable.

Qualifications

Required/Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical/Computer Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Proven experience leading software engineering teams for 7+ years, including ownership of technical direction, delivery execution, and architecture decisions for complex systems.
• Demonstrated ability to own and drive highly ambiguous problem spaces, translating them into executable program strategies, technical direction, and cross-team roadmaps.
• Proven track record of Principal-level leadership through influence, operating across multiple organizations without direct authority.
• Experience engaging directly with Fortune 500 CISOs or equivalent senior security executives, translating strategic security needs into actionable technical and product direction.
• Deep working knowledge of the Microsoft Security product portfolio, with the ability to reason across capabilities, architectures, and customer-critical scenarios at a portfolio level.
• Willingness and ability to travel frequently to collaborate in person with geographically distributed teams, primarily in the United States and Israel.
• Strong fundamentals in security, including threat modeling, secure architecture, and modern enterprise security challenges.

Additional or Preferred Qualifications:

• 15+ years of experience delivering and/or leading mission-critical technology in security, cloud platforms, AI systems, or similarly complex environments.
• Experience contributing to or leading venture investment or technical diligence activities, including evaluation of startup technologies and product architectures.
• Experience operating at CTO- or VP-equivalent scope within highly technical, engineering-driven organizations, owning technology strategy and execution across multiple teams.
• Demonstrated experience in both private-sector and public-sector environments, including work in regulated or high-stakes operational contexts.
• Experience leading or contributing to large-scale technology incubations, including portfolio-wide or national-scale initiatives.
• Background in silicon-to-cloud or low-level-to-application security considerations, informing system-level and architectural decisions.
• Record of innovation output, including authored patents, publications, or visible thought leadership in security or AI.
• MBA or equivalent experience in bridging engineering execution, product strategy, and business decision-making.

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 accommodations during the application process, please apply online using the form below. Only applications matching the job profile will be considered.