Overview
Organization Summary:
If you love the pursuit of excellence and are inspired by the challenges that come through driving innovations that impact how the world lives, works and plays, then we invite you to learn more about Microsoft Operations - and the value we deliver across Microsoft and to our customers and partners. We offer unique opportunities to work on interesting global projects in an environment that appreciates diversity, focuses on talent development and recognizes and rewards great work.
We make doing business with Microsoft easy.
Position Description:
The Planning & Launch Team is seeking a highly motivated and strategic Launch Manager to lead complex, cross-functional initiatives from concept through market execution. This role is responsible for driving end-to-end launch readiness, ensuring alignment across stakeholders, managing operational risks, and delivering successful outcomes that support Microsoft’s business objectives and long-term strategy.
The ideal candidate is an experienced program leader who combines strong operational discipline with a growth mindset and passion for innovation. They are comfortable navigating ambiguity, driving large-scale cross-functional initiatives, and leveraging AI and data-driven insights to transform how work gets done. This individual continuously seeks opportunities to improve processes, increase efficiency, and deliver greater business impact through operational excellence, automation, and technological advancement.
Responsibilities
- Lead end-to-end launch planning, execution, and governance across multiple products, services, programs, or business initiatives.
- Develop and maintain comprehensive launch plans, readiness frameworks, timelines, milestones, and success criteria.
- Partner with cross-functional teams to assess business impacts, define launch requirements, and coordinate execution activities.
- Drive alignment across engineering, product management, marketing, sales, operations, finance, compliance, supply chain, and support organizations.
- Identify, assess, and mitigate launch risks, dependencies, blockers, and operational challenges while proactively driving resolution plans.
- Facilitate executive reviews, stakeholder discussions, and decision-making forums to ensure alignment and accountability.
- Monitor critical paths, launch readiness indicators, and key performance metrics to ensure successful delivery against commitments.
- Translate strategic business objectives into actionable execution plans that support organizational priorities and customer outcomes.
- Establish clear communication channels and provide regular status updates, executive summaries, and launch health reporting.
- Promote operational excellence through continuous process improvement, launch playbook development, and implementation of best practices.
- Support portfolio planning, intake assessments, prioritization, and resource alignment to maximize business impact.
- Drive post-l
