Principal Region Expansion Strategy PM Lead, Americas

Overview Microsoft’s Cloud Operations + Innovation (CO+I) organization is the team behind the cloud, enabling the infrastructure that powers Microsoft’s cloud and AI services. Within Integrated Planning and Execution (IPE), the Region Expansion function helps shape where and how that infrastructure grows, connecting long-term business ambitions and customer needs with infrastructure readiness and supply opportunities. We bring together expertise across engineering, finance, planning, and infrastructure acquisition to anticipate constraints, explore creative expansion options, and guide decisions across land, power, network, and datacenter capacity. Through collaborative leadership, data-driven analysis, and disciplined program management, we turn strategy into actionable regional roadmaps—preserving flexibility, reducing risk, and positioning Microsoft to deliver capacity where and when it matters. As the Principal Region Expansion Strategy PM Lead, Americas , you will have the opportunity to shape the future of Microsoft’s commercial cloud and AI infrastructure across the Americas while leading and developing the program managers who advance that strategy. Bringing together your experience in infrastructure, supply planning, and business strategy, you will guide a long-range portfolio that balances new-region opportunities with the expansion of existing regions and availability zones. This work calls for curiosity, creative problem solving, and the ability to turn complex market needs, demand and supply outlooks, infrastructure constraints, and investment choices into clear recommendations and timely decisions. Just as importantly, it calls for a genuine passion for people leadership: coaching with empathy, creating an inclusive environment, and helping each team member grow while building shared accountability for outcomes. You will represent the Americas portfolio in executive forums, act with urgency and sound judgment, and model a growth mindset through feedback, learning, and continuous improvement. You will also help evolve how we work, embracing AI-enabled tools and new program management approaches with responsible data handling and thoughtful validation. This is an opportunity to make a lasting impact—building a capable, connected team and translating ambitious expansion strategies into plans that are ready for execution. Responsibilities Responsibilities: • Set the Americas geographic portfolio strategy within global cloud and AI planning frameworks. Develop an integrated long-range capacity roadmap, compare new-region investments with existing-region and zone expansion, and recommend the sequence of opportunities based on customer impact, resilience, economics, feasibility, and time to market. • Integrate regional demand and supply planning with market, customer, geopolitical, and infrastructure signals. Surface capacity variances, constraints, dependencies, and mitigation options early. Apply creative problem solving, scenarios, and sensitivity analysis to challenge assumptions, develop alternatives, preserve supply optionality, and make trade-offs explicit. • Manage and develop the Americas program management team. Set clear expectations and priorities, delegate meaningful ownership, coach empathetically, provide actionable feedback, and create growth opportunities. Foster an inclusive culture where people can raise concerns and learn from setbacks, while holding the team accountable for commitments and outcomes. Align direct reports and cross-functional partners around integrated regional plans of record, decision milestones, and common measures of progress, reconciling competing priorities across strategy workstreams. • Lead cross-functional business-case development with Finance and infrastructure partners. Bring together Azure, Energy, Land, Lease, Network, MCAPS, and CELA perspectives, including sourcing and acquisition options where relevant, while keeping technical assessments, procurement, and execution accountability with the respective functional owners. • Represent the Americas portfolio with GM, VP, and CVP stakeholders. Exhibit urgency with judgment: anticipate dependencies, proactively remove blockers, identify decision owners and approval paths, and escalate unresolved trade-offs early without bypassing necessary controls. Own the regional executive narrative, frame recommendations, secure alignment, close decisions, and track outcomes against recorded commitments. • Drive pre-execution strategy decisions and clean handoffs to delivery teams, documenting rationale, remaining risks, and accountable owners without duplicating construction, energy procurement, or delivery ownership. Seek feedback, learn from outcomes, and eagerly experiment with, adopt, and evolve program management processes leveraging AI tools for analysis, planning, and reporting. Qualifications Required/minimum qualifications • Bachelor's Degree AND 8+ years experience in engineering, product/technical program management, data analysis, or product development OR equivalent experience. • 3+ years people management experience. • 6+ years of experience managing cross-functional and/or cross-team projects. Background Check 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: • 8+ years of cross-functional program or product management experience, bringing multiple disciplines together to deliver complex business outcomes. • Infrastructure experience, supply planning experience, and business strategy experience, with the ability to connect capacity constraints, demand outlooks, and investment choices into actionable plans. • 8+ years of experience using data and analysis to inform strategy, investment choices, or operational decisions. Eagerness to experiment with, adopt, and evolve program management processes using AI tools, with responsible data handling, validation of outputs, and human judgment. • 8+ years of leadership in a business-critical function, with accountability for priorities, stakeholder alignment, and outcomes. Demonstrated urgency with sound judgment and proactive blocker removal, creative problem solving under ambiguity, and a growth mindset shown through seeking feedback, learning, and adapting. • 3+ years managing program management teams. Demonstrated passion for managing and developing people through empathetic coaching, clear expectations, effective delegation, growth opportunities, and team accountability, while fostering an inclusive culture and collaborating across organizational boundaries. • 10+ years of experience leading end-to-end mission-critical infrastructure programs, including cloud infrastructure planning or geographic expansion strategy. • Experience developing regional cloud or AI infrastructure strategies and investment business cases that integrate capacity, market demand, infrastructure feasibility, and financial trade-offs. • Experience across Americas markets and with land, power, network, leasing, or acquisition considerations, partnering effectively with specialists who own those disciplines. • Demonstrated ability to influence executive decisions, lead teams and cross-functional partners through ambiguity, and translate complex portfolio choices into clear recommendations and measurable outcomes. #COICareers | #EPCCareers | #DCDCareers Technical Program Management M6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $165,600 - $296,400 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 $220,800 - $331,200 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.