Microsoft

Principal Group Product Manager, Community

Microsoft$165K — $296K *
Consumer Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's Degree with 10+ years in product/service/program management or software development, or equivalent experience.
  • 3+ years in a people management role.
  • Significant experience leading global community or practitioner-facing organizations.
  • Strong executive communication and storytelling abilities to align diverse stakeholders.
  • Experience leveraging community insights for product influence.
  • Familiarity with AI's impact on learning and community dynamics.
  • Experience in security, cloud, or enterprise technology is preferred.

Responsibilities

  • Set the vision for community in the AI era and translate it into strategy and roadmap.
  • Lead community as a product and manage end-to-end user engagement.
  • Grow practitioner-to-practitioner connections and measure Practitioner Love.
  • Define community requirements and collaborate with engineering on platform development.
  • Create reusable tools to automate community engagement efforts.
  • Turn community feedback into actionable product enhancements.
  • Manage the community portfolio and prioritize initiatives effectively.
  • Build strategic partnerships with security teams and external community leaders.
  • Lead and nurture a geographically distributed product management team.

Benefits

  • Access to a large existing network of security practitioners.
  • Opportunity to evolve community into an AI-native platform.
  • Ability to impact community knowledge directly related to product decisions.
  • Support for continued learning and development in AI and community engagement.
  • Inclusion in a culturally rich and innovative team environment.
Full Job Description
Overview

The Scale Customer Value organization in Microsoft Security is looking for a creative, forward-looking product leader to reimagine what community means in the age of AI.

This is not a traditional community-management role. It is a product and people leadership role for someone who sees community as a system: a trusted network of practitioners, partners, product teams, content, data, and increasingly AI agents. The leader will build on a substantial existing foundation, including one of the world's largest security practitioner communities, and evolve it from a collection of successful programs into an AI-native platform and operating model that can serve defenders at global scale.

The opportunity is to make community a durable competitive advantage for Microsoft Security. That means creating experiences practitioners genuinely value, helping them learn from and strengthen one another, making trusted community knowledge useful to people and AI agents, and connecting what the community learns directly to product decisions.

The Principal Group Product Manager leads a multidisciplinary, distributed organization of product managers spanning community strategy, practitioner programs, customer engagement, content and amplification, and community experiences. It partners closely with the engineering team that builds the community platform, as well as product teams, Direct Customer Engagement and Early Adoption, User Experience, Support, Learning, Marketing, Microsoft Security Response Center, and Microsoft's partner organizations.

The role is accountable for two outcomes:
  • Practitioner Love: practitioners choose to participate, contribute, recommend, and advocate for Microsoft Security.
  • Product Impact: community insight helps Microsoft Security products become measurably better, faster.

Responsibilities
  1. Set the vision for community in the AI era. Define how practitioners, partners, Microsoft experts, and AI agents learn from one another, then translate that vision into a clear strategy, operating model, and roadmap.
  2. Lead community as a product. Own the end-to-end experience across private and public communities, platforms, programs, content, data, and engagement journeys. Apply product discipline: customer discovery, prioritization, experimentation, instrumentation, and continuous improvement.
  3. Build a network, not an audience. Grow meaningful practitioner-to-practitioner connection, contribution, advocacy, and belonging. Define and improve Practitioner Love, meaning practitioner loyalty and advocacy, as a measured outcome. Move beyond broadcast, attendance, and membership counts toward observable value and sustained participation.
  4. Shape and harness the AI-native community platform. Set community requirements and partner with the engineering organization that builds the platform, customer relationship management system, and agent experiences. Ensure internal teams can engage practitioners safely at scale and trusted community knowledge can be discovered and used in AI-mediated workflows.
  5. Scale through self-service and a center of excellence. Free the team from repetitive work by creating reusable tools, standards, automation, and guidance, allowing its expertise to focus on higher-value community building. Enable product and early-adoption teams to run appropriate engagements directly while preserving trust, privacy, quality, and traceability.
  6. Turn community signal into product action. Build a visible closed loop from practitioner insight to ownership, decision, product or business action, and response back to the community. Partner across product, engineering, User Experience, Support, and Early Adoption to ensure the voice of practitioners shapes the entire lifecycle, not just the launch.
  7. Lead the community portfolio with judgment. Make clear investment and prioritization decisions across practitioner programs, private communities, previews, recognition, learning, public channels, content, and events. Preserve high-value experiences while thoughtfully evolving, scaling, or transitioning work to serve the strategy.
  8. Build strategic partnerships across the ecosystem. Create strong working relationships with security product teams, the Microsoft Security Response Center, Microsoft's field and partner organizations, external community leaders, MVPs, researchers, educators, and other practitioner networks.
  9. Lead and grow an exceptional team. Provide clarity, coaching, accountability, and care to a geographically distributed organization. Develop strong leaders, build an inclusive culture, and guide the team confidently through transformation and ambiguity.
  10. Represent the practitioner voice. Be a trusted internal advocate for defenders and an authentic external presence with the credibility to engage technical communities, senior customers, partners, and Microsoft executives.

What success looks like:

The Community organization has a clear charter, operating model, and measurable outcomes. Team members understand what they own, how decisions are made, and how their work advances Practitioner Love and Product Impact.

Practitioners experience Microsoft Security community as a place that gives more than it asks: a trusted network that helps them become better defenders, connects them to peers and experts, recognizes meaningful contribution, and makes useful knowledge available wherever they work, including through AI.

Product and engineering teams can engage the community through safe, repeatable self-service experiences, with Community Product Managers focusing their expertise where it creates the greatest value. Community engagements are traceable, insight is captured consistently, and practitioners can see what happened after they provided feedback.

Microsoft can demonstrate:
  • Increased practitioner contribution, advocacy, and sustained engagement.
  • Faster and more consistent outcomes from community feedback.
  • Greater adoption and repeat use of priority community experiences and assets.
  • More product, documentation, support, learning, and business decisions informed by practitioner insight.
  • A meaningful increase in community knowledge that is discoverable, trustworthy, and useful in AI-mediated experiences.

The result is not simply a larger community. It is a stronger defender network and a repeatable system that helps Microsoft Security learn and improve at scale.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:
  • Bachelor's Degree AND 10+ years experience in product/service/program management or software development
    • OR equivalent experience.
  • 3+ years people management experience.

Preferred Qualifications:
  • Significant experience leading community, developer relations, customer engagement, product management, ecosystem, or practitioner-facing organizations at global scale.
  • Demonstrated executive communication, storytelling, and influence skills, including the ability to align senior stakeholders and teams that do not report to you.
  • Experience using customer or community insight to influence product, engineering, support, learning, or go-to-market decisions.
  • Experience in product/program management, community leadership, developer relations, business, technology, or a related field.
  • A forward-looking perspective on AI agents, AI-mediated discovery, and how artificial intelligence changes learning, contribution, content, support, and community.
  • Security, cloud, developer, or enterprise-technology experience; security expertise is valuable, but demonstrated ability to learn a complex technical domain quickly is equally important.
  • An inventive, optimistic leadership style and a willingness to challenge inherited assumptions while respecting the people and foundations already in place.


Product 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.

About Microsoft

Microsoft is an American multinational corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports, and sells a range of software products and services. Microsoft’s devices and consumer (D&C) licensing segment licenses the Windows operating system and related software, Microsoft Office for consumers, and the Windows Phone operating system. The company’s computing and gaming hardware segment provides Xbox gaming and entertainment consoles and accessories, second-party and third-party video games, and Xbox Live subscriptions; surface devices and accessories; and Microsoft PC accessories. Its phone hardware segment offers Lumia smartphones and other non-Lumia phones. Its D&C segment provides Windows Store, Xbox Live transactions, and Windows phone store; search advertising; display advertising; Office 365 Home and Office 365 Personal; first-party video games; and other consumer products and services as well as operating retail stores. Microsoft’s commercial licensing segments license server products, including Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Visual Studio, System Center, and related Client Access Licenses (CALs); Windows Embedded; Windows operating system; Microsoft Office for business, including Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, and related CALs; Microsoft Dynamics business solutions; and Skype. Its commercial segment offers enterprise services, including premier support services and Microsoft consulting services; commercial cloud comprising Office 365 Commercial, other Microsoft Office online offerings, Dynamics CRM Online, and Microsoft Azure; and other commercial products and online services. The company markets and distributes its products through original equipment manufacturers, distributors, and resellers, as well as online.

Microsoft Careers

Join Microsoft today and be part of a company that values innovation, leadership, and diversity in its workforce. As a global leader in technology and digital transformation, Microsoft offers unparalleled job opportunities that propel your career to new heights.

Explore Career Opportunities at Microsoft

Whether you're a seasoned professional looking for your next challenge or a recent graduate eager to start your career, Microsoft has a position that suits your skills and ambitions. We are committed to fostering a culture of growth and learning, where every team member is supported in expanding their horizons.

Internship Programs

Kickstart your career with a Microsoft internship. Our internships provide invaluable workplace experience and networking opportunities in a supportive and dynamic environment. You'll work on real projects, learn from industry leaders, and gain the skills necessary for a successful career in technology.

Employment Benefits

Choosing a career at Microsoft means more than just a job. Our employees enjoy a range of benefits designed to empower them both professionally and personally. These include comprehensive health benefits, flexible working conditions, and opportunities for career advancement through professional development and diversity training.

Inclusive Culture and Diversity

At Microsoft, we believe that innovation comes from diversity of thought and inclusion. We are committed to a workplace where everyone feels valued and inspired. Our leadership is dedicated to fostering an environment where diverse perspectives lead to breakthrough innovations and a competitive edge.

Grow with Us

Career growth at Microsoft is about more than climbing the corporate ladder; it's about continuous learning, expanding your skills, and improving your capabilities. With access to various leadership and training programs, you can evolve as a professional and make a significant impact within the company and on the global stage.

Hiring Process

Our hiring process is designed to identify true potential. Starting with a review of your resume, followed by interviews that assess your problem-solving abilities and cultural fit, we ensure that all candidates have a fair chance to demonstrate their strengths and potential to contribute to our team.

Networking and Professional Development

Microsoft is a place where you can build a professional network that spans the globe. Our employees benefit from connections with top-tier professionals and industry leaders, which opens doors to innovative projects and collaborative opportunities that are second to none.

Join Our Team

If you're ready to take on exciting challenges and make a difference in the world of technology, explore the job opportunities at Microsoft. Search for open positions that match your skills and interests, and prepare to embark on a rewarding career path filled with innovation and opportunities for personal and professional growth.

Stay Connected

Keep up to date with the latest at Microsoft Careers by subscribing to our job alert emails. Get tailored content that aligns with your career preferences and discover the exciting and rewarding opportunities that await at Microsoft.

SEARCH MICROSOFT JOBS

At Microsoft, your future is limitless. Join us in our mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Your journey with Microsoft starts here.
Learn more about Microsoft
Size
181,000 employees
Market Cap
$1,762.4 billion
Industry
Net Income
$51.3 billion
Founded
1975
5 Year Trend
+15.5%
Revenue
$153.2 billion
NASDAQ

Similar Jobs

More Jobs at Microsoft

More Consumer Technology Jobs

Find similar Principal Group Product Manager, Community jobs: