Microsoft

Principal Product Manager, Ads Search - Retail Lead

Microsoft$142K — $274K *
Consumer Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree with 8+ years of product management experience in advertising or consumer products; or equivalent experience.
  • Preferred: Bachelor's degree with 12+ years in product management or related fields.
  • Experience in strategic product roadmap development for complex products.
  • Skilled in data-driven decision-making using customer insights and experiments.
  • Proven track record in building and scaling advertising, commerce, or consumer products.
  • Experience from concept through launch and long-term growth phases.
  • Technical familiarity with SQL, Python, or JavaScript, for platform-focused candidates.

Responsibilities

  • Define and drive product strategy and vision for advertising investments.
  • Collaborate with Engineering, Design, and Data Science teams to deliver solutions.
  • Utilize customer insights and data to prioritize product enhancements.
  • Influence stakeholders and navigate organizational ambiguity.
  • Monitor digital advertising trends to explore growth opportunities.
  • Articulate product vision and strategy to senior leadership.
  • For Platform: Outline requirements for APIs and monetization systems; improve scalability and efficiency; engage with engineering on architecture.
  • For Consumer: Enhance user journeys via innovative advertising; work on intuitive consumer experiences; and boost metrics through AI-driven improvements.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive health coverage and wellness plans.
  • Generous retirement savings plans with employer contributions.
  • Flexible work schedules and remote work options.
  • Employee discounts and perks for services and products.
  • Access to ongoing professional development programs.
Full Job Description
Overview

The AI Monetization Product Team at Microsoft is responsible for building and scaling advertising, commerce, and revenue-generating experiences across Microsoft's AI and consumer ecosystem. We partner closely with Engineering, Design, Data Science, Research, Sales, and Business teams to develop products that help advertisers connect with customers while creating meaningful value for consumers.

We are hiring multiple Principal Product Managers, to help shape the future of advertising and monetization experiences. Depending on background and expertise, candidates may focus on one of two areas:
  • Advertising Platform & Systems: Building the foundational services, infrastructure, data systems, experimentation frameworks, and platform capabilities that power scalable advertising products.
  • Consumer Advertising Experiences: Building intuitive, engaging, and AI-powered search, discovery, shopping, and advertising experiences that connect consumers with relevant products and services.

In either area, you will define product vision, influence strategy, and collaborate across engineering, design, data science, and business teams to deliver impactful solutions for advertisers and consumers.

Responsibilities

Common responsibilities across both roles:
  • Define and drive product strategy, vision, and roadmap for key advertising and monetization investments.
  • Partner with Engineering, Design, Data Science, Research, and Product Marketing to deliver customer-focused solutions.
  • Use customer insights, experimentation, and data-driven decision-making to prioritize investments and measure success.
  • Navigate ambiguity, influence across organizational boundaries, and build alignment among stakeholders.
  • Evaluate emerging trends in digital advertising, retail media, commerce, AI, and machine learning to identify new growth opportunities.
  • Communicate product vision, strategy, and results to senior leaders and cross-functional partners.

Additional focus areas may include:

Platform & Systems
  • Define requirements for advertising infrastructure, services, APIs, ranking systems, measurement capabilities, experimentation platforms, and monetization systems.
  • Drive investments that improve scalability, reliability, performance, and operational efficiency across the advertising ecosystem.
  • Partner closely with engineering teams on architecture, platform strategy, and long-term technical roadmaps.

Consumer Experiences
  • Lead initiatives that improve search, discovery, shopping, and purchase-related user journeys through innovative advertising experiences.
  • Partner with design and research teams to deliver intuitive, relevant, and engaging consumer experiences.
  • Drive improvements in user engagement, advertiser performance, and customer satisfaction through AI-powered recommendations and personalization.


Qualifications

Required Qualifications:
  • Bachelor's Degree AND 8+ years experience in product management including experience advertising in retail or consumer products
    • OR equivalent experience.
Preferred Qualifications:
  • Bachelor's Degree AND 12+ years of experience in Product Management, Program Management, Software Development, or a related field.
  • Experience owning product strategy, roadmap development, and execution for complex products or platforms.
  • Experience using data, experimentation, and customer insights to drive decision-making.
  • Experience building and scaling advertising, commerce, search, marketplace, recommendation, or consumer products.
  • Experience leading products from concept through launch and long-term growth.
  • Experience improving product, customer, or business metrics through experimentation and optimization.
  • Experience building products leveraging machine learning, recommendation systems, ranking technologies, generative AI, or large language models.

For Platform & Systems-focused candidates:
  • Experience building large-scale services, platforms, APIs, data systems, infrastructure, experimentation frameworks, or monetization technologies.
  • Technical depth and ability to partner effectively with engineering teams on architecture and platform investments.
  • Working knowledge of SQL and programming languages such as Python or JavaScript.

For Consumer Experience-focused candidates:
  • Experience building consumer-facing experiences in search, discovery, shopping, advertising, or e-commerce.
  • Strong customer obsession and expertise in UX, customer journeys, personalization, and engagement strategies.
  • Experience partnering closely with design, user research, and customer insight teams.


Product Management IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $274,800 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 $188,000 - $304,200 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

Product Management IC6 - 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.

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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
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