OverviewThis individual-contributor role sits within the Microsoft AI Lab and drives the day-to-day technical program work required to move high-value data from request through compliant acquisition, preparation, access, use, and refresh. We're looking for an experienced Technical Program Manager who can coordinate across research, product, engineering, legal, privacy, security, Responsible AI, and data operations teams to keep complex data programs moving.
You will own execution across the data lifecycle: clarifying researcher requirements, identifying accountable source owners, ensuring data is properly obtained and approved, coordinating secure transfer and access, overseeing scrubbing and quality validation, documenting permitted uses and controls, and maintaining reliable refresh and deletion processes. You will manage technical relationships across teams, surface risks early, and unblock dependencies so approved data reaches researchers in a usable and compliant form.
The ideal candidate is a hands-on, low-ego operator who brings structure to ambiguous technical and compliance workflows, builds trust across organizational boundaries, and drives issues to resolution without relying on formal authority. They communicate clearly, maintain accurate operating records, and create repeatable mechanisms that improve delivery speed, data quality, and control adherence.
This role is based in Redmond, WA or Mountain View, CA. You are required to be in the office 4 days per week.
Responsibilities- Drive data programs from intake through delivery by translating researcher needs into clear requirements, milestones, owners, dependencies, risks, and acceptance criteria.
- Unblock acquisition and access by coordinating with product data owners, engineering teams, legal, privacy, security, Responsible AI, procurement, and external partners; escalate decisions with concise context and recommended paths.
- Manage day-to-day technical relationships with source teams and data partners, including data specifications, transfer methods, schemas, storage, access patterns, service expectations, issue resolution, and refresh commitments.
- Ensure data is properly obtained, documented, and used within approved purposes and restrictions by maintaining evidence of source, authorization, provenance, lineage, consent or opt-out requirements, retention, deletion, and access controls.
- Coordinate data preparation and remediation, including ingestion, scrubbing, de-identification, credential and PII removal, deduplication, filtering, quality checks, and validation against researcher requirements and compliance controls.
- Oversee recurring refreshes and lifecycle operations by defining schedules, monitoring freshness and delivery health, resolving failures, validating replacement datasets, and ensuring expired or disallowed data is removed as required.
- Maintain clear program artifacts and operating rhythms, including status, decisions, risks, control evidence, issue logs, handoffs, and metrics for cycle time, quality, refresh reliability, compliance, and researcher readiness.
QualificationsRequired Qualifications - Bachelor's Degree AND 6+ years of experience in engineering, product or technical program management, data operations, privacy-sensitive technology, or equivalent experience.
- Experience driving complex, cross-organizational technical programs with multiple dependencies, clear milestones, risk management, and measurable delivery outcomes.
- Experience working with data pipelines or lifecycle operations, including acquisition, ingestion, transformation, quality validation, access, refresh, retention, and deletion.
- Demonstrated ability to influence without authority, build productive technical relationships, resolve ambiguous ownership, and communicate decisions and escalations clearly.
- Working knowledge of AI training and evaluation data and relevant controls, including privacy, data protection, IP and licensing, security, Responsible AI, consent, provenance, lineage, access restrictions, de-identification, and permitted use.
Preferred Qualifications - Bachelor's Degree AND 8+ years of experience in engineering, product or technical program management, AI data operations, data governance, privacy-sensitive products, or equivalent experience.
- Experience delivering data programs across product, research, engineering, legal, privacy, security, Responsible AI, and platform teams in a large or highly regulated environment.
- Strong technical judgment and written communication skills, with experience defining operational controls, troubleshooting data delivery issues, creating scalable processes, and using metrics to improve cycle time, quality, compliance, and refresh reliability.
Technical Program 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
This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.
