Principal Product Manager

Job ID: 200052297Posted: 2026-09-04Location: United States, California, Mountain ViewSalary: USD $142,800 - $274,800 per yearEmployment type: Full-TimeWork site: 3 days / week in-officeRole type: Individual ContributorTravel: Less than 25%Profession: Product ManagementDiscipline: Product ManagementCompany: MicrosoftOverviewThe PowerPoint Product Group builds an app that millions of people open every day to create, collaborate and present their ideas to their audiences. We are in the middle of the biggest transformation in our history: rebuilding PowerPoint around AI as a real collaborator rather than a feature bolted onto a toolbar. The problems are unusually good ones. The scale is enormous, the products carry decades of user habit worth respecting, and the underlying technology gains new capabilities faster than any roadmap can anticipate. We are looking for an AI-native Principal Product Manager to own a strategic portfolio within the PowerPoint product, focused on building the best agent for PowerPoint. You will decide what gets built and why, define what quality means for your area, and stay accountable for whether customers love what ships. This is a product builder’s job, with you being directly involved in creating prototypes, driving customer conversations, evaluating what we are planning to ship, and delivering the best experience to our users.Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond. ResponsibilitiesOwn a product area end to end Set the strategy for your area, make the calls on scope and sequencing, and be the person partners come to for a decision. You will write the vision and plans and make sure everyone building against them understands what they are and why they matter. Start from the customer Build a first-hand understanding of who you are building for and what is genuinely hard in their day. You will stay close to customer conversations, feedback, and telemetry every week, and be able to state the problem you are solving in plain language. Part of the craft is telling the difference between a problem that is interesting and one urgent enough that someone will change how they work. Define the product and drive the roadmap Turn product vision into a roadmap that team can actually execute, and make the tradeoffs it requires in the open. You will write the framing memos and specifications that let engineering, applied science and design move fast, prioritize the backlog, and adapt as evidence arrives. Ship in thin slices and learn fast Break large problems into slices small enough to experiment in days and ship in weeks. Frame a hypothesis before the work starts, instrument what ships, and let the result change the plan. Your area should get measurably better week over week, and you should be able to say by how much. Own quality and evaluation In an AI-first product, deciding what good enough means is product work, not something to hand off. You will design the evaluation approach that reflects what the product should do for a customer, covering helpfulness, accuracy, safety, and voice, and partner with engineering and data & applied sciences to run it and act on what it shows. Build with AI, not just around it Use AI in your own practice. Work with agents and prototype your ideas quickly to validate some of your assumptions and run experiments. We expect you to pair what AI surfaces with your own judgment, and to treat responsible use as a design constraint from day one rather than a review at the end. Take the product to market Bring marketing, sales, and support in at the start of the cycle instead of the end. Know what competitors have shipped and how it landed, and be able to tell the one story about this product that only we can tell. QualificationsRequired Qualifications:Bachelor's Degree AND 8+ years experience in product management or software developmentOR equivalent experience. Other 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:Bachelor's Degree AND 10+ years experience in product management or software development. OR equivalent experience. Deep understanding on how to evaluate AI products and how to align your evals with data in production.Experience extracting customer insights and turning them into impactful product improvements. Building and shipping AI agents for addressing real user needs.Proven track record of shipping impactful products and AI-powered experiences that deliver meaningful customer outcomes.Experience defining product strategy, making complex product decisions, and applying product judgment and systems thinking.Experience using product data, experimentation, user behavior metrics, and AI quality evaluation to inform decisions.Hands-on experience prototyping ideas and applying modern AI technologies to solve customer and business problems.Experience partnering with enterprise customers to drive adoption, gather feedback, and improve product experiences at scale.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: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.