Product Design Director, Commerce

Microsoft Commerce is building the shopping layer that spans Copilot Bing Edge and partner surfaces from the moment a shopper forms an intent through discovery and comparison to checkout and the experience that follows it. As shopping moves from browsing pages to conversational and agentic interaction the patterns that govern it are largely unsettled.

We are seeking a design leader to own that experience and to lead the team that delivers it. The role is accountable for design quality cross-surface coherence and the development of the Commerce Design Research & Content team. It reports to the VP of Product for Commerce and operates as a peer to the product pillar leads.

The central problem is trust. A shopper expresses intent in conversation evaluates options they did not browse for and acts on a recommendation they did not search for. Defining how those interactions work and what earns confidence when a system acts on someones behalf is the substance of the job.

The successful candidate will have led design organizations in areas without established precedent and will be equally effective directing design craft developing managers and representing design among senior product and engineering leadership.

The Product Design Director will own design for Commerce end to end. Commerce UX on Copilot covers the conversational shopping experience how a shopper expresses and refines intent how products are represented in dialogue and how a purchase completes without leaving the conversation. Commerce UX on Bing covers shopping within search: vertical results generative shopping experiences product detail and the discovery patterns that convert high-intent search traffic. Commerce UX on Edge and Checkout covers the browser shopping surface and the checkout flow itself including native checkout wallet and the payment moments that determine whether a shopper completes or abandons. Special projects covers pitch work partner-facing concepts and the exploratory design that shapes where Commerce goes next. The team spans three disciplines. Product design owns the interaction and visual design of these surfaces. Content design owns the language of the shopping experience the terminology guidance and conversational copy through which an agentic surface communicates with a shopper. User research is embedded within the organization and provides the evidence base for design decisions across all of these areas.

Success Measures

• A coherent Commerce shopping experience across Copilot Bing and Edge that presents as a single product rather than three separate ones.
• Established documented interaction patterns for agentic commerce that other teams adopt.
• Measurable improvement in shopping engagement and conversion attributable to experience quality.
• Design patterns and standards that are adopted by partner teams building on Commerce surfaces.
• A design team that grows in capability and retains its talent with managers capable of leading independently.
• Design credibility with product and engineering peers evidenced by design influencing the roadmap rather than responding to it.

Microsofts 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.

AI Experiences employees who live within a 50- mile commute of a designated Microsoft Hub in the U.S. are expected to work from the office at least four days per week. This expectation is subject to local law and may vary by jurisdiction.

• Own the end-to-end design vision for Commerce across Copilot Bing Edge and partner surfaces delivering a single coherent shopping experience rather than three surface-specific ones.
• Lead and develop a multidisciplinary team of four direct reports and their designers spanning product design content design and user research.
• Design the shopping experience for an agentic era: goal expression guided discovery recommendation comparison approvals transparency confidence recovery and purchase establishing the interaction patterns where no settled conventions exist.
• Partner as a peer with the product pillar leads for Consumer Core Experiences Business Enablement and Platform and represent design in roadmap and prioritization decisions.
• Create experience coherence across Commerce surfaces connecting discovery comparison checkout and post-purchase into a single shopper journey rather than a set of independent surfaces.
• Establish and maintain design quality standards including design systems content standards critique review cadence and the operational practices that keep quality consistent across surfaces.
• Champion responsible AI patterns that make automation legible controllable inspectable reversible and respectful of shopper intent.
• Ground design decisions in research experimentation customer signal and business context and connect experience quality to measurable shopping outcomes.
• Represent Commerce design to senior leadership and to external partners in pitch and partnership conversations.

Required Qualifications:

• Masters Degree in Industrial Design Product Design Human Computer Interaction User Experience Interaction Design or related field AND 7 years experience working in product or service design
  • OR Bachelors Degree in Industrial Design Product Design Human Computer Interaction User Experience Interaction Design or related field AND 9 years experience working in product or service design
  • OR equivalent experience (e.g. demonstrated experience working in product or service design or using design thinking to solve problems).
• 5 years people management experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Masters Degree in Industrial Design Product Design Human Computer Interaction User Experience Interaction Design or related field AND 12 years experience working in product or service design
  • OR Bachelors Degree in Industrial Design Product Design Human Computer Interaction User Experience Interaction Design or related field AND 15 years experience working in product or service design
  • OR equivalent experience (e.g. demonstrated experience working in product or service design or using design thinking to solve problems).
• A portfolio that demonstrates solid product thinking interaction design visual design customer empathy systems thinking and impact through shipped products.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary design teams spanning product design content design and user research.
• Experience setting experience vision leading design strategy and influencing product direction across multiple teams or product areas.
• Experience with AI-powered agentic recommendation or decision-support experiences including conversational interfaces and assistant surfaces.
• Fluency in patterns for delegation supervision transparency approvals error recovery and human-in-the-loop control.
• Experience designing commerce retail marketplace payments or marketplace-adjacent products.
• Demonstrated ability to use research experimentation analytics and business context to guide design decisions.
• Experience operating in large matrixed organizations with multiple dependent surfaces.
• Experience with Figma and modern design collaboration and design-system practice.

#MicrosoftAI

Product Design M6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $165600 - $296400 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 $220800 - $331200 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
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.

Required Experience:

Manager