Principal Technical Program Manager - FDE

Microsoft; United States; Remote; USD 143,000 - 275,000; Full time

Job summary

Microsoft is seeking a Principal Technical Program Manager in the United States for the Frontier Company Engineering team. You will embed with strategic customers to drive complex programs from problem definition through delivery, enabling measurable business outcomes with AI-powered cloud solutions.

You will work with engineers, data scientists, and designers in small teams, applying AI tooling throughout the development lifecycle while maintaining security, quality, and trust.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 6+ years in engineering or program management or related fields.
• 3+ years of cross-functional project management experience.
• Willingness to travel up to 25%.

Responsibilities

• Embed with strategic customers to lead complex technical programs with high autonomy, aligning business needs with engineering solutions across AI, cloud, and data.
• Apply AI-assisted engineering practices across the full software lifecycle to accelerate requirements-to-specs, generate high-quality artifacts from customer context, and drive value to production.
• Operate with engineering tooling (VS Code, GitHub, AI agents) for planning, documentation, and program leadership; validate AI outputs with domain expertise.
• Navigate ambiguity with ownership, identify opportunities, manage risks, and provide data-driven recommendations to stakeholders.
• Champion reusable patterns, open-source assets, and playbooks that scale impact beyond engagements.
• Partner with multi-disciplinary teams to design and deliver AI-powered cloud solutions with customer engineers.

Skills

Cross-functional project management

Data analysis

AI/ML technologies

Cloud architecture

Data engineering

Engineering

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Tools

VS Code

GitHub

AI agents

Job description

Principal Technical Program Manager - FDE

United States, Multiple Locations, Multiple Locations

Job description

In the Microsoft Frontier Company Engineering team, you won’t just build software; you’ll deliver real outcomes for some of the world’s most complex organizations.

We are a global team of world-class engineers who have been working in a Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) model for more than a decade, embedding directly within customer teams to solve their toughest challenges, side-by-side, and shipping production-ready solutions in days, not months.

As a Principal Technical Program Manager, you will embed with strategic customers to lead complex technical programs, owning the full customer journey from problem definition through delivery and driving measurable business outcomes. You’ll work in small, multidisciplinary crews alongside engineers, data scientists, and designers, operating with high autonomy to turn ambiguous problems into shipped solutions.

Our work is powered by AI, applying the mindset and tooling across the entire development lifecycle to move from idea to production in days while maintaining the highest standards of security, quality, and trust.

This role offers the opportunity to:

• Lead complex technical programs from problem definition through to delivered outcomes
• Drive decisions that directly influence business strategy and customer outcomes
• Collaborate with leading global organizations across industries
• Apply the latest advancements in AI and engineering workflows to deliver value at scale

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.

Responsibilities

Embed with strategic customers to lead complex technical programs with high autonomy, aligning business needs with engineering solutions across AI, cloud, and data. Take ownership of the customer journey end-to-end, from problem definition through co-engineering delivery to measurable business outcomes.

Apply AI assisted engineering practices as a daily operating mode: use AI tools across the full software development lifecycle to accelerate requirements-to-specs, generate high-quality engineering artifacts from customer context, and drive continuous flow of value from business need to production.

Operate fluently in engineering tooling (e.g., VS Code, GitHub, AI agents) as primary work surfaces for planning, documentation, and technical program leadership. Validate AI-generated outputs with domain expertise to maintain quality at speed.

Navigate ambiguity in customer environments with self-direction and high ownership. Make technical and program decisions with incomplete information, proactively identify opportunities and manage risks, providing data-driven recommendations to stakeholders.

Champion and cultivate reusable solution patterns, open-source assets, and engineering playbooks that scale impact beyond individual engagements. Contribute to the broader engineering community through knowledge sharing and best practices.

Partner with multi-disciplinary engineering teams (software engineers, data scientists, designers) to evaluate, design, and deliver AI-powered cloud solutions side-by-side with customer engineers. Give key stakeholders data-driven recommendations based on identified risks and tradeoffs.

Qualifications

Required/minimum qualifications

Bachelor's Degree AND 6+ years experience in engineering, product/technical program management, data analysis, or product development OR equivalent experience.

3+ years of experience managing cross-functional and/or cross-team projects.

Other Requirements

Microsoft is unable to sponsor a work visa for this role due to the nature of the role’s job duties

Additional or preferred qualifications

Bachelor's Degree AND 12+ years experience engineering, product/technical program management, data analysis, or product development OR equivalent experience.

8+ years of experience managing cross-functional and/or cross-team projects.

1+ year(s) of experience reading and/or writing code (e.g., sample documentation, product demos).

1+ years of experience in customer-facing technical roles (e.g., consulting, solutions engineering, field engineering, or similar).

Experience with AI/ML technologies, cloud architecture, data engineering, and using AI tools and workflows in creating software engineering artifacts.

Enjoy travel and are comfortable with travel up to 25%

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.

Company and benefits

Job number 200044281

Date posted Oct 20, 2026

Work site 0 days / week in-office – remote

Travel Less than 25%

Profession Program Management

Discipline Technical Program Management

Role type Individual Contributor

Employment type Full-Time