Job description

Overview Do you want to be at the forefront of innovating the latest hardware designs to propel Microsoft’s cloud growth? Are you seeking a unique career opportunity that combines technical capabilities, cross-team collaboration, with business insight and strategy? 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 achieve 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. In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day. Join the Systems Planning and Architecture (SPARC) team within Microsoft’s Azure Hardware Systems and Infrastructure (AHSI) organization, the team behind Microsoft’s expanding Cloud Infrastructure and for powering Microsoft’s “Intelligent Cloud” mission. Microsoft delivers more than 200 online services to more than one billion individuals worldwide, and AHSI is the team behind our expanding cloud infrastructure. We deliver the core infrastructure and foundational technologies for Microsoft's cloud businesses including Microsoft Azure, Bing, MSN, Office 365, OneDrive, Skype, Teams and Xbox Live.  The Systems Planning and Architecture (SPARC) team is seeking a Senior Product Manager – AI Infrastructure Competitive Strategy to lead competitive analysis supporting Azure’s Maia, Cobalt, and broader AI infrastructure roadmaps. In this role, you will evaluate rapidly evolving cloud infrastructure technologies, competitive platforms, and industry roadmaps to inform product planning and architecture decisions. You will develop a fact-based understanding of how Microsoft’s infrastructure compares across performance, cost, power, supply availability, and workload requirements. You will work across AI accelerators, CPUs, memory, networking, storage, and rack-scale systems. You will partner closely with silicon architecture, engineering, performance, workload, finance, sourcing, and product-planning teams to integrate technical and business inputs into clear, actionable recommendations. The ideal candidate combines a strong technical foundation in cloud infrastructure, semiconductors, or computer systems with experience in strategy consulting, corporate strategy, or technology-focused business analysis. You are comfortable working through ambiguity, structuring complex problems, developing data-driven recommendations, and translating detailed technical information into clear insights for product teams and senior leaders. Responsibilities • Lead competitive assessments of AI accelerators, CPUs, memory, networking, storage, and rack-scale infrastructure supporting Azure’s Maia, Cobalt, and AI systems roadmaps. • Evaluate competitor and industry roadmaps across architecture, process technology, performance, power, memory, system configuration, deployment timing, and supply-chain dependencies. • Develop analytical models that connect product specifications, workload performance, power, cost, and utilization to assess platform competitiveness and total cost of ownership. • Synthesize inputs from engineering teams, performance measurements, financial models, suppliers, market research, and public information into a consistent, decision-ready view of the competitive landscape. • Identify key technology and product decision points across silicon architecture, memory, packaging, networking, and system design, and assess their implications for future Azure products. • Partner with architecture, engineering, workload, performance, finance, sourcing, and product-planning teams to evaluate tradeoffs and align assumptions across organizations. • Translate complex and incomplete information into clear insights, scenarios, and recommendations for product teams and senior leaders. • Establish repeatable analyses, dashboards, and review mechanisms that improve the consistency, transparency, and reuse of competitive, performance, and cost information. Qualifications Required Qualifications • Bachelor's Degree AND 5+ years experience in product/service/program management or software development OR equivalent experience. Other Requirements • Ability to meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security-screening requirements. These requirements include passing the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire or transfer and periodically thereafter. Preferred Qualifications • Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Business Administration, Finance, or a related field. • 8+ years of experience in cloud infrastructure, semiconductors, AI systems, datacenter hardware, product strategy, competitive analysis, or management consulting. • Experience evaluating complex technology products or platforms and translating technical information into product, business, or investment recommendations. • Experience applying structured problem-solving approaches to complex technology or business questions, including developing hypotheses, conducting quantitative and qualitative analysis, and translating findings into actionable recommendations. • Experience with quantitative analysis, such as performance benchmarking, cost modeling, total cost of ownership, market analysis, capacity analysis, or financial modeling. • Experience collaborating across technical and business functions, such as engineering, architecture, finance, sourcing, operations, or product planning. • Ability to communicate complex technical and business concepts clearly to technical teams, business partners, and senior leaders. • Understanding of one or more infrastructure domains, including AI accelerators, CPUs, high-bandwidth memory, advanced packaging, networking, storage, server systems, or rack-scale architecture. • Familiarity with semiconductor development and supply chains, including foundry processes, memory, packaging, substrates, assembly and test, and hardware manufacturing. • Experience analyzing hyperscale cloud platforms or hardware ecosystems. • Experience connecting architecture and workload performance to system-level power, cost, utilization, and total cost of ownership. • Experience in management consulting, corporate strategy, or technology strategy, preferably focused on cloud infrastructure, semiconductors, AI systems, or datacenter technologies. • Demonstrated ability to combine technical understanding with market, competitive, financial, and strategic analysis. • Experience creating executive-level analyses and recommendations that have influenced product roadmaps, investment decisions, or technology strategy. Product Management IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 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 $160,200 - $261,000 per year. Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: careers.microsoft.com 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.

Requirements

Must-haves

Lead competitive assessments of AI accelerators, CPUs, memory, networking, storage, and rack-scale infrastructure supporting Azure’s Maia, Cobalt, and AI systems roadmaps.
Evaluate competitor and industry roadmaps across architecture, process technology, performance, power, memory, system configuration, deployment timing, and supply-chain dependencies.
Develop analytical models that connect product specifications, workload performance, power, cost, and utilization to assess platform competitiveness and total cost of ownership.
Synthesize inputs from engineering teams, performance measurements, financial models, suppliers, market research, and public information into a consistent, decision-ready view of the competitive landscape.
Identify key technology and product decision points across silicon architecture, memory, packaging, networking, and system design, and assess their implications for future Azure products.
Partner with architecture, engineering, workload, performance, finance, sourcing, and product-planning teams to evaluate tradeoffs and align assumptions across organizations.
Translate complex and incomplete information into clear insights, scenarios, and recommendations for product teams and senior leaders.
Establish repeatable analyses, dashboards, and review mechanisms that improve the consistency, transparency, and reuse of competitive, performance, and cost information.
Bachelor's Degree AND 5+ years experience in product/service/program management or software development OR equivalent experience.
Other Requirements
Ability to meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security-screening requirements. These requirements include passing the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire or transfer and periodically thereafter.
8+ years of experience in cloud infrastructure, semiconductors, AI systems, datacenter hardware, product strategy, competitive analysis, or management consulting.

Nice-to-haves

Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Business Administration, Finance, or a related field.
Experience evaluating complex technology products or platforms and translating technical information into product, business, or investment recommendations.
Experience with quantitative analysis, such as performance benchmarking, cost modeling, total cost of ownership, market analysis, capacity analysis, or financial modeling.
Experience collaborating across technical and business functions, such as engineering, architecture, finance, sourcing, operations, or product planning.
Ability to communicate complex technical and business concepts clearly to technical teams, business partners, and senior leaders.
Understanding of one or more infrastructure domains, including AI accelerators, CPUs, high-bandwidth memory, advanced packaging, networking, storage, server systems, or rack-scale architecture.
Familiarity with semiconductor development and supply chains, including foundry processes, memory, packaging, substrates, assembly and test, and hardware manufacturing.
Experience analyzing hyperscale cloud platforms or hardware ecosystems.
Experience connecting architecture and workload performance to system-level power, cost, utilization, and total cost of ownership.
Experience in management consulting, corporate strategy, or technology strategy, preferably focused on cloud infrastructure, semiconductors, AI systems, or datacenter technologies.
Demonstrated ability to combine technical understanding with market, competitive, financial, and strategic analysis.
Experience creating executive-level analyses and recommendations that have influenced product roadmaps, investment decisions, or technology strategy.

Application prep

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Keywords to mirror

azureai

Platform: eightfold
Effort: medium