Director of Planning

Multiple Locations, United States

Date posted

Oct 28, 2025

Job number

1898330

Work site

3 days / week in-office

Travel

0-25%

Role type

People Manager

Profession

Business Operations

Discipline

Business Program Management

Employment type

Full-Time

With more than 45,000 employees and partners worldwide, the Customer Experience and Success (CE&S) organization is on a mission to empower customers to accelerate business value through differentiated customer experiences that leverage Microsoft's products and services, ignited by our people and culture. We drive cross-company alignment and execution, ensuring that we consistently exceed customers' expectations in every interaction, whether in-product, digital, or human-centered. CE&S is responsible for all up services across the company, including consulting, customer success, and support across Microsoft's portfolio of solutions and products. Join CE&S and help us accelerate AI transformation for our customers and the world.

Within CE&S, the Customer Service & Support (CSS) organization builds trust and confidence for every person and organization through delivering a seamless support experience. In CSS, we are powered by Microsoft's AI technology to help consumers, businesses, partners, and more, resolve their issues quickly and securely, helping prevent future problems from occurring and achieving more from their Microsoft investment.

We are looking for a Director of Planning to provide thought partnership, best practices, and process improvements for the end-to-end planning process. The position requires being solution-oriented, with a combination of deep business acumen, from tactical workflows to strategic planning. The ideal candidate thrives in ambiguity and works with diverse stakeholder groups to build consensus and clarity of our operational plans.

The ideal candidate is a leader with a demonstrated ability to manage complex projects with extensive knowledge and experience in workforce capacity, financial modeling, process mapping, and optimization techniques. This opportunity requires excellent problem-solving, communication skills, and a strong track record of delivering results. Cross-team collaboration, project management, and executive presentation skills are essential.

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.

Required/minimum qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Operations, Finance, or related field AND 8+ years experience in program management, process management, or process improvement OR equivalent experience.
• 6+ years management (e.g., people, project, process, vendor, change) experience.

Additional or preferred qualifications

• Master's Degree in Business, Operations, Finance, or related field AND 12+ years experience program management, process management, or process improvement OR Bachelor's Degree in Business, Operations, Finance, or related field AND 15+ years experience in program management , process management, or process improvement OR equivalent experience.
• 8+ years people management experience.
• 4+ years of experience partnering with Workforce Management capabilities/functions (Forecasting, Capacity Planning, Scheduling, Systems and Tooling) within an Enterprise Support environment
• 10+ years of defining and implementing improvement initiatives using data and metrics
• 10+ years of managing stakeholders in cross-functional projects

Business Program Management M6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $130,900 - $277,200 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 $165,600 - $303,600 per year.

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

Microsoft will accept applications for the role until November 4, 2025

• Communicate to all the Stakeholders on the status, progress, dependencies, risks, and issues with agreed mitigation plans for each program that encompasses the business planning model.
• Establish processes which enable steady flow of communication between Business, Finance and Workforce Management (WFM).
• Make recommendations to the leadership team on opportunities for risk mitigation.
• Lead projects to improve planning and execution of decisions for CSS.
• Work with cross-functional stakeholders to design programs from initiation to delivery. You'll also apply subject matter expertise when overseeing teams as they define and track success criteria and performance metrics
• Oversee a portfolio of projects, communicating the program status and risk to stakeholders. You'll also use industry expertise to help them work with other teams to ensure program processes are executed efficiently
• Oversee the processes of cost-benefit analyses and evaluating success metrics, while ensuring they optimize the use of data analytics to derive insights and identify risks and opportunities.
• Embody and promote Microsoft's culture and values.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

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Industry leading healthcare

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Educational resources

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Discounts on products and services

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Savings and investments

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Maternity and paternity leave

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Generous time away

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Giving programs

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Opportunities to network and connect

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 and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.