Principal Technical Program Manager

Overview

Our team-affectionately known as the Deviation Detectives-plays a critical role in protecting the health and integrity of the Microsoft Ads marketplace. This role is designed for a senior individual contributor (Principal Technical Program Manager) who thrives in highly ambiguous, data‑rich environments and is motivated by solving complex, high‑impact problems at scale.

This opportunity offers a unique blend of hands‑on data work and strategic technical leadership. You will lead deep‑dive investigations, shape how the organization monitors and responds to marketplace anomalies, and influence partner teams across Ads, Bing, Edge, and Windows. Success in this role requires solid technical judgment, operational excellence, and the ability to drive outcomes across organizational boundaries.

The Mission:
Make tomorrow better.

That is the essence of roles within our Microsoft Ads team. Every day, we bring deep curiosity and technical rigor to reimagine what is possible. Microsoft Ads is a sustainable, multi‑billion‑dollar business, and the Microsoft Ads platform is its economic engine. This team helps ensure that engine runs safely, efficiently, and resiliently-at global scale.

About the Team

The Microsoft Ads Live Marketplace & Forensics team is a group of experienced program managers and applied data scientists with a solid Live Site First mindset. We are responsible for monitoring, diagnosing, and resolving marketplace anomalies that impact advertisers, publishers, users, and Microsoft revenue.

We:

* Monitor hundreds of business and system metrics globally, 24x7

* Investigate deviations and anomalies across advertisers, publishers, users, and core system components

* Connect signals across seemingly unrelated data sources to uncover root causes

* Drive coordinated, cross‑organization resolution efforts across time zones

* Lead post‑incident learnings to prevent recurrence and improve system resilience

Our culture of continuous learning, customer obsession, and operational excellence is recognized at the highest levels of Microsoft leadership. We are proud pioneers of this mindset.

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.

Starting January 26, 2026, Microsoft AI (MAI) employees who live within a 50- mile commute of a designated Microsoft office in the U.S. or 25-mile commute of a non-U.S., country-specific location 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.

Responsibilities

* Lead complex, ambiguous investigations into marketplace deviations by analyzing business performance, advertiser behavior, user signals, and system health metrics across the Microsoft Ads ecosystem.

* Perform advanced data analysis across multiple large‑scale data sources to connect disparate signals and generate actionable insights.

* Serve as the technical and operational lead for high‑severity marketplace issues, driving structure, clarity, and accountability during live‑site events.

* Coordinate end‑to‑end mitigation of issues by partnering with engineering, product, data science, finance, and business teams globally.

* Drive continuous improvement of marketplace monitoring, anomaly detection, and investigation frameworks, including identifying gaps in tooling, data coverage, or automation.

* Lead deep root‑cause analyses and post‑incident reviews, ensuring learnings translate into durable fixes and long‑term prevention strategies.

* Influence best practices for incident response, operational rigor, and marketplace health management across teams.

* Participate in an on‑call rotation (approximately once every 8-10 weeks), acting as the primary point of contact during critical marketplace incidents.

* Mentor and guide other individual contributors by sharing investigation approaches, technical insights, and…