Principal Data Scientist

** Overview*
* Microsoft Cloud Operations and Innovation (CO+I) is the team behind the cloud. The Fill-Up Colo organization is responsible for maximizing the use of available colocation capacity while maintaining deployment readiness and disciplined governance across Microsoft's global datacenter portfolio.

We are seeking a Principal Data Scientist to define and lead the analytics strategy, executive reporting, governance, and AI innovation required to achieve the organization's FY27 goal of packing 480 MW of capacity. This role will own OKR and program reporting products, including the 480 MW and deployed-power heatmaps, MW Fill Rate, Colo Tracker, and locked-reservation alerting. The successful candidate will establish trusted metrics, connect fragmented planning and execution signals, identify systemic opportunities, and provide decision intelligence for senior leadership.

This role has global scope and requires cross-organizational leadership across capacity planning, engineering, deployment, finance, operations, and product teams. It is a full-time Microsoft employee position because it requires authoritative metric ownership, sustained strategic accountability, access to business-critical context, and deep institutional and datacenter domain expertise that cannot be effectively provided by vendor resources.

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*
* + Define the analytics vision, operating model, and multi-year roadmap for Fill-Up Colo OKR and program reporting.

+ Own the authoritative measurement framework for the FY27 480 MW goal, including metric definitions, targets, attribution, forecasts, and executive narratives.

+ Lead development and governance of 480 MW and deployed-power heatmaps, MW Fill Rate, Colo Tracker, and locked-reservation alerting.

+ Establish data contracts, lineage, quality controls, reconciliation standards, and decision rights across capacity, power, network, reservation, deployment, and financial data.

+ Identify portfolio-level risks and opportunities, quantify business impact, and drive decisions with senior leadership and partner organizations.

+ Design predictive, prescriptive, and AI-assisted solutions that improve capacity placement, reservation management, anomaly detection, forecasting, and operational responsiveness.

+ Set technical standards for scalable data products, semantic models, experimentation, performance, reliability, and responsible AI.

+ Lead complex cross-functional initiatives where requirements, ownership, and source-system definitions are ambiguous or evolving.

+ Communicate strategy, progress, tradeoffs, and recommendations through concise executive reporting and business reviews.

+ Provide technical direction and mentorship to data scientists, analysts, and engineers, raising the organization's analytical maturity.

+ Embody our Culture and Values.

** Qualifications*
* *
* Required Qualifications:

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* + Doctorate in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 3+ years data-science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results)

+ OR Master's Degree in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 5+ years data-science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results)

+ OR Bachelor's Degree in Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Econometrics, Economics, Operations Research, Computer Science, or related field AND 7+ years data science experience (e.g., managing structured and unstructured data, applying statistical techniques and reporting results)

+ OR equivalent experience.

+ 3+ years people-management experience.

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* Preferred Qualifications:

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* + Bachelor's degree in data science, computer science, statistics, engineering, operations research, or a related field AND 10+ years of data science, analytics, data engineering, or related experience, OR equivalent experience.

+ Master's degree or doctorate in data science, computer science,…