Principal Director, Creative Brand & Advertising

** Overview*
* Microsoft's Creative Brand & Advertising organization is building the future of in-house creative excellence. We're looking for a visionary and operationally strong Principal Director to lead our newly established Global Creative team - a world-class in-house creative capability at the intersection of brand strategy, advertising, production, and global storytelling. This Principal Director will be a founding leader of something genuinely new: an in-house creative capability built from the ground up to produce breakthrough creative work at the scale and standards Microsoft's businesses demand.

Reporting to the VP, Creative Brand & Advertising, this leader will shape the creative vision, and talent strategy for the team - collaborating closely with partners across Microsoft to deliver integrated, on-brand work across every touchpoint. This is a rare opportunity to build inside one of the world's most influential technology companies, to set the creative standard, and prove that in-house can be best-in-class.

** Responsibilities*
* Creative Leadership & Creative Direction

+ Define and champion the creative vision for the Global Creative team, setting standards for quality, craft, innovation, and cultural relevance across all output

+ Build and scale the team from the ground up - establishing its operating model, team structure, culture, ways of working, and quality benchmarks

+ Serve as the senior creative voice in brand and advertising decisions, ensuring all work reflects Microsoft's brand ambition and drives measurable business impact

+ Own end-to-end creative production across brand campaigns, advertising content, digital, social, video, and experiential touchpoints Talent & People Leadership

+ Attract, hire, develop, and retain world-class creative talent - including creative directors, art directors, and writers

+ Build a team culture of creative excellence, psychological safety, inclusion, and continuous growth

+  Invest in the long-term development of your team, creating clear career paths and coaching

Stakeholder Management

+ Manage relationships with agency partners and external creative vendors, defining the right blend of in-house and external resources

+ Build accountability structures, creative KPIs, and processes that balance creative ambition with delivery efficiency Innovation & AI

+  Champion the responsible integration of AI-powered tools and workflows into creative production - setting a standard for what AI-enabled creative looks like at Microsoft's scale

+ Stay ahead of emerging creative technologies, platforms, and cultural trends, ensuring the team is always operating at the frontier

Executive Partnership

+ Represent the team at the senior leadership level, communicating strategy, creative direction, and performance to executive stakeholders

+ Partner with the VP, Brand & Global Advertising and peers to ensure creative coherence, resource alignment, and shared priorities across the Brand & Advertising organization

** Qualifications*
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* Required Qualifications:

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* + Master's Degree in design, marketing, advertising, communications, or related field AND 7+ years experience working in product or service design.

+ OR Bachelor's Degree in design, marketing, advertising, communications, or related field AND 9+ years experience working in product or service design.

+ OR equivalent experience.

+ 5+ years of people management experience.

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* Additional Requirements:

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* + Application must include a portfolio demonstrating breakthrough creative work across brand advertising, content, and digital - with clear evidence of range, craft, and impact at scale

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* Preferred Qualifications:

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* + 12+ years of experience in creative leadership at an in-house creative organization, top-tier advertising agency, or comparable organization

+ 6+ years of demonstrated experience building and leading high-performing creative campaigns

+ Proven ability to build or significantly scale a creative organization, including operating model design, process development, and culture-building

+ Executive communication and influencing skills, with experience partnering effectively with senior marketing, brand, and business leaders

+ Deep understanding of the relationship between brand strategy and creative execution across integrated campaigns

+ Demonstrated experience integrating AI tools into creative workflows in a meaningful and responsible way

+ Background spanning both brand marketing and advertising creative disciplines

+ Experience managing…