Principal Product Manager, Ads Search - Retail Lead

September 10, 2026

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About the position

The AI Monetization Product Team at Microsoft is responsible for building and scaling advertising, commerce, and revenue-generating experiences across Microsoft's AI and consumer ecosystem. We partner closely with Engineering, Design, Data Science, Research, Sales, and Business teams to develop products that help advertisers connect with customers while creating meaningful value for consumers. We are hiring multiple Principal Product Managers, to help shape the future of advertising and monetization experiences. Depending on background and expertise, candidates may focus on one of two areas: Advertising Platform & Systems: Building the foundational services, infrastructure, data systems, experimentation frameworks, and platform capabilities that power scalable advertising products. Consumer Advertising Experiences: Building intuitive, engaging, and AI-powered search, discovery, shopping, and advertising experiences that connect consumers with relevant products and services. In either area, you will define product vision, influence strategy, and collaborate across engineering, design, data science, and business teams to deliver impactful solutions for advertisers and consumers. 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 and drive product strategy, vision, and roadmap for key advertising and monetization investments.
Partner with Engineering, Design, Data Science, Research, and Product Marketing to deliver customer-focused solutions.
Use customer insights, experimentation, and data-driven decision-making to prioritize investments and measure success.
Navigate ambiguity, influence across organizational boundaries, and build alignment among stakeholders.
Evaluate emerging trends in digital advertising, retail media, commerce, AI, and machine learning to identify new growth opportunities.
Communicate product vision, strategy, and results to senior leaders and cross-functional partners.
Define requirements for advertising infrastructure, services, APIs, ranking systems, measurement capabilities, experimentation platforms, and monetization systems.
Drive investments that improve scalability, reliability, performance, and operational efficiency across the advertising ecosystem.
Partner closely with engineering teams on architecture, platform strategy, and long-term technical roadmaps.
Lead initiatives that improve search, discovery, shopping, and purchase-related user journeys through innovative advertising experiences.
Partner with design and research teams to deliver intuitive, relevant, and engaging consumer experiences.
Drive improvements in user engagement, advertiser performance, and customer satisfaction through AI-powered recommendations and personalization.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree AND 8+ years experience in product management including experience advertising in retail or consumer products OR equivalent experience.
Experience owning product strategy, roadmap development, and execution for complex products or platforms.
Experience using data, experimentation, and customer insights to drive decision-making.
Experience building and scaling advertising, commerce, search, marketplace, recommendation, or consumer products.
Experience leading products from concept through launch and long-term growth.
Experience improving product, customer, or business metrics through experimentation and optimization.
Experience building products leveraging machine learning, recommendation systems, ranking technologies, generative AI, or large language models.
Experience building large-scale services, platforms, APIs, data systems, infrastructure, experimentation frameworks, or monetization technologies.
Technical depth and ability to partner effectively with engineering teams on architecture and platform investments.
Working knowledge of SQL and programming languages such as Python or JavaScript.
Experience building consumer-facing experiences in search, discovery, shopping, advertising, or e-commerce.
Strong customer obsession and expertise in UX, customer journeys, personalization, and engagement strategies.
Experience partnering closely with design, user research, and customer insight teams.

Nice-to-haves

Bachelor's Degree AND 12+ years of experience in Product Management, Program Management, Software Development, or a related field.

Benefits

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation.

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