Senior Director, Human Resources Business Partner/Human Resources Chief Operating Officer

Xbox seeks an experienced Human Resources Business Partner (HRBP) leader to serve in a hybrid Senior Director, HR Business Partner role and Xbox HR Chief Operating Officer (COO) role, reporting directly to the Xbox HR CVP (with a strong partnership to the HR leadership team). This new position will unify and elevate the operational and people strategy functions across our Xbox organization. By centralizing critical processes and aligning talent strategies with business objectives, the role ensures that the Xbox division operates with precision, agility, and impact, translating strategic vision into scalable programs and measurable outcomes. 

In this capacity, you will act as a trusted business partner and strategic advisor to members of the Xbox leadership team, partnering specifically with the Xbox Chief Operating Officer and the Xbox Executive Office. Your mission is to align our people agenda with business priorities in Xbox - driving clarity and conviction in decision-making while fostering a high-performance, creative culture. By blending deep HR expertise with operational excellence, you will help empower our studios and protect what makes our culture and games unique as we pursue Microsoft’s ambitious Xbox strategy 

The ideal candidate will bring strategic HR leadership experience paired with strong business acumen, enabling the Xbox organization to move with clarity, agility, and bold innovation during a time of transformation. This is a unique opportunity to drive both people and operational excellence behind the scenes of Xbox’s next era – ensuring creative excellence in our games is matched by world-class talent practices and seamless operational support.

This role will serve as a key integration point between Xbox’s business leadership and the HR organization. The position offers a unique opportunity to shape the future of Xbox’s business and culture, ensuring that our operational strategies and people strategies work in tandem to drive innovation, community, and excellence in gaming. 

We seek a strategic, inclusive HR leader with deep HR Business Partner experience and proven operational acumen. The ideal candidate can seamlessly switch between strategic planning and hands-on execution, bridging business strategy and people strategy. They thrive in dynamic, ambiguous environments, guiding the Xbox organization with clarity and confidence through rapid change. They have strong business acumen and analytical skills, but also a people-first mindset, making decisions grounded in data, empathy, and what players and creators value most.

• Strategic HR Business Partnership & Advisory:  Serve as a strategic thought partner to the CVP of Xbox HR and leadership team as Xbox HR COO, as well as to the Xbox COO and Executive Office Leadership Team as their aligned HRBP, providing counsel on business direction, organizational effectiveness, and culture across Xbox businesses to align people priorities with the Xbox strategy. Shape and drive talent plans that support our core commitments to great games, creative excellence, and bold innovation. Act as a trusted advisor and coach to executives, promoting decisions grounded in player and developer needs and in Microsoft’s culture and values 

• People Strategy & Workforce Planning: Lead the people agenda for Xbox COO and Xbox CEO Executive Office, ensuring our talent strategies support key business objectives. Champion succession planning, talent development, and workforce analytics to build future-ready capabilities across the Xbox teams and entities. Drive strategic workforce planning, alongside the HR CVP, to ensure we have the right talent pipeline to win in new platforms and markets (Xbox, PC, mobile, cloud). Partner with HR Business Insights to leverage people data for strategic decisions, and align talent programs (hiring, development, retention) to player-centric strategies. Support leaders in organizational restructuring or growth initiatives, aligning teams to deliver on our creative and business goals. 

• HR Business Rhythm & Operational Excellence: Own the HR rhythm-of-business, translating high-level people strategy into clear execution plans. Manage HR operational cadences - planning cycles, HR budget/headcount reviews, QBRs – ensuring HR resources and programs support our commitments to great games and player experience. Collaborate with Finance and business operations on workforce investments and organizational priorities. Streamline HR processes for agility, removing barriers and driving efficiencies so creative and engineering teams can focus on building extraordinary games. 

• Cross-Organizational Harmonization:  Orchestrate collaboration across the OneHR team: aligning HR Business Partners, COEs