Senior Business Manager

Join the forefront of innovation at Microsoft Research as a Senior Business Manager, where you'll drive strategic operations and enable groundbreaking research across our New England, New York City, and Montreal labs. These labs are highly inter-disciplinary and focus on advances in Machine Learning, Economics and Computation, and Sociotechnical Systems. In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

Your role is critical to keeping priorities aligned, resources optimized, and execution on track so that the labs operate smoothly and strategically. You’ll learn to understand leadership’s priorities and distill them into operational structure and clarity for yourself, the Business Program Managers you’ll manage, and the vendors you’ll oversee. You’ll grow your network of business partners, broaden your analytical and strategic budget and procurement skills by working through research-specific edge cases, and deepen your managerial, communications and negotiation skills by immersing yourself in a research environment. You’ll also have opportunities to drive innovation and efficiencies through increased use of new/AI tools.

You will be most successful by being based at one of our lab locations and working at least 50% of the time in the office.

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.

In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

Responsibilities

• Rhythm of the Business (ROB): Manage a team of Business Program Managers and oversee operations vendors to drive execution of the rhythm of the business across Microsoft Research New England, New York City, and Montreal, aligned with leadership priorities. Ensure you and your team exercise confidentiality and discretion to assure and maintain trust with all stakeholders.
• Partnerships: Cultivate and maintain trusted relationships with cross-functional business partners, to ensure seamless operational support. Key partners include Finance, Information Technology, Recruiting and more. Together with leadership, you will partner with Human Resources to support culture and employee experience initiatives such as follow-up on polls, and with real estate teams on long-range space planning to support evolving needs of the labs.
• Budget lead: Align with leadership’s strategic priorities to plan, forecast and track all aspects of budget, including headcount (open and occupied), discretionary spending, and Montreal’s intern program.
• Procurement lead: Provide subject matter expert expertise to oversee processes related to external staffing, purchasing, and payments.
• Broader org: Represent the three labs within the broader Microsoft Research Business Management Community, advocating for local needs and sharing best practices.
• Communications: Inform tactical and strategic business decisions for lab leadership, and extend their impact by coordinating and drafting internal and external messaging.

• Embody our culture and values.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in relevant field (e.g., Liberal Arts, Business Administration, Management, Computer Science) AND 4+ years experience in financial management, business planning, operations management, strategy, project management, human resources or business-related roles

  • OR equivalent experience.

• 1+ year(s) people management experience.

• 3+ months of work or educational experience in a research environment.

• Experience using Microsoft tools including Excel, PowerBI, Copilot, Outlook, Teams and other Microsoft 365 (M365) tools.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's Degree in relevant field (e.g., Liberal Arts, Business Administration, Management, Computer Science) AND 6+ years experience in financial management, business planning, operations management, strategy, project management, human resources, or business-related roles

  • OR Bachelor's Degree in relevant field (e.g.,