AI Capacity Operations Manager

MCAPS-Core accelerates customer outcomes and business growth. By uniting product, engineering, marketing, sales, customer success, and partners around a common customer mission, we help customers realize value faster and turn innovation into measurable business impact. Through deep technical expertise and differentiated go-to-market execution, we win competitively, capture market share, and scale repeatable growth motions. We differentiate through value creation - delivering world-class, AI-powered customer experiences that accelerate adoption, strengthen loyalty, and create sustainable competitive advantage, driving growth that outpaces the market.

Want to help shape the AI era? AI and cloud technologies are transforming industries, and Microsoft helps customers seize that opportunity. Trusted for mission-critical workloads, Azure provides a secure, responsible path to build with AI — with AI and non-AI capacity as a strategic lever for success.

The AI Capacity Operations Manager is responsible for driving the strategy, execution, and operational excellence of AI model capacity programs across Microsoft AI platforms. This role serves as the connective tissue between Engineering, Finance, Capacity Planning, Product Groups, Sales, and Operations to ensure AI models are deployed, prioritized, governed, and scaled in alignment with customer demand and business objectives. This is part of AI and non-AI Cloud Capacity Programs Team.

The role combines capacity strategy, business operations, process automation, data-driven decision making, and executive stakeholder management to maximize customer impact, accelerate revenue realization, and improve operational efficiency for AI model capacity. The successful candidate will build repeatable processes, influence across organizations, and create scalable systems that transform AI capacity management from reactive operations into strategic business enablement.

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.

Program Strategy & Execution

• Lead end-to-end AI model capacity programs, including demand management, prioritization, allocation, governance, and resource optimization.
• Drive cross-functional execution across Engineering, Capacity Planning, Finance, Product, Data & AI GTM, and Shared Services teams to ensure successful delivery of strategic capacity initiatives.
• Partner with stakeholders to align capacity investments and resources with business objectives, customer demand, revenue opportunities, and organizational priorities.
• Contribute to long-range planning by evaluating capacity trends, business requirements, and future growth needs to support scalable operations.

Business Planning & Operational Excellence

• Establish and optimize operating rhythms, business processes, governance frameworks, and decision-making mechanisms that improve execution transparency, accountability, and business performance.
• Identify operational bottlenecks and implement process simplification, automation, and continuous improvement initiatives to increase efficiency and scalability.
• Drive operational readiness and execution excellence across capacity planning workflows and business programs.

Analytics, Insights & Decision Support

• Develop and deliver data-driven insights, forecasting models, dashboards, executive reporting, and business reviews that inform capacity planning, investment decisions, and strategic priorities.
• Leverage business metrics and performance indicators to identify risks, opportunities, and trends, enabling informed decision-making across stakeholders.
• Monitor program health, measure outcomes, and provide recommendations to improve operational effectiveness and business impact.

Stakeholder Management & Communications

• Build and maintain effective partnerships across Engineering, Finance, Product, Capacity Planning, GTM, and executive leadership teams to drive alignment and execution.
• Manage executive communications, escalation processes, stakeholder engagement, and cross-functional collaboration for critical capacity initiatives.
• Influence decision-making and facilitate resolution of complex business challenges through strong communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management.

Governance, Risk Management & Business Management

• Establish governance processes to support prioritization, allocation decisions, risk management, and accountability across AI model capacity programs.
• Drive program reviews, executive checkpoints, and compliance with established business processes to ensure successful execution and achievement of strategic objectives.
• Identify and mitigate operational risks impacting capacity availability, business performance, and organizational goals.

Other  

• Embody our culture and values. 

Required:

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Operations, Finance, or related field AND 4+ years experience in program management, process management, or process improvement OR equivalent experience

Additional Requirements:

• Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and / or government security screening requirements are required for this role.  These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings: Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire / transfer and every two years thereafter.

Preferred:

• Experience leading complex cross-functional programs across multiple organizations and executive stakeholders.
• Proven ability to manage ambiguity and drive execution in rapidly evolving environments.
• Strong analytical, financial, and problem-solving capabilities with experience using data to support business decisions.
• Experience building executive communications, dashboards, business reviews, and strategic recommendations.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and influencing skills
• Experience working with cloud infrastructure, AI platforms, capacity planning, quota management, or large-scale operational systems.
• Familiarity with AI/ML services, model deployment concepts, GPU infrastructure, or cloud capacity management.
• Experience driving workflow automation, process transformation, and systems integration initiatives.
• Knowledge of data visualization, forecasting, business intelligence, and reporting tools.
• Experience partnering with Engineering, Finance, and Product organizations to deliver business outcomes.
• Experience in Cloud Computing (particularly working for or with major providers and/or partners in the industry).
• Familiarity with AI capacity and AI product concepts, including GPU compute, AI infrastructure, model requirements, Generative AI and Agentic AI capabilities, and the supply constraints that influence AI workload planning, prioritization, and customer outcomes

Business Program Management IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $97,600 - $188,400 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $125,000 - $206,400 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.