Sr. Director, AI Data Acquisition and Operations

Overview

At Microsoft AI, we are on a mission to train the world's most capable AI frontier models, pushing the boundaries of scale, performance, and product deployment for Microsoft AI models. We're tackling some of the most challenging problems in deep learning at scale. As a team, we will build the best AI models in the world across text, reasoning, and multimodal, forming the foundation of initiatives across Microsoft and helping our customers achieve more.

This role sits at the heart of our AI superintelligence lab. We're looking for an experienced, hands-on operator to lead AI data acquisition and operations: sourcing, negotiating, and delivering the training data behind our frontier models.

You will own an acquisition pipeline end to end: working directly with our AI scientists to understand what data will move model performance, sourcing it globally and ethically, negotiating the deals, and running the operations that get it delivered, validated, and into training runs. The work spans human data and annotation vendor programs, and structuring novel deals for data that have never been commercially available before.

The ideal candidate is a heavy user of AI and a hands-on operator who has worked directly between technical teams and vendors, is comfortable owning commercial negotiations personally, and builds systems that scale rather than running things manually.

This role is based in Mountain View, CA. You are required to be in the office 4 days per week.

Responsibilities

• Partner with researchers to initiate and monitor critical pre- and post-training data collections, including vendor selection, contract negotiation, and management.

• Partner with and oversee data operations for AI training data, including setting Microsoft's validation workflows, delivery tracking, and ensuring alignment with research goals.

• Oversee a system for procurement processes, including tracking wallets, vendor spend, and milestone delivery.

• Partner to help govern a centralized data catalog for validated datasets, metadata, and storage locations to support compliance and discoverability.

• Coordinate cross-functional initiatives across Business Development, Procurement, Legal, Compliance, Finance, and Engineering.

• Advance the AI frontier responsibly and embody Microsoft's culture and values.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree AND 8+ years experience in strategy or finance, data operations, program/technical program management, procurement, or finance integration OR equivalent experience.

• 2+ years of management experience in overseeing large-scale data operations for leading AI research organizations or leading vendors.

• Experience building and leading a team.

• Track record building operational systems - spend tracking, delivery milestones, validation workflows - that scale beyond manual effort.

• Experience operating in a research environment where priorities shift quickly and requirements are underspecified.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree AND 10+ years experience in technical data operations, procurement program management, or finance systems integration OR equivalent experience.

• 3+ years of management experience in overseeing large-scale data operations for leading AI research organizations or leading vendors.

• Fluency with data rights and licensing terms, and comfort working with legal and privacy partners on novel questions.

Business Strategy IC6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $155,800 - $277,200 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 $202,400 - $303,600 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
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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.