Senior Research Scaling & AI Infrastructure Lead

Overview

The Windows & Devices Research & Design organization is seeking a Senior Research Scaling & AI Infrastructure Lead to build and operationalize quality programs that elevate product excellence through systematic feedback touchpoints. This cross-functional champion role creates the programmatic infrastructure that ensures designers and program managers have structured touchpoints with customers throughout development establishing experience reviews, design feedback sessions, concept validation, and tenets and traps as quality checkpoints in the product lifecycle. You will build programs that make customer connection a predictable, scalable, and measurable driver of product quality rather than an ad hoc activity.

In this role, you will design and launch quality programs that fundamentally change how product teams validate their work with customers. These programs will provide systematic frameworks for gathering customer feedback at critical moments including before designs ship, during experience reviews, and throughout iterative development. You will leverage AI agents and self-service infrastructure to scale these quality programs across hundreds of product makers, ensuring consistent quality reviews becomes embedded in how teams work.

You will partner closely with UX researchers, product managers, designers, and engineering leaders to co-create and champion quality programs that teams adopt and value. This role requires both program strategy and operational excellence. You'll define what quality checkpoints should exist, build the systems that enable them, and measure their impact on product outcomes. You'll work in a fast-paced environment where your programs directly influence the quality of experiences reaching millions of Windows users, and where you can see the tangible results of programmatic quality engagement.

The ideal candidate is passionate about building programs that drive measurable quality improvements. You have successfully launched and scaled customer feedback programs, quality frameworks, or operational systems that changed how organizations work. You are energized by creating structure and repeatability by turning one-off activities into sustainable programs. You understand how to use AI and automation to make programs scale.

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

• Design and operationalize quality programs including experience reviews, design feedback sessions, concept validation, and tenets and traps frameworks.
• Build scalable quality frameworks and standards that ensure product makers gather feedback on quality at critical moments, creating predictable touchpoints that surface quality issues early.
• Leverage AI agents, agentic systems, and self-service infrastructure to scale quality programs across hundreds of product makers.
• Establish measurement frameworks that track program adoption, quality outcomes, and the impact of customer feedback on product decisions, demonstrating how programmatic customer connections improve shipped experiences.
• Partner with UX researchers, product managers, designers, and engineering leaders to co-create quality programs that teams value and adopt, ensuring programs fit naturally into existing workflows while raising quality standards.
• Champion and drive adoption of quality programs through training, best practices, showcase examples, and ongoing support that helps product makers build quality practices into their standard operating rhythms.
• Continuously evolve quality programs based on product team feedback, emerging AI capabilities, and quality metrics, innovating on how the programs drive measurable improvements in product excellence.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Doctorate in Human-Computer Interaction, Human Factors Engineering, Computer Science, Technical Communications, Information Science, Information Architecture, User Experience Design, Behavioral Science, Social Sciences, or related field AND 1+ year(s) User Experience Research experience
  • OR Master's Degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Human Factors Engineering, Computer Science, Technical Communications, Information Science, Information Architecture, User Experience Design, Behavioral Science, Social Sciences, or related field AND 3+ years User Experience Research experience
  • OR Bachelor's Degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Human Factors Engineering, Computer Science, Technical Communications, Information Science, Information Architecture, User Experience Design, Behavioral Science, Social Sciences, or related field AND 4+ years User Experience Research experience
  • OR equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's Degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Operations Management, Organizational Psychology, Business Administration, or related field
• Direct experience designing and scaling programs for experience reviews, design feedback sessions, concept testing, tenets and traps, or similar customer connection frameworks in product development environments
• Track record of measuring and demonstrating program impact on product quality metrics, user satisfaction scores, or business outcomes, with compelling examples of quality improvements driven by systematic customer feedback
• Experience implementing agentic AI systems, large language models (LLMs), or autonomous agents to scale knowledge work, combined with deep understanding of research operations or customer feedback methodologies

#W+D

UX Research IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 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 $158,400 - $258,000 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.