Senior Director, Frontier Continuous Improvement

Overview

Microsoft's Continuous Improvement (CI) team is seeking a Senior Director, Frontier Continuous Improvement to shape and deliver customer AI transformation engagements with Microsoft Frontier Company by applying CI methods. Microsoft Frontier Company is a new operating business focused on helping customers achieve business transformation through AI by combining deep industry expertise, AI engineering capabilities, services delivery, continuous improvement, and outcome-driven execution.

Our team brings CI to Microsoft’s customer engagements, helping customers translate AI ambition into measurable business outcomes. We use structured problem solving and systems thinking to understand how work happens today and redesign end-to-end workflows across people, processes, and technology. We design better business systems and put them into practice.

As part of a Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) team, you will bring CI and process design expertise to help customers turn AI opportunities into better business outcomes. Within the Frontier Co. engagement model, you will lead workflow discovery and redesign, working alongside engineers, Industry Advisors, and customer teams to define how work should operate and the technical capabilities needed to support it. You will connect business objectives, process design, and technical delivery, ensuring AI solutions are embedded in workflows that customers can sustain and improve over time.

You will observe work firsthand, quantify current-state performance, and facilitate teams through designing better end-to-end workflows. This includes determining where AI can change how work gets done and establishing clear roles and performance measures. You will translate the future-state design into an actionable implementation plan and stay engaged through delivery and adoption, helping teams measure results and refine the system.

We look for people with demonstrated experience applying CI practices to complex business processes and delivering measurable improvements. Traditional Lean or CI credentials are not required; the ability to put these practices into action is essential. Successful team members think rigorously, navigate ambiguity with resourcefulness, and work across business and technical teams. They influence across organizational boundaries—from frontline teams to senior executives—and communicate clearly to build alignment and drive execution at pace.

If you thrive at the intersection of process design, AI, and hands-on transformation, this is an opportunity to shape how customers build and run AI-powered enterprises. Regular travel to customer locations is required, up to 50%.

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

Bring process design expertise to an FDE pod: Work as an integrated member of a Forward Deployed Engineering pod, partnering with engineers, Industry Advisors, and customer teams to translate business opportunities into redesigned workflows and measurable outcomes.

Understand how work happens today: Lead discovery, voice of customer, gemba, and current-state analysis. Quantify performance and identify waste, constraints, and unmet needs to focus on the highest-impact changes.

Lead collaborative workflow design: Guide customers and the FDE pod through Kaizen and collaborative design sessions to reimagine how work should operate across people, AI, and technology. Challenge assumptions and align teams on a practical future state, including roles, decisions, and handoffs.

Design how humans and AI work together: Identify where AI and agents can automate work, support judgment, or enable new capabilities. Define human oversight, decision rights, exception handling, and fallback paths so workflows perform in real operating conditions.

Connect process design to engineering delivery: Translate future-state workflows into clear requirements and acceptance criteria. Partner with engineers through prototyping and deployment, using customer feedback to refine the workflow and solution.

Drive implementation and adoption: Break the future-state design into actionable changes. Establish owners, milestones, and execution routines; surface barriers and help customer teams adopt the redesigned workflows.

Measure and sustain business impact: Establish performance baselines and targets that connect workflow improvements to customer outcomes. Validate results and build the customer ownership and CI capabilities needed to sustain performance.

Build alignment and influence action: Communicate clearly with frontline teams, technical partners, and executive leaders. Make complex issues understandable, facilitate tradeoffs, and build commitment across organizational boundaries to keep delivery moving.

Strengthen the practice through field learning: Turn customer experience into reusable playbooks and design patterns. Coach colleagues and customer teams in CI practices and provide feedback to engineering and product teams.

Embody our culture and values: Create clarity in ambiguity, challenge the status quo with evidence, and foster collaboration and ownership. Deliver results with respect, integrity, and accountability.

Required/minimum qualifications

Master's Degree in Engineering, Business, or related field AND 6+ years process management, process execution, process optimization, or related experience

OR Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, Business, or related field AND 8+ years process management, process execution, process optimization, or related experience

OR equivalent experience.

4+ years demonstrated experience leading enterprise transformation, process redesign, and operating-model change from discovery through adoption and sustained results

4+ years experience advising executive leaders, facilitating high-stakes decisions, shaping complex engagements, and influencing across organizations without direct authority

1+ year experience redesigning workflows with generative AI, agents, or automation and partnering with technology or engineering teams on large-scale implementations

Additional or preferred qualifications

Master's Degree in Engineering, Business, or related field AND 12+ years process management, process execution, process optimization, or related experience (e.g., data analytics)

OR Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, Business, or related field AND 15+ years process management, process execution, process optimization, or related experience (e.g., data analytics)

OR equivalent experience.

Consulting and growth experience: management consulting, professional services, or enterprise sales experience in customer transformation or technology-enabled operating-model change

Applied AI fluency: hands-on experience with agentic workflow design, responsible AI, evaluation, human oversight, and failure-mode planning

Continuous Improvement methodology: advanced experience with Lean, Six Sigma, operational excellence, or equivalent methods.

Process Management IC6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $130,900 - $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 $165,600 - $303,600 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.

Insights from previous hires

Top skills: Change Management, Management, Process Improvement, Integration

Common previous titles: Senior Director, Senior Manager, Process Manager, Principal Consultant, Partner, Principal Product Manager, Specialist, Digital Account Executive, Manager Customer Success, Digital Specialist