Microsoft empowers every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. For our defense industrial base customers, that means delivering trusted, intuitive solutions that help people navigate complex workflows, make informed decisions, and accomplish critical work. We are seeking a Principal Product Designer to lead human-centered design efforts supporting Microsoft’s defense industrial base customers. In this role, you will translate complex customer needs into clear, accessible, and impactful experiences. You will shape design strategy, lead work from discovery through delivery, and bring a high standard of craft to solutions that connect customer priorities with Microsoft technologies.
You will combine a foundation in human-centered design with hands-on fluency in current AI-enabled design tools and workflows. You will use research, problem framing, co-design, prototyping, and iterative validation to ensure teams solve the right problems, not simply produce solutions faster. You will also help shape AI-powered experiences that give people appropriate understanding, control, and confidence.This role requires adaptability in a field where tools and capabilities evolve continuously. The ideal candidate actively explores emerging approaches, evaluates their practical value, and helps teams adopt better ways of working without compromising customer trust, accessibility, security, or design quality.
As a design leader, you will set direction across complex initiatives, influence multidisciplinary partners, mentor designers, and remain hands-on where it matters most. You will work closely with customers and colleagues across product, engineering, research, and customer-facing teams to deliver solutions grounded in real needs and validated through evidence.
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. Our team prides itself on embracing a growth mindset, inspiring excellence, and encouraging everyone to share their unique viewpoints and be their authentic selves. Join us and help create life-changing innovations that impact billions around the world!
Responsibilities
- Lead design strategy and execution. Own design direction across complex customer engagements and related initiatives, connecting customer needs, business goals, and technical constraints to a coherent experience vision.
- Champion human-centered design. Lead discovery, research synthesis, problem framing, journey mapping, co-design, prototyping, and usability evaluation. Use evidence to challenge assumptions, prioritize opportunities, and guide decisions throughout delivery.
- Understand defense industrial base customers. Develop a deep understanding of customer roles, workflows, operating environments, and constraints. Translate complex requirements into usable solutions in partnership with technical, security, and compliance stakeholders.
- Apply AI tools thoughtfully. Integrate current AI-enabled tools into research synthesis, ideation, interaction design, prototyping, and design-to-development workflows. Validate generated outputs and use only tools and data practices approved for the relevant environment.
- Design effective AI-powered experiences. Help teams address user control, transparency, trust, uncertainty, and recovery when incorporating AI into customer workflows.
- Adapt and improve continuously. Evaluate emerging tools and capabilities, distinguish meaningful advances from novelty, and share repeatable practices that improve quality and accelerate learning.
- Create cohesive, accessible experiences. Develop interaction patterns, prototypes, and reusable components that align with Microsoft design systems and accessibility standards while meeting customer needs.
- Influence across disciplines. Align customers, product managers, engineers, researchers, and leadership around design priorities. Communicate design rationale clearly, resolve ambiguity, and guide trade-offs through evidence and sound judgment.
- Raise the design quality bar. Lead constructive critiques, mentor designers, and establish practices that help teams deliver consistently strong work. Provide leadership through expertise and influence, whether or not you have direct reports.
- Measure outcomes. Define success criteria with partners and use customer feedback, usability findings, and adoption signals to evaluate results and guide improvements.
Other:
- You will embody our culture and values
Qualifications
Required/Minimum Qualifications:
- Master's Degree in Industrial Design, Product Design, Human Computer Interaction, User Experience, Interaction Design, or related field AND 6+ years experience working in product or service design OR
- Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Design, Product Design, Human Computer Interaction, User Experience, Interaction Design, or related field AND 8+ years experience working in product or service design
- OR equivalent experience (e.g., demonstrated experience working in product or service design or using design thinking to solve problems).
Other Requirements:
Security Clearance Requirements: Candidates must be able to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements as required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:
The successful candidate must have an active U.S. Government Secret Security Clearance. Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. Failure to maintain or obtain the appropriate clearance and/or customer screening requirements may result in employment action up to and including termination.
- Clearance Verification: This position requires successful verification of the stated security clearance to meet federal government customer requirements. You will be asked to provide clearance verification information prior to an offer of employment.
- Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.
- Citizenship & Citizenship Verification: This position requires verification of U.S. citizenship due to citizenship-based legal restrictions. Specifically, this position supports United States federal, state, and/or local United States government agency customer and is subject to certain citizenship-based restrictions where required or permitted by applicable law. To meet this legal requirement, citizenship will be verified via a valid passport, or other approved documents, or verified US government Clearance.
Additional or Preferred Qualifications:
- Command of human-centered design methods, with evidence of using research and iterative evaluation to improve customer outcomes.
- Hands-on experience applying current AI-enabled design tools to ideation, prototyping, or other design activities, including evaluating output quality and limitations.
- A portfolio or equivalent presentation demonstrating interaction design, systems thinking, design craft, and the reasoning behind consequential design decisions. Work samples must be appropriate to share and must not contain classified or restricted information.
- Experience supporting defense industrial base customers, government organizations, or other highly regulated enterprises.
- Experience designing enterprise applications, complex workflows, or AI-powered products and services.
- Demonstrated ability to lead design across multiple related initiatives, establish a shared vision, and influence stakeholders without direct authority.
- A track record of adapting to rapidly changing tools and technologies and helping others adopt effective new practices.
- Advanced proficiency in Figma or comparable tools, including interactive prototyping, component libraries, and design systems.
- Experience designing for accessibility and working within security, privacy, and compliance constraints.
- Experience mentoring designers and improving design practices across multidisciplinary teams.
#FDE
Product Design IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $274,800 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 $188,000 - $304,200 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.
Similar Jobs at Microloft
What you need to know about the San Francisco Tech Scene
Key Facts About San Francisco Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 365,500; 13.9% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Google, Apple, Salesforce, Meta
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, fintech, consumer technology, software
- Funding Landscape: $50.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greylock Partners, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins
- Research Centers and Universities: Stanford University; University of California, Berkeley; University of San Francisco; Santa Clara University; Ames Research Center; Center for AI Safety; California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
