Senior Business Planner

Overview

We are seeking an experienced, visionary leader to drive licensing strategy across the Microsoft product portfolio. As a Senior Business Planner, this role is designed for an independent, strategic thinker who can define the long‑term vision for licensing, influence cross‑company decision‑making, and ensure Microsoft's licensing models evolve to meet customer needs, competitive dynamics, and market opportunities. The ideal candidate brings a deep understanding of product, business models, and ecosystem impacts, and knows how to translate complex considerations into clear, actionable licensing strategies. In this role, you will partner across Business Planning, Finance, Sales, Legal, and Product teams to design licensing frameworks, build business cases, and create growth opportunities for the business. You'll evaluate market dynamics, customer behavior, and financial insights to inform your strategy and influence executive decision making. This is a high‑visibility opportunity for someone with a background in product management, pricing, contracting, consulting, or portfolio strategy who can translate structured thinking into scaled impact.

The Licensing Strategy team leads the evolution and modernization of our commercial business models and licensing strategies to shape how our field, partners, and customers engage with our commercial experience. We foster an inclusive and diverse culture of individuals who can grow their careers in a supportive environment. If you've honed your craft in product management, strategy, marketing, contracting, or management consulting, this is a high visibility opportunity to translate structured thinking into scaled business impact.

Job Location: This role is located in Redmond, WA, Mountain View, CA, and New York City, NY.  This role is flexible in that you may work from home up to 40% of the time.

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.       In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

Responsibilities

• Develop and own the long‑term licensing vision, strategy, and roadmap for a major segment of the Microsoft product portfolio.

• Anticipate industry shifts, competitive trends, and customer needs to shape future licensing evolution.

• Identify new market opportunities, business model innovations, and simplification strategies that enhance customer value and accelerate adoption.

• Partner closely across product engineering, marketing, finance, legal, field, and business planning teams to drive aligned licensing decisions.

• Lead complex discussions to ensure stakeholder alignment on tradeoffs, business impact, customer implications, and execution readiness.

• Communicate clearly and persuasively to senior leaders to influence direction and secure support for proposed licensing strategies.

• Translate strategic direction into detailed licensing constructs, definitions, and business rules.

• Evaluate the downstream impact of licensing decisions-including revenue, cost, compliance, customer experience, and operational feasibility.

• Drive clarity across teams by documenting licensing models precisely, ensuring readiness for launch and downstream execution.

• Analyze customer demand signals, competitive practices, market trends, and field feedback to shape licensing evolution.

• Identify where existing models create friction and propose data‑informed solutions that balance business growth with simplicity.

• Operate with a high level of ownership, independence, and accountability.

• Foster a culture that values clarity, customer‑centricity, and thoughtful problem‑solving.

Qualifications

Required/minimum qualifications

• Bachelors Degree in Engineering/Computer Science, Economics, Business, or related field AND 4+ years product management, strategy consulting, finance, business/corporate development, or related experience
• OR equivalent experience.

Additional or preferred qualifications

• Bachelors Degree in Engineering/Computer Science, Economics, Business, or related field AND 8+ years product management, strategy consulting, finance, business/corporate development, or related experience

• OR Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA), or related field AND 6+ years product management, strategy consulting, finance, business/corporate development, or related experience

• OR equivalent experience.

• Experience in product strategy, business planning, licensing, pricing, or related fields.

• Analytical and strategic thinking skills with the ability to evaluate complex tradeoffs.

• Exceptional communication skills with the ability to simplify ambiguity and influence across organizational boundaries.

• Demonstrated success driving cross‑company alignment in highly matrixed environments.

• Use data driven insights to evaluate performance, including impacts on sales cycles, customer experience, and revenue; translate findings into strategic recommendations.

• Drive analytical decision-making by sizing opportunities, designing experiments, defining success metrics, and optimizing the contract portfolio.

• Orchestrate cross‑functional virtual teams to launch and scale new contracting frameworks, ensuring alignment across Engineering, Legal, Finance, Marketing, and Sales.

• Create executive ready narratives that frame strategic choices, articulate tradeoffs, and influence direction at the senior leadership level.

• Model Microsoft's culture and values in all aspects of collaboration, leadership, and execution.

Business Planning IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $106,400 - $203,600 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 $137,600 - $222,600 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.