Principal Design Director
Company: Microsoft
Location: Mountain View
Posted on: December 31, 2025
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Job Description:
The CoreAI Computational Design team is shaping the next
generation of coding environments across VS Code, Azure AI Foundry,
GitHub, and Visual Studio. We are looking for a design leader who
can guide this frontier with courage and curiosity. As coding
evolves from a one-way act of writing instructions into a dialogue
with agentic systems, we see new possibilities for how software can
be built, deployed, and maintained. Our vision is to make this
future tangible by designing experiences that feel natural to use,
draw strength from scale, and create the sense of working with a
true collaborator. This role calls for someone who loves to live in
code—equally at home guiding a team of designers as they are
prototyping and exploring new interaction paradigms themselves. By
combining leadership with craft, you will help a passionate
community of developers realize their ideas and build the software
of tomorrow. We are committed to building with responsibility and
trust at the foundation, moving quickly while ensuring the
innovation we deliver is both lasting and meaningful. 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
Shape the future of coding: Define and communicate a bold vision
for AI-native developer tools that inspire and empower millions of
developers worldwide. Leadwith craft: Mentor and grow a team of
designers and UX engineers, modeling what it means to design in and
with code while pushing the edges of what is possible. Prototype
the frontier: Explore new agentic workflows, rapidly test concepts,
and translate the latest ideas into tangible, shippable
experiences. Simplify the complex: Turn what are often confusing AI
capabilities into easy-to-comprehend interactions that feel truly
human. Collaborate across disciplines: Work shoulder-to-shoulder
with engineering, product, and research partners to bring
strategies to life. Champion the developer: Advocate for the needs
of individual makers and enterprise teams alike, ensuring our tools
serve the full spectrum of creative work. Balance speed with
responsibility: Move quickly to explore new patterns while
grounding every design decision in trust, accessibility, and
long-term impact. Stay ahead of change: Continuously investigate
emerging technologies, frameworks, and prototyping methods to keep
CoreAI at the forefront of the coding revolution. Qualifications
Required Qualifications: Masters Degree in Industrial Design,
Product Design, Human Computer Interaction, User Experience,
Interaction Design, or related field AND 7 years experience working
in product or service design OR Bachelors Degree in Industrial
Design, Product Design, Human Computer Interaction, User
Experience, Interaction Design, or related field AND 9 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). 5 years
people management experience. Basic knowledge of either VS Code,
Visual Studio, GitHub, or other development tools Comfortable with
advancements in Large Language Models and how they accelerate
coding tasks today—especially in multi-agent scenarios. Preferred
Qualifications: Comfortable with Machine Learning, Terminal, CLI,
IDE, and/or Editor-first experiences Experience creating
interactive, coded prototypes Experience working in an engineering
sprint-based environment Fluency in basic web fundamentals
(semantic and accessible HTML, CSS variables, progressive
enhancement, modern vanilla JavaScript, and web components) Product
Design M6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the
U.S. is USD $163,000 - $296,400 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 $220,800 -
$331,200 per year.
Keywords: Microsoft, Palo Alto , Principal Design Director, IT / Software / Systems , Mountain View, California
