Are you looking to tackle problems at Internet scale? Do you find yourself using Search and being frustrated that you cannot find the right results? Are you interested in international markets and care deeply about presenting a global experience to our customers? Are you looking for a start-up like work environment, but appreciate the backing of an established organization? Do you relish being in the role of an underdog facing stiff competition? You have found the right team!
The Search Technology Center (STC) Europe is just now being created and this is your opportunity to get in on the ground floor. STC Europe is working in partnership with Live Search and Microsoft Research to deliver innovative Internet Search products and services to the European and global markets.
The Search Technology Center (STC) Europe - London office is focused on growing the search business in Europe by leveraging the work done in Munich to improve the overall search platform and core relevance and then by extending the reach of core search features and designing new Search features to the European Market. Working with the core team in Redmond to understand the search roadmap, working with search leads in Europe to bring those core search features to life, understanding the needs of the European market and developing compelling new features that will drive the search business are the main focus for the team in London.
Why STC Europe - London?
We need strong talent on the ground to improve our results and until now we have had only minimal product development resources to support these markets. This is a rare opportunity to join a new team where you can see an immediate impact through your contributions. Europe contains three of the four highest-value, highest volume search markets (UK, Germany, France). In FY09, a large portion of queries and revenue come from these European markets where Google is dominant with 90%+ search market share. While our query share is currently very small (<5%), we have significant online assets in these major markets (e.g. Messenger) and there are many opportunities to grow our customer base and increase our share.
The Search Technology Center (STC) Europe is comprised of a team of dedicated leaders and technical contributors passionate about delivering the best search experience for Microsoft customers in Europe and around the world. STC Europe works on a diverse set of projects ranging from ownership of Search in Europe to enhancing the global search platforms. At STC Europe, you will have the opportunity to work with world class researchers from MSR Cambridge and to closely collaborate with world class developers in Redmond, Munich, Paris, and China.
Role & Responsibilities:
STC Europe is currently looking for an experienced Program Manager who can work with the rest of the engineering team to develop new Search features designed to drive the search business in key European Markets. We are looking for a high achiever with a track record of success and multi-release Program Management experience.
The position will report directly to the Lead Program Manager of STC Europe/London and will play a key role on the Program Management team designing new features for Search. This role will partner closely with the core engineering team in Redmond, the Search leads for each market to and the dev and test leads in UK to design and test new features, develop a roadmap and lead the engineering team to deliver compelling new core features to the key European Markets
For the right candidate this is a rare opportunity to combine International experience, a front line seat in our battle for Web Search in Europe and help define a new group’s charter, culture and roadmap.
Required Qualifications:
Success in this position requires a broad set of experiences and skills, ranging from excellence in core engineering, the ability to deeply engage with customers/partners and build a collaborative working relationship with development, test, design, other PM organizations, as well as marketing and product planning.
You should have proven technical leadership abilities and a strong grasp of software engineering principles, exceptional problem solving skills, experience shipping products or complex product features from the ground-up, and a proven ability to schedule and meet your team’s commitments through an entire product cycle. You should be self-motivated, proactive, and possess the demonstrated ability to come up-to-speed quickly in a new technical domain. Excellent interpersonal communication skills, written communication skills and the ability to work well in a team environment are very important. Fluency in at least one European language is highly desirable.
- You should possess a strong technical background and an extremely good grasp of software engineering principles, exceptional problem solving and design skills.
- You should have proven experience in delivering software solutions in a program management capacity.
- You should be self-motivated, self-directed, able to lead and motivate others and able to thrive in a start up environment.
- You should have the ability to define, set expectations and lead multiple concurrent projects.
- You should have strong User Centric product design skills and be familiar with a variety of approaches for new feature validation, including Usability Testing, Concept Value Testing, Desirability Testing, and CFD
- You should have a demonstrated ability to come up-to-speed quickly on a new technical domain is presumed.
- You should have excellent interpersonal communication skills, written communication skills and the ability to work well in a team environment are very important.
- Having a knowledge and experience in Internet search/services, machine learning, information retrieval, data mining, and distributed systems is a huge plus.
This position is located in the STC Europe London office and requires extensive travel within Europe and to Redmond, USA.
This description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this position. The actual duties, responsibilities, and qualifications may vary based on assignment.
At Microsoft, we believe that diversity enriches our performance and products, the communities where we live and work, and the lives of our employees. As our workforce evolves to reflect the growing diversity of our communities and the global marketplace, we continue to expand our efforts to understand, value, and incorporate differences as we help our people and our customers realize their potential.
