Overview
We are hiring a Principal Tech Lead Manager to own and grow Copilot's image generation capabilities. This is a high-impact, high-ownership role at the intersection of frontier model integration, evaluation science, and product quality. This role sits at the heart of one of Copilot's most visible and fast-growing features.
You will set the technical direction for image generation, lead a team of Applied AI engineers and platform engineers, and drive measurable improvements in image quality, user satisfaction, and first-run success. You will also be responsible for growing the team by identifying, recruiting, and onboarding the engineers needed to take these capabilities to the next level.
Responsibilities
Technical Leadership & Vision
- Define and own the end-to-end technical roadmap for Copilot image generation — from prompt understanding and model integration to evaluation, quality, and reliability.
- Establish architectural best practices for image generation pipelines, including prompt conditioning, safety filtering, multimodal grounding, and user personalization.
- Partner with research, product, and infrastructure teams to translate long-horizon vision into executable milestones.
- Serve as the primary technical decision-maker for model selection, integration approaches, and evaluation strategy.
Image Generation Product & Model Delivery
- Lead the integration, evaluation, and launch of new image generation models and capabilities into Copilot surfaces.
- Drive improvements to first-run success rate, image quality, prompt adherence, and overall user satisfaction with generated images.
- Build and own the feedback loop from user signals to model and prompt iteration. Close the loop from production data to systematic improvements.
- Identify and resolve failure modes in image generation including safety gaps, quality regressions, prompt misinterpretation, and accessibility issues.
Evaluation, Hillclimbing & Quality Systems
- Architect and scale evaluation frameworks purpose-built for image generation: aesthetic quality, safety, prompt fidelity, diversity, and user preference.
- Lead competitive benchmarking against peer systems, establishing clear metrics to track progress and signal investment areas.
- Run systematic hillclimbing loops across models, prompts, and post-processing strategies to drive continuous quality improvement.
- Build tooling that enables rapid experimentation and tight iteration cycles for the broader AI org.
Team Building & People Leadership
- Hire, onboard, and grow a high-performing team of Applied AI Engineers and ML practitioners focused on image generation.
- Set clear goals and success criteria for direct reports; invest in their development through coaching, feedback, and stretch opportunities.
- Partner with recruiting to define hiring criteria, run structured interviews, and represent the team's needs in headcount planning.
- Create and maintain a culture of ownership, experimentation, and rigorous quality standards.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Work closely with PM, design, safety, and research leadership to translate ambiguous product goals into technical strategies.
- Coordinate across Copilot platform, backend, and frontend teams to ensure smooth integration of image generation capabilities.
- Communicate technical progress, risks, and decisions clearly to senior leadership and stakeholders.
Qualifications
Required
- Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR equivalent experience.
Preferred
- Master's degree or PHD or equivalent experience in Computer Science, Applied Math, Statistics, or a related field.
- 5+ years of industry experience in applied ML, AI product engineering, or related disciplines.
- 1+ years managing a team of engineers or data scientists.
- Demonstrated experience shipping production AI or ML systems at scale.
- Prior experience leading or mentoring engineers, including at formal tech lead and senior IC responsibilities.
- Hands-on experience building evaluation frameworks or quality systems for AI/ML products.
- Track record of driving measurable quality or performance improvements through systematic iteration.
- Direct experience with image generation models (diffusion models, GANs, multimodal models, etc.).
- Experience building and owning hillclimbing infrastructure for generative AI.
- Formal people management experience, including hiring and performance management.
- Experience working on consumer AI products with high user visibility and quality bar.
- Prior work in responsible AI for generative media, including safety filtering and content policy enforcement.
Why This Role
Image generation is one of the fastest-growing and most visible capabilities in Copilot. This role offers a rare combination: deep technical ownership of a hard problem, direct impact on a product used by hundreds of millions of people, and the opportunity to build and lead a team from the ground up. You will own something that matters and have the scope, resources, and organizational support to make it exceptional.
Data Science M5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $139,900 - $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
Data Science M4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 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 $158,400 - $258,000 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.**