Principal Experience Architect
Microsoft
Principal Experience Architect
Redmond, Washington, United States
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Overview
On Team Xbox, we aspire to empower the world’s 3 billion gamers to play the games they want, with the people they want, anywhere they want. Gaming, the largest and fastest growing category in media & entertainment, represents an important growth opportunity for Microsoft. We are leading with innovation, as highlighted by bringing the Game Pass subscription to PC, bringing Xbox to new devices with Cloud Gaming, and our recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard King creating exciting new possibilities for players.
The Xbox Experiences and Platforms team is home to the design and engineering work that makes this vision possible, building the developer tools and services that enable game creators to craft incredible experiences, the commerce systems that connect publishers with their audience and help gamers engage with their next favorite games, the platforms on which those games play at their best, and the experiences that turn every screen into an Xbox.
The Xbox Design team is looking for a Principal Experience Architect to join our team as an Experience Architect. Our Experiences Architects (XAs), play a pivotal role in shaping the future of gaming experiences across Xbox platforms. They bring deep expertise in user experience, product design, and emerging technologies to drive innovation and focus on elevating customer experience to ensure we deliver on our mission. The role will focus on the intersection of Gaming and AI and report directly to the Head of Design.
Candidate should be well versed in product development cycles, can bring user-centered design processes to bear, has AI co-design experience, and has a diverse and extensive portfolio. We will look to this person to articulate a design point of view, inspire the team, and resolve the best course of action in partnership with User Research and Data Science.
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.
Qualifications
Required/Minimum Qualifications (RQs/MQs)
- 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 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 equivalent experience (e.g., demonstrated experience working in product or service design or using design thinking to solve problems)
- Experience designing AI-first products and consumer experiences
Additional or Preferred Qualifications (PQs)
- Deep knowledge of UX design
- High level proficiencies in Figma
- Ability to quickly produce elegant and easily understood artifacts, both personally and via the design team
- Cross-team and cross-discipline communication skills and understanding of related business and technology processes
- Confident presentation skills to all levels of an organization
- Innate curiosity for UX and UI
- Inclusive design experience
- BA/MA degree in product design, HCI, interaction design, industrial design, communication design, architecture, or equivalent experience
- 15+ years in Product Design
Product Design IC5 - 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
Microsoft will accept applications for the role until June 30, 2025.
Responsibilities
What we (you’ll) do -
Our XAs are committed to a set of core tenets that we believe will empower our team as a collective –
- Being Pathfinders – We are curious, motivated learners and leaders who pioneer and elevate customer experience.
- Supporting and Accelerating - We are force multipliers, engaging at many altitudes, and paving the way for others.
- Influencing Through Making – We believe in the power of design storytelling to articulate customer journeys and bring ideas to life.
- Collaborating Across Organizational Pillars – We work closely with design leaders, engineers, researchers, and product teams to craft cohesive and impactful experiences.
- Elevating Quality and Craft - We work together to drive broad coherence, and experiential singularity that delivers exceptional experiences across endpoints.
- Defining Effective Processes – We identify opportunities and define mechanisms that drive efficient and effective collaboration and empower our teams to deliver on our mission as an organization.
- Embodying a Collective Approach - We believe in the power of collaboration and strive to harness and uplift our team, achieving greater success as a unified, creative collective.
As Design Architects, we play a transformative role in shaping the future of HOW we deliver exceptional Xbox gaming experiences. By nurturing innovation, advocating for user-centered design, and working collaboratively across various disciplines, we are accountable to collectively evolving and shaping the evolution of our people, process and product.
How we (you’ll) do it – Responsibilities
- Setting a creative and experiential vision for gaming services across PC, Mobile, Smart TV, Web, Console, and future gaming services and platforms.
- Architecting and Designing experience ecosystems that seamlessly connect multiple product endpoints.
- Mentorship, training, development of creative staff at all levels.
- Collaborating across teams and disciplines through partnerships that include product, monetization, brand, marketing, and development.
- Partnering with product and design pillar leads to define vision, strategic direction, and co-create our future experiences.
- Crafting UX artifacts, including scenarios, flows, IA diagrams, wireframes, prototypes, UI pattern libraries, and interaction guidelines.
- Facilitating rapid prototyping to transform abstract concepts into tangible experiences, illustrating our collective narrative and expediting product development.
- Communicating strategic design direction to Microsoft’s gaming leadership team.
- Leveraging AI tools to enhance and streamline design workflows.