
Datacenter Program Manager - Network
Chicago, ILJob$103–203K/yrSeen 6 days agoSeen in employer's feed 6 days ago
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At a glance
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Requirements
Credentials this posting asks for.
Job overview
The Datacenter Business Operations Program Manager leads datacenter initiatives from intake through close-out, focusing on IT capacity deployment, optimization, and reducing stranded capacity. The role coordinates work across operations, engineering, construction, IT/network teams, vendors, and contractors, while managing schedules, risks, costs, and stakeholder expectations. Projects take place in live production datacenters and must follow safety, security, and change-management standards.
Skills & qualifications
Skills
Qualifications
Full job description
Overview
n alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day and we need you as a Datacenter Business Operations Program Manager with the primary focus at reducing stranded capacity by being a key member of the local team in the deployment planning and optimization of the IT capacity, working closely with Electrical Engineers and Critical Environment Field Service Engineer.
Microsoft’s Cloud Operations & Innovation (CO+I) is the engine that powers our cloud services. As a CO+I Business Operations Program Manager, you will perform a key role in delivering the core infrastructure and foundational technologies for Microsoft's online services including Bing, Office 365, Xbox, OneDrive, and the Microsoft Azure platform. By enabling data center capacity through increased Infrastructure Utilization Effectiveness (IUE) and Power Harvesting (PH), you will lead the retrofit efforts to upgrade legacy datacenters and harvest capacity in our existing fleet. As a group, CO+I is focused on the personal and professional development for all employees and offers trainings and growth opportunities including Career Rotation Programs, Diversity & Inclusion trainings and events, and professional certifications.
Our infrastructure is comprised of a large global portfolio of more than 100 datacenters and 1 million servers. Our foundation is built upon and managed by a team of subject matter experts working to support services for more than 1 billion customers and 20 million businesses in over 90 countries worldwide.
With environmental sustainability and optimization at the forefront of our datacenter design and operations, we continue to grow and evolve as we meet the ever-changing business demands that hold Microsoft as a world-class cloud provider.
Do you want to empower billions across the world? Come and join us in CO+I and be at the forefront of the action!
Responsibilities
Responsibilities:
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Owns end-to-end project execution for datacenter initiatives from intake through close-out, holding self-accountable for service quality, completeness, and the resulting customer experience across IT, network, infrastructure, remediation, and modernization projects.
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Builds and manages project plans, schedules, milestones, and dependencies across multiple parallel workstreams, proactively reviewing schedules to avoid conflicts and offering alternatives when defining customer solutions.
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Executes projects inside live production datacenters in strict adherence to safety, security, and change-management standards, including MOP/SOP compliance and access controls; follows and reports any safety or security issues or concerns immediately.
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Recognizes and communicates the potential customer impact of operational events such as lock-downs and maintenance windows, planning accordingly to minimize disruption to clients and the business.
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Acts as the single coordination point between Datacenter Operations, Engineering, Construction, IT/Network teams, vendors, integrators, and contractors, managing relationships to ensure all expectations are clarified, documented, and met.
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Manages stakeholder expectations, resolves conflicts, and maintains alignment across all parties, identifying and coordinating solutions while communicating alternatives where needed.
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Proactively identifies schedule, technical, safety, and operational risks, suggests ways to reduce maintenance risk, and develops mitigation and contingency plans in collaboration with relevant teams.
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Performs troubleshooting for service incidents and escalates appropriately to meet SLAs and OLAs with minimal disruption to clients and the business.
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Demonstrates conscientiousness around cost, tracks project costs and resource utilization, and contributes to keeping work within approved budgets and timelines.
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Balances speed of execution with operational stability and quality, in alignment with management priorities and company culture and values.
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Embody our culture and values .
Qualifications
Required Qualifications:
- High School Qualification or equivalent AND 3+ years experience supporting IT equipment or related technology or delivering server, and network deployment projects in large-scale environments OR equivalent experience
Background Check Requirements:
Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:
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Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.
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Citizenship Verification: This position requires verification of US Citizenship to meet federal government security requirements.
Additional or preferred qualifications
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Bachelor's or Technical College Degree in Computer Science, Math, Telecommunications, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering, Supply Chain Management or related field AND 8+ years experience in working in physical IT infrastructures (e.g., Servers, SANs, Networking, Capacity, DC Rack/Enclosures, structured cabling) OR High School Qualification or equivalent AND 10+ years experience working in physical IT infrastructures (e.g., Servers, SANs, Telecommunications, Networking, Capacity, DC Rack/Enclosures, structured cabling) OR equivalent experience.
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Applicable certifications: APICS/Inventory Control, CompTIA, Microsoft, Network Certifications, CCNA Certifications, ITIL v3 Foundation, Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) Certifications.
Data Center Operations Management IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $102,600 - $202,800 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 $137,500 - $225,800 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. (https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/accessibility.html)
How this job compares
Set against the 11,509 open Program Manager jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 4, 2026.
- Pay
- This posting$103–203K/yr
- Illinois median$120–189K/yr218 salary ranges
- US median$120–204K/yr9,043 salary ranges
This range's midpoint, $153K, is close to the Illinois median midpoint ($151K) — in the middle half of Program Manager salary ranges in Illinois.
- Openings
- Olive Jobs lists 249 open Program Manager jobs in Illinois and 11,509 across the US. 4% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
- Experience
- This posting asks for at least 3 years of experience — less than three in four Program Manager postings that state a minimum ask for (median 6 years, across 9,763 postings).
- Education
- 4,839 of the 11,509 open Program Manager jobs (42%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.
Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 4, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.
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