senior director microsoft level senior director microsoft level

For me, it will take some serious job switching to get there. I think there's only one thing I would add, from the perspective of having been promoted from L59 to L64 in a 6-year period in one org (I left MS in 2006).Sometimes things within an org will turn to complete crap, and either there's not an option to leave or you may not want to. Don't just take a L63+ role because of the level. How do you ensure there is no conflict of interest. I am happy to be an L63, trying to get to L64 so I can relate.How I got here (I started as an industry hire 61 about 5 years ago):1. While I was pleased with the attention, I was also rather upset. The PM team loved having my technical expertise freely available, and I actually really like designing features too.Anyway, two simple things, but I think what Mini said about not doing this IN ORDER to get promoted is key. So far, we all appear to have jobs, but man, what a shocker, I thought ours was one of the more stable teams.Not sure what happens to our Director, he seemed a bit shocked himself when he delivered the news today. In general, people are not leveled, jobs are. This is a really awesome post. I moved around 3 teams before I found one where I really enjoyed the technology and the people, and here I've flourished.So forget all the whining about politics and crap. They are the exception that you shouldn't wind yourself up about.And I don't want to focus on them anymore in this comment stream because it's not helpful. Why are we doing x and not y? The L64 guys should be able to influence their skip level orgs plus one or two groups outside of the skip org. So all you're telling me is I can't count on you so why should I? You're cursed for life.2. Feedback is not detailed or actionable. Unless you're an asshat, in which case see mini's comment about slapping yourself around and listening to what other's think about you.And in those huge orgs with all the noise it is really easy for folks to rest and *ahem* vest, so you are overlooked by default.The key as mini and others have stated is finding the tech and team you love and everything flows from there (because you will be so excited you will go home and work another 4 hours every night examining customer feedback, competitive products, etc. I'm not looking for any off-topic comments let alone woe-be-me comments - remember that slap thing? This number represents the median, which is the midpoint of the ranges from our proprietary Total Pay Estimate model and based on salaries collected from our users. Both job switches came from conversations I had with former co-workers or former directors. Healthcare is the most common skill found on a senior director resume. But, if you have the possibility of finding a position that you will really enjoy, where your goals and those of Microsoft are fairly close, then your long-term potential will be higher. Judson Althoff. Your level is essentially recognition of your circle of influence or radius of your contribution. Email@ [email protected] | Call@ 330-554-0249. Here are some thoughts from a L62-er who truly wants to accept whats keeping me from getting to 63 and work on it. Any idea on when is this going to change? Revise if needed. Great post! It's not easy. Duuuude, your boss is the way to your promotion. Lots of very true points. No one wants an employee who is staying for the money -- and you don't want to be that employee, either. Think about it. While cash bonuses stay relatively stable as a percentage of salary over the course of a Microsoft employee's career, stock compensation can rise to nearly 20% of annual income at higher levels, according to the crowdsourced data. Somebody help me out here. To anonymous who has spent 3.5 years in role at MS. You're already blacklisted. Will a team that needs exactly the skills and interests that you have pass on you because of some HR guideline? If you dont know what exactly an L63 is, how are you able to make promotion discussions in the review meetings?Managers become so defensive when asked what we should be doing to advance. ALWAYS ask for a promotion. ask around for a good mentor or go to our internal mentor site to be matched with a mentor http://mentor/Mentor/user/mymentoring.asp. This is a discussion to foster debate and by no means an enactment of policy-violation. They don't care who gets the credit, and they fight for good reviews for their people. Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. Founded in 1969 by Dr. Bish Agrawal, ABC Consultants is the pioneer of organized recruitment services in India. . And don't beleive your boss if they say otherwise. great post. Much longer if new leadership comes from outside MS. Don't perform flawlessly to the above 70+ pieces of feedback only to see the churn above you. Over the years, we have acted as a preferred talent acquisition partner to. But it should definitely keep me up in the top of the class, and getting a nice review score + kudos + a job well done with results is a reward in itself (that I crave for more than the actual promotion).I have given this suggestion to Lisa, but I have not seen any action so far. Only one can emerge, and not everyone can be a senior simultaneously. You've told me you're not willing to have the hard career conversation with me and/or that you're not willing to do what I told you needed to be done when we had that conversation. If you want to advance and you are not a "favorite underling", your first and most important job is this: figure out how to become a "favorite underling". Mini himself is quite high level and knowledgable. Own your brand. Step outside of your comfort zone, own PM, own QA, become great at what you do, and do what you love - and the promo will come. A Senior Director gets a basic salary package of $190,000, which gets as high . Thanks for starting this. At that time, I understood those questions as being just an excuse that the manager used because he or she didnt like something in my skills or personality. If so, then you're going to have a hard time finding senior IC spots anywhere. Our entire unit was let go but we were moved to different groups in the org. Levels are all about perception.I know devs who are underlevelled and devs who are over-levelled. They just plain resonate. Continue to do so until you've slapped yourself silly to the point that you're not complaining about how other folks must just be connected or political or adept at the finer art of buttock tongue massage. "Now that the Annual review is approaching"You're probably too late already. How do you get the right job/work that will make the impact. I know there are still some out there but things have improved a lot in my view. Thanks M$Underpay. Get yourself a formal or informal mentor who is already doing what you want to be doing. You might have the Microsoft Senior Career Stage Profile in front of you all marked up and broken into more sections in OneNote, but which ones matter most to your team? The job level for Technical Fellow starts at 80 and goes beyond. There were times when I was promoted more slowly than I probably could have been, but I am very happy with where I am now, and I am still growing. I've been at the same level for 3.5 years (since I joined MSFT), and while I spent three of those in a group where almost noone at all got promoted (a group which has since essentially dissolved), I'm concerned that my level stagnation reflects poorly on me, even though I've been the major contributor on products that have earned 10x my total compensation package for MSFT. the answer is simple - take on more. The CSPs are a good attempt to define each level, but anyone who is looking at the CSPs and saying I do that, and that, , but Im not getting promoted is almost certainly missing the point.---I used to work in Devdiv, and I respect Kelly a lot. To the person worried about being same level for 3.5 years don't sweat it. The reason why they were 65's are:1. The conclusion: its price today! I want them productive and about career success at Microsoft, especially your thoughts about achieving L63. If they can, pay attention: They don't even know the area as well as your superiors, and you need to spend more time covering your bases. Sometimes leaving MS is good. Show me you can do this and want to learn more and you'll be on my radar as a possibility.6. Sometimes the answer is, "well, we'll see" and other times the answer is, "if they'd only stop doing X and start doing Y on a sustained basis, I could see it". * Stability at Microsoft is a two-edged sword. You dont have the same experience or abilities to perform in a core STB senior level role. No manager can bail you out of "bad brand jail" past L625. . Your response is private Was this worth your time? I haven't talked to anyone internally that has anything good to say about it. Let's connect and I will happily share more about my background and accomplishment and how I can contribute to the success of your organization. The reason: there are a number of factors of success that are common at all levels (see #6 and #7 below). I /like/ OneCare. Go and restart in another org and dig through their historical biz and people stability during your informationals. Now it's up to me to do whatever it takes to make *them* great, even if it doesn't benefit my product directly. Absolutely. Levels.fyi gives different levels for Microsoft v amazon depending on pm or dev. You try that in subs (who actually generate the revenue, HQ typically dont) - but the question is - do they dare push such a thing in the US? What now? Most are management types whose only skill is sucking up. This is certainly the course that I took. The estimated base pay is $243,438 per year. But coming back is a HUGE IF, since I can't see ever going back the that cesspool of stupid. My first year I thought for sure I would sit at L61 for another year, but to my surprise I was promoted to L62 without even a full FY under my belt. It was then that things ground to a halt. To the guy you said:I'd like to hear some more experiences from MCS. One could easily sack 4000 heads at HQ and R&D nor revenue would take a hit. This is a problem, at least up to level 65. New Senior Director Human Resources jobs added daily. What is the average promotion velocity for non-technical fields? So here's my 2 cents:Read this now and have a game plan for your 1:1s to tee up a deeper discussion at MYCD. L68 would not be referred to as Director. By contrast high performers have a fairly accurate self assessment, but are slightly self critical of themselves as well as others. Learn how this feature works. Some are exceptional at one, and passable at others. The important thing though is, can you hold things in a room full of other Senior team members. I'm just going to try and emphasize a few points here:* As mentioned by many folks, it is important to own your career and hence plan you promotion, discuss it with your manager, and most importantly follow up on it. I'd like to hear some more experiences from MCS. I'm a level 66 dev (architect). Its a bit like the famous phrase about the definition of obscenity. During that time I had two good to great managers. You might be too smart or have ideas that come from somewhere outside of Redmond which makes you very dangerous and not Microsoft material. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. For the folks on the path to L63, I want you to first understand your boss's opinion of you, your opinion of yourself, what it takes to succeed in your team, and then ways you can step up and be on the right path. I am soliciting ideas to reduce cost in this blog. Answer to second question is never ever explicitly try to make yourself known to hierarchy above your manager. Asshole managers aren't unknown at Apple [] The fact that you praise someone for "junk yard dog mode" shows me that Microsoft has a fundamentally broken corporate cultureThanks for a nice belly laugh to re-energize my morning. You know you want to get to that other bar, but that chasm in between is fraught with risk. At 63, he has to be the one who tells me what the next thing for the product should be. In particular I am at 64 for quite some time. Next, advertise your new branching strategy in your peer groups. Don't try to counter with stock levels argument as that is more convoluted, and given the current economic debacle's effect on our stock price..I understand that folks want to be Senior this, and Principal that but the truth is that it is mostly a fetish for some big sounding titles. For example, see http://www.intropsych.com/ch07_cognition/learning_curve.html. Say B.In a perfect case, B will have 10 devs to transfer to A but when that happen B will be left with 5 testers and 2 PMs. Saturday, November 15, 2008. You may be one of those who diligently turn over every single rock to look at problems within the org. I saw several far more technically skilled people in the group who deserved this that were passed over. Leverage your professional network, and get hired. The Job titles for this position are: Software Development Engineer SDE By persist, I do not mean being happy to be at the same <63 level for 3+ years for exmaple. Directors are usually senior principals (level 66, 67) or at Partner level. This is the first year I have spent more than 2 years at a level (L61) and still not gotten a promotion. However, I think this is the first point where we see a non-trivial number of folks plateau. Also, there's 2 ladder, management ladder and seniority ladder. I heard that promotion budgets are significantly reduced at below 65 level. And a knife-fight for L65 (some other day). Raymond V. Gilmartin 3,4 Former Chairman, President, Chief Executive Officer, Merck & Co., Inc. W. Reed Hastings 3 "a HR manager" is acceptable if HR is meant to convey a spoken "a human resources manager" rather than a spoken "an aich arr manager".haven't should have an apostrophe, yes. )Those are only 3 of many 'soft skills' that will hold most people, even brilliant people, back.Has every level X mastered these skills? If you think of it as "How can I do better than my manager?" Secondly, finding a suitable mentor to help them overcome that weakness. 6 years ago I developed what I have been supporting since. Learning Curves and Disillusioned Learners: psychologists have known for years that skill acquisition tends to follow a typical learning curve. No matter how good you are, you will peak at some point and Microsoft will get rid of you. If you're saying "Ah, dude, my boss is in the way of my promotion" then all I have to say is "Duuuude, your boss is the way to your promotion." With wide-eyed wonder he asked WHAT? I said whatever the @#$% your manager most needs you to do!6. Know when your market worth changes with our verified salaries newsletter, See exactly how much your competitors pay. Senior Director Levels at Microsoft 63 Senior Manager SDE Lead 64 Principal EM Principal Director of Engineering 65 Show 7 More Levels United States Average Total Compensation $515,638 Base Salary $243,377 Stock Grant (/yr) $194,043 Bonus $78,217 Get Paid, Not Played Seriously, your GM or VP owns the decision to do transparent titling. So I guess I know what it takes go get to level 63. Help make it more accurate by adding yours. Dont compete with them. I have only required two strategies. Here is a nice place to start :-)http://guestgame.com/. Is that a req. I've been at Microsoft six years.I've never spent one second honestly thinking about my career or how to get a promotion or anything like that. Why does the company reward and keep these numbskull managers that hold people back? Framed on my former VP's wall:"High-level guys are low-level guys that don't whine.". Candidates should have a Ph.D. in Physics and a strong commitment to undergraduate education. I heard that promotion budgets are significantly reduced at below 65 level. When someone else is waiting on you for something, don't be the reason they can't get their shit done.4. Chris Capossela. Don't waste it. And on one total-eclipse-rare occasion, I've been able to be answer the follow-up question: will they reach L65 and say with confidence: Absolutely. Nobody will be shy of firing you if you make a big mess. You have the right stuff to succeed and Microsoft is very happy with you. Given all that, the two things that are key to promotion are:1) Your relationship with your skip level manager. .css-1odorsr{display:-webkit-inline-box;display:-webkit-inline-flex;display:-ms-inline-flexbox;display:inline-flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;font-weight:700;}.css-1ln5qhx{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:-webkit-inline-box;display:-webkit-inline-flex;display:-ms-inline-flexbox;display:inline-flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;font-weight:700;}.css-1dmvvgc{margin:0;color:#0060b9;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:-webkit-inline-box;display:-webkit-inline-flex;display:-ms-inline-flexbox;display:inline-flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;font-weight:700;}Get your salary negotiated .css-1npej63{-webkit-user-select:none;-moz-user-select:none;-ms-user-select:none;user-select:none;width:1em;height:1em;display:inline-block;fill:currentColor;-webkit-flex-shrink:0;-ms-flex-negative:0;flex-shrink:0;-webkit-transition:fill 200ms cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1) 0ms;transition:fill 200ms cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1) 0ms;font-size:1.25rem;margin-left:-4px;}or your resume reviewed by the real experts - recruiters who do it daily. They are 100% star material. If you find yourself in this spot - get a good external mentor to help you manage through it if you don't feel you can have this conversation with your manager.4. I've been at 59 for going on four years now, and was told by my manager over 2 years ago that I was totally ready and qualified for promotion to L60, but that "there wasn't enough budget" (yeah right), and this was in *Office* (a group which is clearly strapped for cash, I guess). Biggest key for me was knowing when to leave a bad management situation and team. Let's apply that stick to cronyism and punishment based management practicies. Just like a lot of folks have a fetish to be managers even when it is against their natures.Having said this, consider which is better: a) Rushing through the levels and to be stuck in 64 for ages (to be Kim'd is especially painful here) - think Sarah Palin orb) Going through the levels at a healthy pace, getting far deep into the salary ranges that will assure higher pay when the new levels come. It varies greatly from manager to skip.The hardest point for me to bear is that I am young, capable of doing so much more, and absolutely dying to do more. If youve capped out at Level 62 then MS is probably not a great fit for you. The microsoft people have already decided you're not a good 'fit'. Who cut and paste buggy shit all over the codebase and don't know some of the things that a good L62 should know. That didnt happen by chance alone. It sounds fishyMy manager was also saying me something along the same lines. Steven A. Ballmer Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft Corporation. I'm not talking about "managing up" (though that helps a little if done properly) but it's all about understanding your manager and skip manager's priorities and proactively succeeding in those areas. This can play a bigger role even than how many times you broke the build, caused a bug, etc. In general, these designations are based on rank, with the highest director position being the executive director or director of operations. I'm at 62, have been for lo, these many years. It works like this: Senior (L64,63) - works on tactical efforts, writes code or works on projects autonomously, collaborates with others YES, life is unfair.At the end, mastering 'soft skills' will help anyone: even someone at 59. It's because you were playing catch-up to Apple, and playing Machiavellian games with the media companies instead of working on the issues that your customers were complaining about.When will MS learn this lesson? There's this sort of nebulous "first you have to perform at level current+1 for a year, then you'll get promoted. Aren't those the things you are best at? If you are in office, you will have lots of experience promoting people up to 62 but after that it's a rare event. The second was threat (I have a serious offer outside the company that I am taking). for L63? then you're really off in the weeds.Think of the guy in the other company, the guy who is building something that competes with you, with your team. Related Searches:All Senior Director Salaries|All Microsoft Salaries. It's a $1,000-per-minute conversation - you should always have those. One question a manager will think about before promoting you is how many times he had to clean up after you pissed off someone else - especially if it's someone on another team. I've been told HR looks for employees that have been at their level too long. Being irreplaceble is bad because you spend more times on coding/fixing bugs and there is less time to work on your visibility. Often this is where a perceived negative attitude or lack of soft skills will hurt you the most.Your immediate boss can often look beyond that to the benefit you bring to the organization - mostly because it also directly benefits him or her. the higher you go, the bigger deal this is - at least to where i have gotten.Finally, not everybody will be good in every role. It varies greatly from manager to skip.The hardest point for me to bear is that I am young, capable of doing so much more, and absolutely dying to do more. If you have your mnanager in your pocket, you cna achieve greate heights in life. Tech savvy yet entrepreneurship minded hence able to see things from . Here are some things from my perspective.1. You almost always have to earn it. I made sure I was the guy you wanted to call when the server crashed in the lab with a crazy callstack and no repro.Second, OWN the features. For technical and management track, the job level start from 57 and continues till 80. One, we bill customers higher for higher levels and we call everyone 'highly experienced' or even an 'architect'. The money losing groups hires. But if your manager is undervaluing your work, and *that* is the factor that is making you unhappy, you can fix that. as many others posters said: if you are worry too much about promotion chances are you will keep worrying. I take some of the blame for not managing my career more directly, but no one should be offered a promotion when they leave--if they are valuable, let them know before hand! Wish I this post and comments laminated about 10 years ago after I wasn't going to get rich off stock.My comment to add is to those who are put into situations of continual reorgs and want to achieve the 'Senior'. After that, I was given a team that was dysfunctional and the most problematic area of the product - now its the area that customers rave about and the team is running smoothly.The bottom line is that takes (1) very hard work (2) you need to build your skills (3) personality to drive the solution in spite of the process and (4) demand excellence from others - including managing out those that will never deliver quality (some folks are net losses to the team).I always hear the whining from folks that get stuck at level 62/63 but when those tough challenges are out there, they don't volunteer and they certainly don't go looking for the biggest challenges. Really inspiring. Don't let HR lie to you, this is a stack rank exercise. Don't like branching strategy? It's a good time to flip back through that. This is a great topic! Otherwise, you start getting limited reviews and your compensation goes down.Obviously there was no advice in this post, but I thought it was an interesting observation, and perhaps the company can learn something from this viewpoint. This is obviously difficult to manage. Be nice, and clear in your communications. You first have to be truthful with what direction you're going in and where you actually are trying to head. I suspect they'll make it someone's job to fix it, because it is widely held as a good idea in the company right now. Never "threaten" to leave or waive external offers in my face unless you're fully prepared to be escorted out of the building that minute. These two lines really serve to summarize the incoherent blithering that was jcr's post.Whoa, really? Could be principal engineer, principal engineering manager, could even be director depending on the org. A great internal tool to help you sync your self perception with those around you is available internally at http://hrweb/US/CareerDev/folder/ms360process.htm. Sorry for going dark for so long. Getting constant feedback throughout is valuable as you can re-align and re-adjust in an agile way so that you are not shocked at review time that you have completely missed that promotion. That is, an S-shaped curve that is relatively flat at the bottom (slow start), then becomes very steep (steep acceleration), then becomes relatively flat again (plateau). About 1/2 the team is staying, the other half is going to a number of different teams within the larger org. Contributed and exceeded in two roles - getting G-Star, then moved to another team with clear headroom and again, exceeded all commits and moved to L64. Why cannot we have our address title reflect our level as everybody else in the company? Avoid long-winded multi-point e-mails, boil down your points as succinctly and efficiently as possible. The news is in. Chairman of the Board, Microsoft Corporation. I went from level 62 to level 65 in that time. Amazon Here's some advice from a recent L64'er (L63 last year). Experienced sales manager with skills in strategy, lead of direct reports, developing sales forecasts, products pricing and launching new products to the marketplace.<br>Proven abilities to manage key account relationships and large-scale projects.<br>Experienced in presenting to executive senior management, meeting with customers at CxO level and coordinating salesmen's Activities.<br><br . Do you think I can find a way to do almost as well and stay here, in this job I enjoy?" This will only lead us to a healthy and balanced distribution of levels across genders. Understand not just what needs to happen, but WHY. If I'm going to be late delivering something, give folks advance notice.3. Exceptional Director, hardworking, reliable, efficient, a team player, flexible to work 24 hours shift rota, prioritise my workload at all time, managing customers and team, managing safely, ability to carry out Risk Assessments and how to manage such Risks to minimal, excellent report written skills, excellent communicate skills both verbal and written forms including presentation using . Fourth, repeat ad infinitum. Leverage your professional network, and get hired. Microsoft senior leadership team under Satya Nadella Tech Here are the most important execs at Microsoft under Satya Nadella Jordan Novet @jordannovet Key Points Microsoft's executive team. This 360 review is confidential and you dont have to share it with your mgr unless you chose to do so. You don't deliver products on your own -- you're usually building one system, one set of components that together make one successful (or unsuccessful) product.You can always, always find ways that make yourself, your manager, and your immediate team much more successful. I've been hearing some stealth layoffs around the SQL and BOSG groups, around 70+ people were given 6(?) I have some colleagues now stuck with a career that they dont really want because they move up too much. This is where I agree with Mini regarding taking MSFT back to the good ol' lean, mean, and efficient company we enjoyed. Specifically, what did they accomplish, and what contributions do you see them doing to justify their promotion? But the opportunities I see doing X seem to be compelling from a financial and growth standpoint. I came in at 58 (9) and having been through a) I wish I had gone through b). I'm interested in reading your perspective and what advice you'd give to someone new to the company looking at a career path similar to your own. And your list of bullet points on qualities of a 63-er is pretty much the short list I have boiled it down to. Benefits can add thousands of dollars to your offer. Feel free to . You have to enjoy it, or else it'll come across as insincere, and you'll do a half assed job. To go to L60 as an IC you need to show leadership in your group, proactivity in taking new challenges which affect the success of the group, and be a SME on your tech area (if in a tech role).L61 = M1 of a medium sized team or an IC role which influences the results of a v-team significantlyL62 = M2 or M1 of a large team, or a lead role for a large cross-group initiative (e.g. L66 is Principal band. Don't be afraid to ask your manager some very direct questions.Don't force the issue. Me? Will some new person to the team who shows high growth potential push you aside even though you've been doing really solid work for years?Sometimes I wish it worked like an experience bar in a video game where you can clearly see when you will "ding". The problem is you can't tell if you've done something to piss him off or if he's doing it because he has to. The average salary for a Senior Director is $170,707 per year in United States, which is 65% lower than the average Microsoft salary of $500,742 per year for this job. When (if) you are then promoted to 62, you are not expected to continue performing at a level 62 level, but rather a level 63 level.The reason that you have to perform at a new level before reaching it is to avoid the Peter Principle, being people promoted up to their level of incompetence. I'm an SDE, so a large part of my time in the product cycle is spent fixing bugs. and is willing to take a chance on someone whose interview indicates they are ready for next level.