Xbox is one of the world’s most valuable brands and enjoys millions of players and passionate fans. An important part of our plan is to grow our global player base and our multi-billion dollar a year Xbox console and accessories business.  At Xbox, we believe Gamer Happiness is at the core to our mission of empowering every person and organization on the planet to achieve more.

As part of Xbox Product Services (XPS), The Xbox Services & Operations (XSO) team mission is to lead a consistent and scalable means of Operational Excellence across Gaming. This includes the domain areas of Live Site, Reliability, Compliance, CoGS efficacy, and Supportability. Investments include engineering of platform infrastructure, partnering with product teams within Gaming, and One Microsoft efforts across the company. XSO is dedicated to helping Xbox be the most Global and Trusted gaming platform on the planet!

The Gaming Certification test team within the Xbox Product Services (XPS) organization is looking for a motivated, Technical Program Manager with accessibility subject matter expertise, testing experience, and a passion for accessible gaming, product quality, with desire to grow the Microsoft Gaming Accessibility Testing Service (MGATS) and the accessibility testing program within Gaming.  The role will be a balance of managing a vendor testing team, partnering with teams across Microsoft Gaming (game studios, hardware, software) to convey compliance/engineering processes and driving testing strategy.  Desirable candidates should have natural aptitude for communicating and adapting messaging across disciplines with varying levels of accessibility expertise, executing against KPIs and developing long-term strategic roadmaps.  This person will welcome collaboration, champion the diverse needs of our customers to our partners and be able to translate industry and community feedback into consumer and developer facing engineering specs and support documentation.

Are you enthusiastic about accessibility in gaming and enabling more gamers to play?  Do you enjoy partnering with a wide variety of teams, translating customer feedback and testing results to make a measurable impact to gaming products that exceed our customers’ needs?  Do you have a passion to work for a company that is focused on strengthening community in a diverse, equitable and inclusive way?  Come join Microsoft and the Gaming organization to champion inclusive growth, leading by example in products, services, and our team to lead our certification testing team!

Responsibilities

Manage a lab of testers across multiple regions conducting accessibility testing for 508 Trusted Tester website compliance, Xbox guidelines, and usability reviews.

Grow Microsoft Gaming Accessibility Testing Service (MGATS) and gaming website accessibility program with defined growth strategy, skill development, and engineering/test plan.

Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and drive regular reporting of accessibility testing results, usability reviews, and customer sentiment.

Work closely with designers, program managers, usability teams, and experts across Microsoft Gaming Studios as well as Gaming Hardware and App teams to drive practical solutions to complex issues.

Responsible for streamlining accessibility website testing and testing services through data-driven reporting.

Apply game accessibility subject matter expertise across the gaming hardware, software, and games to ensure quality user experiences are being designed and engineered.

Function as a gaming accessibility technical subject matter expert who monitors and reports on industry trends to stay aware of best practices, partnering with legal to provide teams with guidance about accessibility standards, requirements, and legal risk.

Ability to optimize testing in lab for cost and turnaround efficacy.

Supporting other certification and quality test programs to identify ways to build synergies between other quality programs within the team.

Some international and local travel (1-2 trips per year).

Qualifications

Customer obsession, with strong technical knowledge and passion for accessibility.

Ability to develop quality measures and metrics that drive product decisions and growth of programs.

Present inclusive presentations/events in-person and virtual, live, and pre-recorded.

Proven record of the development and completion of strategic roadmaps and long-term planning.

Understanding of data analysis, building accessible reports to identify investments, risks, and connection points across several different data sources.

Ability to build and manage partnerships with stakeholders and be effective in cross-group collaboration.

2+ years’ experience managing a team.

2+ years’ direct experience working with people with disabilities in one or more of the following enabling gaming: gaming & disability community, accessibility industry, diversity and inclusion, inclusive design.

3+ years’ experience working in accessibility industry, with proven knowledge of accessibility standards/inclusive design.

3+ years of Program Management, Software Engineering, Software Development Management, or equivalent.

BA/BS or equivalent.

Preferred Qualifications

Technical knowledge of assistive technologies, frameworks, game engines and mobile/web accessibility.

Technical knowledge in web and mobile accessibility development and solutions.

Track record of excellent teamwork and collaboration in a large organization across multiple teams.

A desire to grow and take on new challenges as they arise.

Prior work as game developer, designer, producer, or software test engineer.

Certification in Accessibility, for example: 508 Trusted Tester, CPACC, or PCWA.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.  We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.