Management Apprentice

Business Program Management Apprentice

Overview

The position is intended for candidates graduating in 2026, who have no active academic backlogs and have not held full time employment prior to the apprenticeship. Candidates who have previously completed an apprenticeship must maintain a mandatory gap of 365 days before starting a new apprenticeship. 

Come build community, explore your passions and do your best work at Microsoft with thousands of people from every corner of the world. This opportunity will allow you to bring your aspirations, talent, potential—and excitement for the journey ahead.   

As a  Business Program Management Apprentice, Learns to perform program landscape research and analysis. Learns to identify internal opportunities to develop new programs and improve current ones. Learns how to track the success criteria and performance metrics. Learns to define and execute on a landing and communication plan, such as the target audience(s) and communication strategy. Learns to evangelize the programs to stakeholders, partners, and customers to gain buy in. Learns about project portfolios, including the project plan, timelines, milestones, financial management, performance metrics, and resource needs for programs. Learns about mapping or how systems work and impact one another. Learns to conduct cost-benefit analyses to examine performance to value drivers. Learns to collect and evaluate success criteria and performance metrics. Demonstrates the skills needed to help ensure buy in and adoption of the new program or change by others in the organization. 

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. 

Responsibilities

Business Program Evaluation and Improvement 

• Demonstrates the skills needed to help ensure buy in and adoption of the new program or change by others in the organization. Learns to develop the collateral required to enable key stakeholders and others to be onboard. Learns of the training, reskilling, and mapping of individuals conducted in partnership with Human Resources (HR). 

• Learns to collect and evaluate success criteria (e.g., ROI, SLAs, OKRs, KPIs) and performance metrics (e.g., acquisition, usage, impact, effectiveness, customer feedback) and use scorecards and dashboards to monitor programs and ensure all activities align with business and program objectives. Learns to use data analytics (e.g., scenario analyses) to derive insights and training that help identify program risks and mitigation plans and opportunities to streamline and optimize programs based on lessons learned, and plan to sunset programs that are no longer necessary or meeting objectives. 

• Learns to conduct cost-benefit analyses to examine performance to value drivers (e.g., profit and loss [P&L], return on investment [ROI]). Learns about monthly business review (MBR) and helps run rhythms regularly to identify what is working and what is not. 

Business Program Excellence and Execution 

• Learns to evangelize the programs to stakeholders, partners, and customers to gain buy in. Leverages data and performance metrics (e.g., OKRs and KPIs) to demonstrate the value of the program and show business impact through storytelling and using scorecards and realtime dashboards, under close guidance from senior team members. Learns to adapt communication style and storytelling strategy according to audience and business needs. 

Business Program Management 

• Learns about project portfolios including the project plan, documentation of roles and responsibilities (e.g., responsible, accountable, consulted, informed [RACI] framework), timelines, milestones, financial management, performance metrics, and resource needs for programs. Communicates the program status to relevant stakeholders and holds them accountable for following the established schedule, risk mitigation plans and processes, under close guidance from senior team members. 

Business Program Planning and Design 

• Learns to identify internal opportunities to develop new programs and improve current ones. Learns to identify root problems (e.g., root-cause analysis), define the program strategy, gather program requirements, establish and maintain alignment with stakeholders, identify resource needs, create the project plan and targets, and work across teams to align on the plan of record. Begins to develop the expertise to improve operations of existing programs by helping identify appropriate industry methodologies and best practices, define and diagnose program issues, assess various scenarios, and select the optimal scenario to resolve issues. Learns about and begins to support others in ensuring security principles are incorporated into all planning processes. 

• Learns to work with cross-functional (e.g., organizational, product, business) stakeholders (e.g., Engineering, Marketing) to design programs from initiation to delivery. Learns to produce collateral (e.g., proposals, strategy walking deck, internal and external pitch content) to incorporate stakeholder needs and ensure the business objectives are met. 

• Learns to perform program landscape research and analysis (e.g., internal and/or external market, sales, delivery), forecasting, and examine business insights and trends (e.g., customer feedback and expectations) to identify stakeholders and program scope, and stay current, agile, and competitive. Learns the overall business goals, objectives, and strategies, and understands the short-term business priorities (e.g., artificial intelligence [AI], security, efficiency, quality). Understands and identifies current program risks, impact, and mitigation plans, under close guidance from senior team members. 

• Learns how to track the success criteria (e.g., return on investment [ROI], service level agreements [SLAs], objectives and key results [OKRs] and key performance indicators [KPIs]) and performance metrics (e.g., quality, adoption, usage, impact, effectiveness) for the program. 

Qualifications

Required Qualifications 

• Pursuing bachelor's degree in Commerce, Business Administration, Computer Applications, Economics, Math, or related field 

• Strong analytical mindset and ability to work with data to support business programs and business analysis activities.  

• Good communication skills and ability to collaborate with cross‑functional teams.  

 Preferred Qualifications 

• Demonstrated tech passion or curiosity about digital tools, data platforms, or AI  

• Academic or project experience in analytics, data interpretation, or reporting. 

 

Important notice:  

• Please consider this only as a job posting and application for the role of an apprenticeship with Microsoft.  

• Please note that the apprenticeship program is for a period of 12 months and is not a full-time permanent opportunity. The apprenticeship program promotes skill development by providing practical, on-the-job training.   

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.

Experience Level

Entry Level