Microsoft has conducted its third wave of layoffs that are part of the 10,000 employees the vendor announced it would cut this year, this time laying off employees in roles related to supply chain, artificial intelligence and internet of things (IoT).
A Microsoft spokesperson told CRN that the job cuts were across various levels, functions, teams and geographies.
As with previous rounds of layoffs conducted not only by Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft, but various technology vendors and at least one consulting firm, the laid off employees took to Microsoft-owned social media network LinkedIn to confirm they were let go.
[RELATED: Satya Nadella Confirms 10,000 Microsoft Layoffs]
Microsoft Conducts Third Wave Of Layoffs
The tech giant reported on Monday to its home state that 689 employees have been permanently laid off, according to Washington state records. The layoffs are for Microsoft’s Redmond, Bellevue and Issaquah offices.ADVERTISEMENT
This is the third wave of Microsoft layoffs recorded by the state since the vendor announced in January it would cut about 10,000 employees. Company leadership has cited moderated demand for digital tools and more IT budget scrutiny as part of the reason for the layoffs.
In February, Microsoft informed Washington state that 617 employees were let go. That same month, Microsoft notified the state of California that 108 employees were let go, according to state records.
In January, Microsoft informed Washington state that 878 employees were cut, bringing the total number of employees let go in the state to 2,184.
Affected Roles Include AI, Supply Chain Engineering, IoT
Despite Microsoft’s recent headline-grabbing AI investments and products, the vendor has shut down its AI-powered automation effort Project Bonsai and laid off the team, according to a LinkedIn post by the head of product and business strategy and chief operating officer for business AI incubations – whose time with Microsoft totals more than 20 years across three different periods.
“After my third tour of duty at Microsoft, it pains me though to see that when push comes to shove, a pattern emerges of what IMO are short-sighted decisions, trading off longer-term strategic opportunity and optionality for tactical optimizations,” the user wrote.
A principal product manager lead who worked at Microsoft for more than 18 years – most recently “leading a team of product managers in Supply Chain Engineering, a part of the Cloud and AI group in Microsoft” – wrote on LinkedIn that “a significant part of my group and I were let go.” He said his organization numbered almost 400 people.
“At this time, I am not immediately looking for a change,” he wrote. “I’m more worried about all the wonderful colleagues who are on a visa and need to find a job in the stipulated 60 days. To my friends who are job hunting, I wish you all the success in the world. Meanwhile, I plan to work on upskilling myself. I am excited about learning more about AI and getting back to writing more code. It looks like I finally ran out of excuses, now that I have all the time in the world.”
A principal group engineering manager with Microsoft for about 28 years – most recently in supply chain security, business process monitoring, supportability artificial intelligence operations (AIOps), modern secure manufacturing factories and other efforts – posted to say her team had “a significant impact” from the layoffs.
Other supply chain-related employees cut from Microsoft include:
*A product manager at Microsoft for about three years who created the “Supplier-Factory-Part Master Data dashboard that scores sourcing manager’s accountability of clean data governance in systems”
*A second level technical product manager with Microsoft for more than four years who worked on data for devices and supply chain quality tools
*A full-stack and back-end software engineer with Microsoft for more than two years who worked on the supply chain engineering team
*A senior product manager with Microsoft for more than seven years who worked on supply chain for Azure, devices and accessories
Laid-off employees who touched on IoT and Microsoft cloud offering Azure include:
*A 10-plus-year Microsoft veteran who held the title of senior director of hardware and 5G partners and was responsible for “‘Azure Light Edge’ semiconductor, device builder and connectivity engineering partnerships”
*A level two software engineer with Microsoft for more than six years who worked on “Developing End to End PaaS Solutions” with Azure Synapse, Azure Storage, Power BI and other offerings
*An Azure IoT developer community advocate with Microsoft for about six years
*A principal program manager who worked at Microsoft for more than 16 years and was “driving IoT Technical Ecosystem and communities engagement”
Other engineers and employees working with AI cut from Microsoft include:
*A level two electrical engineer at the company for more than two years who worked in end-to-end testing of products during mass production
*A level two software engineer at Microsoft for almost seven years
*An AI operations (AIOps) manager who worked with Microsoft for about two years and worked on facilitating “the delivery of secure high-quality data to improve machine learning and artificial intelligence models”
*A 23-year Microsoft veteran who was a senior content developer working on “online learning for Power BI and AI Builder on the Learn platform”
Employees involved in business program management let go from Microsoft include:
*A business program manager who worked at Microsoft for more than two years and “served as the team administrator for Azure DevOps Boards”
*A senior business program manager with Microsoft for about a year who was “responsible for leading successful Microsoft US/NA Sales transformation planning, orchestration, strategic communication, and change management”
*A business program manager with Microsoft for about a year who was “responsible for triaging incoming issues and field escalations across all field roles, tools, and geographies”
*A business program manager at Microsoft for more than two years who managed vendor budgets and supplier relationships
Other roles cut from Microsoft include:
*A manager of social and earned media who was with Microsoft for more than five years
*A 10-year Microsoft veteran who worked as a director and security and compliance specialist for retail and consumer goods
*A program manager with Microsoft for more than two years who was “responsible for driving and delivering cross company launches to onboard customers and businesses into our trade business systems”
*A senior customer success manager with Microsoft for less than a year who worked with state and local government
*An industry executive with Microsoft for more than three years who helped “scale technology solutions in the K-12 and higher education market”
*A 10-year veteran of Microsoft who worked as a support escalation manager
*A 17-plus-year veteran of Microsoft who worked as director of insurance industry solutionsLEARN MORE: Cloud Infrastructure | AI | Machine Learning | Internet of Things | Cloud Platforms
Wade Tyler Millward is an associate editor covering cloud computing and the channel partner programs of Microsoft, IBM, Red Hat, Oracle, Salesforce, Citrix and other cloud vendors. He can be reached at [email protected].
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