Job Description: Government Affairs Manager – France

Do you have the passion and the competence to drive change and make an impact in a key European country, France, while leveraging your experience in politics, public policy, and government affairs?

We are looking for a creative, strategic, and driven Government Affairs Director to join our French Government Affairs team, part of Microsoft’s Global Affairs organization in Europe.

This role will play a critical part in advancing Microsoft’s public policy priorities in France, including supporting Microsoft’s strategic investments and development projects, notably large-scale data center and cloud infrastructure initiatives.

Our mission: Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our culture embraces a growth mindset, inspires excellence, and encourages teams and leaders to bring their best every day. The Government Affairs team contributes to this mission by helping customers succeed through digital transformation, strengthening Microsoft’s position as a globally trusted technology provider, and supporting local economic development and innovation.

Strategy and Program Management

• Advocate for and manage complex policy issues (social, political, regulatory, and technical), and lead Microsoft’s engagement with senior internal stakeholders on priority government affairs strategies and programs.
• Contribute to and help shape Microsoft’s public policy agenda and advocacy strategies in France.
• Support Microsoft’s data center and cloud infrastructure development projects, including engagement with national and local authorities, regulators, and other stakeholders to facilitate permitting, regulatory alignment, and public acceptance.
• Monitor rapidly evolving political, regulatory, and industry environments and provide clear, actionable recommendations.
• Develop strategies for legislative and regulatory initiatives; assess their impact on Microsoft’s business objectives and deliver high-quality materials (policy briefings, strategy notes, talking points) to internal stakeholders.

Subject Matter Expertise and Influence

• Develop and implement strategies leveraging partnerships with external stakeholders and key influencers to advance Microsoft’s policy priorities, including digital transformation, cloud, AI, sustainability, and infrastructure.
• Build and maintain an intelligence network; gather, analyze, and share internal and external insights relevant to Microsoft’s objectives and investment projects.
• Provide policy, geopolitical, and cultural guidance to business teams, including Public Sector, Cloud, and Infrastructure teams, in support of product development, go-to-market strategies, and investment decisions.
• Propose creative and pragmatic solutions to advance Microsoft’s agenda while managing political, regulatory, and reputational risks.

Representing Microsoft

• Represent Microsoft in internal and external forums, industry events, and stakeholder engagements; support executive-level engagement and participation in high-profile national and international events.
• Help shape political and public affairs strategies and messaging in close partnership with the Communications team.
• Drive consistent and credible narratives positioning Microsoft as a trusted partner for France’s digital and economic development, including cloud and data center investments.

External Relationships

• Build and sustain a strong network with governmental and non-governmental stakeholders (ministries, regulators, local authorities, industry associations, think tanks, academics, community leaders).
• Support Microsoft’s engagement with local and regional authorities in the context of data center and infrastructure development projects, including economic development, sustainability, and territorial integration aspects.
• Act as a strategic partner to Public Sector and other business teams by helping unlock opportunities, mitigate risks, and remove policy or regulatory barriers.

Internal Collaboration

• Act as a subject matter expert on large, complex, and cross-functional projects; provide direction to project teams when appropriate.
• Resolve cross-group priority conflicts and drive alignment across internal stakeholders to support shared objectives.

Collaborate closely with senior leaders and subject matter experts across Microsoft (CELA, Public Sector, CO+I, Sustainability, Communications) to ensure alignment on priorities, resources, and execution

Required Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in Public Policy, Public Administration, Law, Political Science, or a related field
  AND demonstrable of experience in government affairs, public policy, corporate affairs, or a related field
  
  • OR equivalent experience
• Developing and managing strategic relationships to influence public or technology policy priorities in France or at the European/international level.
• Deep understanding of the French political, regulatory, and institutional landscape; experience with infrastructure, energy, digital, or industrial policy is a strong asset.
• This role requires proficiency in written, reading, and conversational French & English as all business operations as well as customer communications are conducted in English.

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.