# Experience A full career moving between code, customers, strategy, and teams. [Download resume](https://steven.wilssens.com/steven-wilssens-resume-2026.pdf) ## Independent AI Product Builder Independent · Oct 2026 - Present Seattle, Washington Building AI products independently after Microsoft. - Built and shipped Watt Fighters (wattfighters.com), a multiplayer 3D track-cycling game, in 8 days with many Claude Code sessions working in parallel: online racing, 20 velodromes, and apps for iPhone and iPad (TestFlight), Android and Windows. - Building AI Breaker (aibreaker.org), a Windows app that lets people turn off AI features in graduated levels. - Built a multi-tenant hosting and email platform with MCP-based AI apps in 16 days (wilssens.com): isolated server code and database per site, automated mailbox provisioning, and every action available on the web, over MCP and from a command line. - Runs juniortrackcycling.com, a content and analytics site for the junior track cycling community. ## Principal Group Product Manager - Windows & Devices Data Microsoft · Dec 2024 - Sep 2026 Redmond, Washington Led product management for the entire Windows & Devices Data organization: the data, insights, experimentation, and machine learning models that power decision-making across Windows and Devices. - Led a PM organization of about 20, working with more than 100 developers and data scientists, initially through three people managers, then led its move to a flatter team of about 12 during Microsoft’s cost reductions; roughly half the team was promoted under my leadership. - Owned strategy and roadmap for the data platform and insights products Windows engineers and PMs use to ship higher-quality releases. - Built the quality measurement framework that underpinned Windows K2, Microsoft’s high-profile push to improve Windows reliability and performance. - Ran the weekly ship-readiness quality review where Windows VPs made release decisions based on my team’s data on ship-blocking issues. - Scaled experimentation across Windows to hundreds of concurrent experiments, significantly reducing the number of features pulled back after release. - Owned the multi-million-dollar Windows data infrastructure budget; shut down a low-adoption on-device model platform and reinvested in platform modernization, cutting costs 30% over two years. - Shifted the team to AI-driven analytics and launched the first version, letting people ask business questions in natural language across every source in the data platform instead of relying on fixed queries. - Partnered with engineering, data science, and research leadership across telemetry from more than 1.6 billion Windows devices. ## Principal Product Manager Lead - Windows Data Microsoft · Feb 2020 - Dec 2024 Redmond, Washington Built data products that told the story of the Windows customer experience and informed continuous improvement. - Redefined Windows quality measurement around end-to-end scenarios like gaming and the shell, creating the Perfect Day metric for issue-free user days. - Grew the team from one to five PMs, working with about 20 developers, leading to promotion to Principal Group Product Manager. - Drove measurable quality gains, with Perfect Day improving about 5% for gaming and 3–4% for the Windows shell. - Provided the data behind Windows release decisions: whether a build was ready to move from internal audiences to Insider preview, which issues had to be fixed, and ultimately whether a release met the quality bar to ship. - Built the alerting dashboards Windows teams used to catch customer-impacting issues, and ran the weekly Release Quality Review where area directors acted on them. - Measured quality across more than 1.6 billion highly diverse Windows devices, data that governed every Windows release from 2020 to 2026. ## Principal Product Manager Lead - Azure DevOps Microsoft · Sep 2019 - Feb 2020 Redmond, Washington Defined new products, go-to-market strategies, and business decisions for the Azure DevOps Platform. - Defined DataOps as its sole product lead: a startup-style project inside Azure DevOps before it had a funded team, writing the product proposal that got it funded and moved to GitHub as its better home. - Chose the Windows Data lead role over following the newly funded team to GitHub. ## Principal Product Manager Lead - Silicon, Graphics, Media Microsoft · Jan 2018 - Sep 2019 Operating System Group · Redmond, Washington Led audio, spatial audio, game streaming, xCloud, Game DVR, broadcast, and casting initiatives. - Led six PMs, working with about 20 developers. - Led the Microsoft Spatial Audio Platform across Windows, Xbox One, and new platforms. - Grew monthly active devices playing spatial audio by more than 250% over 1.5 years. - Worked with developers and data insights to identify and deliver essential spatial audio features. - Partnered with game studios to ship spatial audio in major franchises, including Halo, Forza Horizon, Gears of War and Call of Duty. - Shaped Xbox xCloud game streaming strategy, prioritizing low latency over 4K resolution and making it the platform's key differentiator. ## Principal Product Manager - Silicon, Graphics, Media Microsoft · Sep 2017 - Jan 2018 Operating System Group · Redmond, Washington Drove the Windows Sonic spatial audio platform for Windows and Xbox One while representing Microsoft at developer and game conferences. - Drove the launch of Dolby Access v3 and DTS Sound Unbound with new app services, licensing, and customization models. - Built partnerships with Surface, Store, Marketing, and Gaming to expand spatial audio to more endpoints and games. - Collaborated with Disney+ and Netflix to bring Dolby Atmos to Xbox and Windows. ## Senior Product Manager - Silicon, Graphics, Media Microsoft · Oct 2008 - Aug 2017 Operating Systems Group · Redmond, Washington Led media platform work across casting, conferencing and spatial audio, culminating in the Spatial Audio Platform and Windows Sonic for Windows and Xbox One. - Brought casting to Windows and Windows Phone, shipping Miracast, DLNA and Play To so people could send media from a PC or phone to a TV. - Enabled HD conferencing on Surface RT and drove Media Foundation and Windows SDK work for media developers. - Brought spatial sound to Windows and Xbox: Windows Sonic for headphones, plus Dolby Atmos and DTS:X across headphones, home theater, and built-in laptop speakers on Surface, Lenovo and other devices. - Asked in 2015 to define the next revolutionary step for audio at Microsoft, leading to the Spatial Audio Platform and Windows Sonic. ## Product Manager - Developer Division Microsoft · Oct 2006 - Sep 2008 Redmond, Washington Product manager in Microsoft's Developer Division working on developer ecosystem and community products. - Launched the Visual Studio Marketplace, giving developers one place to find and share Visual Studio extensions. - Drove CodePlex, Microsoft's open-source project hosting site. - Released the .NET Framework reference source, so developers could read and debug into the framework code. ## Lead Developer and Team Lead Compuware · Jan 2006 - Sep 2006 Belgium Led a team of about 15 developers and the Project Support Office for Fluxys. - Owned hiring, evaluation, education, and job assignment for the development team. - Implemented a new development process and framework, coached developers and architects, and managed build infrastructure. - Presented application development and Visual Studio Team System practices to customers and developer communities. ## Software Developer Cosmos · Jan 2005 - Dec 2005 Antwerp Area, Belgium Built and supported software components across C# client and Java server systems using CORBA middleware. Joined as a consultant from Info Support, then hired full-time. - Provided technical guidance, application redesigns, developer support, and code reviews. - Worked on the Technical Components team responsible for construction, maintenance, and support. ## Developer and Trainer Info Support · Jan 2001 - Dec 2004 Belgium Developed distributed .NET applications and trained teams across multiple organizations. - Led a development team at Agfa Gevaert and built C# and Visual Studio .NET applications for several clients. - Created scalable ADO.NET and SQL Server solutions and advised project and management teams on .NET architecture. - Delivered software development, architecture, and training work across the full delivery lifecycle. ## Bachelor’s degree, Computer Science Education · 2000 - 2004 Karel de Grote, Belgium Languages: Dutch and English (native), French (intermediate). --- Steven Wilssens · 2026 · [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-wilssens-59495889/) · [Resume](https://steven.wilssens.com/steven-wilssens-resume-2026.pdf) · [Privacy](https://steven.wilssens.com/privacy) · [MCP for AI assistants](https://steven.wilssens.com/mcp) · steven@wilssens.com