Jim Causey

About Jim Causey

As Principal Technical Program Manager on the Excel AI team at Microsoft, I lead implementation and delivery of Excel Copilot features, leveraging over a decade of experience. I spearheaded efforts in product goal definition, quality metrics, LLM evaluation & benchmarking, performance & reliability, and release management to deliver an LLM chat experience with 3x improvement in accuracy.Previously, I led engineering collaborations with silicon partners to develop silicon platforms and kernels for Windows Phone; drove buttery-smooth interactivity and performance for Internet Explorer Mobile; & guided global teams as Group Product Manager at Microsoft, focusing on building engineering systems and infrastructure for Windows and Azure. I deliver strategic engineering & business results through rigor, storytelling, collaboration, and goal-driven processes & communication.

Experience

1. Principal Technical Program Manager - Excel Ai

   Microsoft

   Aug 2024 — Present · Redmond, WA, US

   I led the launch of the Excel Copilot and Python Copilot releases in Autumn 2024, including process for release management, quality criteria, monitoring of in-market signals, and sustained engineering. Release demonstrated a 3x improvement in performance and latency, and 4x improvement in user intent quality for Excel Copilot.I also led the implementation of a new Commanding skill for Excel Copilot. I developed evaluation framework and goals for use of OpenAI models to improve Copilot chat skills for both novice users and experienced professionals. I led manual testing to ensure Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) approach met customer and business needs. I defined product goals and metrics to ensure product-market fit, and led engineering and executive reviews. I led a cross-business team to author a new version of the Microsoft Book of TPM to meet the needs of the Office Products Group. I led a review process with executive sponsors across multiple engineering divisions to ensure the rewrite delivered guidance for TPMs in the Age of AI, and for the leaders who deploy TPMs across the division.

Education

• Colorado College

  Classics and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics

• The Colorado Springs School

  HS, High School Diploma

Skills

• Testing
• Integration
• Software Project Management
• Debugging
• Program Management
• Mobile Technology
• Technical Presentations
• Software Design
• Cross-Functional Team Leadership
• Software Development
• Technical Writing
• Software Engineering
• Mobile Devices
• C#
• .net