Siraj Lala

About Siraj Lala

Experienced Principal Software Engineering Manager with 20+ years software industry experience in designing, testing, and releasing innovative products. Experienced problem solver, able to quickly grasp complex systems and identify opportunities to deliver the best end-user experiences. An effective leader, with 10+ years’ experience in leading teams of up to 12 engineers to meet customer and organizational goals, while growing their skills, guiding their careers, fostering a growth mindset, diversity and inclusivity.

Experience

1. Principal Engineering Manager

   Microsoft

   Feb 2018 — Present · Redmond, WA, US

   Outlook - Office 365 ] • Delivered fast, beautiful, and productive Windows10 Mail and Calendar apps that measure high love, usage, and retention.• Created a diverse and inclusive team, with a respectful and transparent culture, enabling a strong growth mindset.• Helped team to transition from XAML/C++ based Apps to React-Native/Typescript/Redux based Apps. • Enabled team to Migrate to an agile, open, and data driven engineering system, increasing Dev satisfaction and efficiency, and accountability. • Ensured the Win10 Outlook Apps and system are rich with experimentation, and decisions are data driven.• Lead crew to design and develop the Windows10 Taskbar Calendar create experience, partnering with the Windows Org. • Partnered closely with the Outlook Sync and Services team to ensure optimal feature designs end-to-end.• Drove the World Readiness and Accessibility requirements for the Mail & Calendar client Apps. • Designed and implemented many of the Outlook Calendar features, for e.g. Win10 Taskbar QuickCompose, timed and all-day appointments rendering improvements, FreeBusy support, handling of DateTimes (Utc/Local) using the Moment.Js lib, showing calendar colors and categories, Mobile App promotions, support for Japanese Era (Imperial Calendar), prototyping web experiences in native app, etc.

Education

• Purdue University

  Master's degree

  1995 — 1997

• Manipal Institute of Technology

  Bachelor's degree

  1991 — 1995

Skills

• Agile Methodolgy
• Visual Studio
• Test Automation
• Project Management
• Web Services
• Software Project Management
• Ado.net
• Scrum
• Management
• Vendor Management
• Windows Azure
• Team Leadership
• Object Oriented Design
• Software Deployment
• Release Management
• Scalability
• Microsoft Sql Server
• Agile Project Management
• Model Based Testing
• C#
• .net
• Online Advertising