Microsoft Office leader Rajesh Jha to retire after 35 years

Microsoft executive Rajesh Jha is set to retire after more than 35 years at the technology giant, marking the end of a long career that helped shape several of the company’s flagship products and engineering organizations.

Jha has been one of Microsoft’s most senior engineering leaders, overseeing major parts of the company’s Experiences and Devices organization, including Windows, Teams and Microsoft 365 services. His group played a central role in Microsoft’s push to integrate artificial intelligence across its productivity software portfolio.

In particular, Jha helped lead the development and rollout of Copilot, Microsoft’s generative AI assistant built using OpenAI models. The tool has been integrated into core Office applications such as Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, enabling users to generate documents, analyze data, summarize meetings and automate routine workplace tasks.

Microsoft has made AI a central pillar of its long‑term strategy, embedding Copilot across its cloud and productivity ecosystem. Jha’s departure comes as the company accelerates efforts to expand AI‑driven features for enterprise customers and reshape how digital work is performed through intelligent assistants.