Engineering leader · Microsoft
KurtSeippel
I'm a software engineer turned engineering leader. Fifteen years at Microsoft, father of four, based in Atlanta. I've built teams from scratch, shipped products used by millions, and spent a lot of time thinking about what makes people and organizations work well together.
I lead with empathy, clarity, and a healthy paranoia.
I've spent my career building engineering teams that ship software to millions of people. The products change: Windows, Company Portal, Intune, now Excel. But the underlying work is the same: set a clear direction, find and grow the right people, and protect the conditions that let them do their best work.
I lead with empathy for my team, partner teams, and customers; a bias toward continuous improvement; and trust built through active listening. I try to shelter my team from churn so they can focus, keep a healthy paranoia about what could go wrong, and remember that clarity is kindness.
- · Empathy for team, partners, and customers
- · Continuous improvement over comfort
- · Trust built through active listening
- · Shelter the team so they can focus
- · A healthy paranoia about what could break
Clarity is kindnessVague feedback is the unkind kind.
Delegate to the point of failureThat edge is where people grow.
Delayed conflict accrues debtAddress it while the interest is low.
People don't fear change, they fear lossName the loss, lead the change.
Laziness is a symptom of someone who is lostFind the missing clarity, not the blame.
Know which doors are reversibleTwo-way doors deserve speed; one-way doors deserve care.
Outside work
Father of four boys.
Avid reader and gamer.
Competes on a paintball team.
Personal finance and entrepreneurship.
Actively exploring small business ownership.
Fifteen years at Microsoft, founding and scaling teams that ship.
From SDET on Windows to Principal Manager on Excel, shipping Android apps, Azure services, and the AI features behind them.
Microsoft
Principal Software Engineering Manager – Microsoft Excel
Lead a team of 9 engineers owning data modeling in Excel, one of the world's most widely used applications, partnering across product, design, and partner organizations to set direction and deliver features.
- Driving the integration of Power Pivot and PivotTables into Excel Agent, Excel's AI assistant with millions of monthly active users, bringing AI-powered data modeling to a rapidly growing base.
- Defined and championed a multi-year vision to modernize Power Pivot, extend it to Excel on the web, and deepen AI integration, aligning strategy with partner teams such as SQL Server and Power BI.
- Improved live-site reliability by strengthening monitoring and launching a cross-team incident-response and postmortem practice that drove lasting fixes across organizations.
- Lead a 9-person team of software engineers spanning SWE 2 to Principal, developing talent across a wide seniority range to deliver on an ambitious roadmap for Power Pivot and data modeling in Excel.
Principal Software Engineering Manager – Microsoft Intune
Founded and led a team that scaled from 6 to 10 engineers, building and maintaining core functionality for the Intune platform with a focus on the Android ecosystem.
- Led development and monthly release of two Kotlin Android apps: Managed Home Screen (1M+ MAU) and Remote Help (200K+ MAU).
- Designed and built a C# microservice with a TypeScript front-end for firmware-over-the-air (FOTA) updates, unblocking tens of thousands of new device licenses.
- Partnered with OEMs such as Samsung and Zebra to co-design and ship features and resolve issues affecting large device fleets.
- Grew two ICs into engineering managers, and hired 30+ full-time engineers and interns through rigorous interviewing.
Senior Software Engineer – Microsoft Intune
Built and shipped software across Android and Azure, owning the full lifecycle from design through testing, deployment, and support for apps and services impacting millions of devices.
- Built and operated a full-stack C# Azure microservice serving 10M+ MAU.
- Built Company Portal, a Java Android app, growing it to 5M+ MAU.
- Developed TypeScript Azure portal blades enabling IT pros to set up enrollment, configure settings, and monitor Android devices at scale.
Software Development Engineer in Test – Microsoft Windows
Built test automation in C# and C++ for the Windows OS, ensuring software patches shipped free of regressions to millions of client machines.
Sircon Corporation
Software Engineer
Integral member of a six-person team building web-based applications that streamlined processes for insurance companies, agents, and state regulators in an agile environment.
How I lead, build, and stay close to the work.
Building and growing teams
I hire for potential and retain through challenge. The goal is engineers who grow into leaders themselves. I've developed two ICs into managers and hired 30+ full-time engineers through rigorous interviewing. I've had zero voluntary attrition to date, a lagging indicator of getting the basics right: clear expectations, honest feedback, and work that matters.
Technical judgment
Fifteen years writing C#, Kotlin, Java, and TypeScript across Android, Azure, and the web. I code less now, but I stay close to the work. I review PRs, understand the architecture tradeoffs, and know which decisions deserve speed and which deserve care. I can go deep when it matters.
Cross-org strategy
I've partnered with OEMs like Samsung and Zebra, aligned strategy with SQL Server and Power BI, and set multi-year technical visions for platform work. Moving things forward with teams that don't report to you is most of the job at this level, and I've been doing it for years.
Where it started.
M.S., Computer Science
Georgia Institute of Technology – College of Computing Atlanta, GAB.S., Computer Science
Michigan State University – College of Engineering Minor in Business · East Lansing, MII'd love to hear from you.
Happy to hear from you, whatever the context. Email is the fastest path.