Microsoft has appointed a new leader for its Windows and Surface division

Microsoft has appointed Pavan Davuluri as the new head of its Windows and Surface division, following the departure of Panos Panay to Amazon last year. After Panay left, Microsoft split the Windows and Surface groups, with Davuluri overseeing Surface silicon and devices, and Mikhail Parakhin leading a new team focused on Windows and web experiences. Now, Davuluri will oversee both Windows and Surface, as Parakhin is exploring new roles.

According to an internal memo obtained by The Verge from Rajesh Jha, Microsoft's head of experiences and devices, the company is reuniting its Windows and devices teams. Jha stated, "This will enable us to take a holistic approach to building silicon, systems, experiences, and devices that span Windows client and cloud for this AI era."

Pavan Davuluri has been appointed as the head of Microsoft's Windows and Surface team, directly reporting to Rajesh Jha. With over 23 years of experience at Microsoft, Davuluri played a significant role in collaborating with Qualcomm and AMD to develop custom processors for Surface devices.

Mikhail Parakhin will now be under the supervision of Kevin Scott during a transition period, but his future at Microsoft appears uncertain, with indications that his "new roles" may lie outside the company. Parakhin had been heavily involved in Bing Chat before taking on broader Windows engineering responsibilities and contributing to changes in Microsoft Edge.

The restructuring in the Windows division coincides with Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of Google DeepMind and former CEO of Inflection AI, joining Microsoft as the CEO of a new AI team. Microsoft also onboarded several Inflection AI employees, including co-founder Karén Simonyan, who now serves as the chief scientist of Microsoft AI. This move is seen as a strategic talent acquisition aimed at avoiding direct regulatory scrutiny.

Suleyman now heads Microsoft AI, overseeing the company's consumer-facing AI products like Copilot, Bing, and Edge. He reports directly to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and although it was initially expected that he would manage Mikhail Parakhin, this is no longer the case.

According to Jha, the Windows team will collaborate closely with the Microsoft AI team on AI, silicon, and user experiences. However, there may be areas of potential overlap that the new leadership will need to navigate, particularly as Microsoft AI now oversees Edge, a browser integral to the Windows ecosystem.

Full Memo from Rajesh Jha:

I want to update you on the Windows and Web Experiences (WWE) team following last week's announcement and the formation of the Microsoft AI organization.

Mikhail Parakhin has chosen to explore new roles. Satya and I appreciate Mikhail's contributions and leadership and thank him for his efforts in helping Microsoft excel in the new AI era. He will report to Kevin Scott while assisting in the WWE transition.

As part of this change, we are merging the Windows Experiences and Windows + Devices teams into the Experiences + Devices (E+D) division. This consolidation will allow us to take a comprehensive approach to developing silicon, systems, experiences, and devices that encompass Windows client and cloud for the AI era. Pavan Davuluri will lead this team and continue reporting to me. Shilpa Ranganathan and Jeff Johnson and their teams will report directly to Pavan. The Windows team will maintain close collaboration with the Microsoft AI team on AI, silicon, and experiences.

The Web Experiences team will report to Mustafa in the new Microsoft AI organization.

Jordi Ribas will oversee Search, Maps, and Platforms, with Andrey Proskurin, Fatima Kardar, and Nick Lee reporting to him.

Rukmini Iyer will head Advertising, with Paul Viola and Weiqing Tu reporting to her.

Mike Davidson will continue to lead Design and will collaborate with Pavan and his team on realigning Windows design.

Ali Akgun, Kya Sainsbury-Carter, Qi Zhang, and Rajesh Sundaram's roles remain unchanged. They will join the Microsoft AI leadership team alongside Jordi, Mike, and Rukmini, all reporting to Mustafa.

We are excited for this team to contribute to Microsoft AI's ambitious goal of developing world-class consumer AI products. I eagerly anticipate our close collaboration with Mustafa and the team as we integrate our AI products, including Copilot, into the breadth of our E+D products and services.

Thank you,

Rajesh