Microsoft Executive Vice President Rajesh Jha has announced that he will be leaving the Redmond-based giant later this year. Jha’s departure is seen as a major blow to the company, as he is the highest-ranking executive supervising the Office suite, now Microsoft 365.
His exit comes at a time when Microsoft is trying to bring more AI features into Copilot, while also competing with AI companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI in the same generative AI space.
Jha will be retiring from his position in July this year.
Who is Rajesh Jha?
Rajesh oversaw one of the largest engineering teams at Microsoft – the Experiences and Devices group. This included the development of office apps such as Excel and PowerPoint, while also focusing on AI features via Copilot. He also supervised the development of Windows and Surface devices.
Under Rajesh Jha’s leadership, Microsoft brought AI models from OpenAI and Anthropic into Copilot. Copilot is now integrated as an add-on to Microsoft 365 commercial subscriptions.
In an internal memo, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote, “[Rajesh Jha] embodies the commitment that helped build and transform Microsoft into the company it is today.”
On the education front, Rajesh Jha completed his master’s in computer science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He completed his bachelor’s in computer science from IIT Madras.
According to the IIT Madras website, Jha serves on the Advisory Board for the College of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He also sits on the Advisory Board of the Jagran Foundation in Bellevue, Washington.
What happens at Microsoft now?
Following Jha’s retirement, four leaders who worked with his Experiences and Devices group will report to Nadella.
This includes LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky, who took responsibility for Office applications and the M365 Copilot AI app in 2025, and Pavan Davuluri, who leads the development of Surface devices and Windows operating systems. Microsoft 365 Core President Perry Clark, and Microsoft’s President of Business and Industry Copilot Charles Lamanna will also report directly to Nadella.
Jha’s retirement announcement comes just days after Microsoft’s gaming chief Phil Spencer decided to leave the company.
