Xbox CEO Asha Sharma hires CoreAI leaders to Xbox

In a memo to employees dated May 5, 2026, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced a set of external hires and internal shifts intended to reorganize the division’s platform teams. The new hires include four leaders from Microsoft’s CoreAI group and a product and growth executive from Instacart.

Jared Palmer will join Xbox as a member of technical staff to work on product, engineering, developer tools and infrastructure. Tim Allen will lead design. Jonathan McKay will head growth. Evan Chaki will run a team of forward-deployed engineers focused on simplifying development and reducing repetitive work. David Schloss, previously a senior director of product and growth at Instacart, will oversee Xbox’s subscription and cloud business.

Sharma wrote that the platform organization must “evolve how we work and how we are organized across our platform,” adding that “right now, it is too hard to ship impact quickly. We spend too much time inward instead of with the community, and we lack the depth we need in some of the fundamentals.” She framed the hires as bringing consumer and technical expertise that the division does not yet have.

The reorganization also includes internal role changes. Jason Ronald, formerly vice president of Next Generation, will take on accountability for Project Helix and the platform. Jason Beaumont, Xbox’s vice president of Xbox Experiences, will lead product and serve as interim head of engineering.

Two senior leaders are changing their responsibilities. Kevin Gammill, a corporate vice president working on the Gaming Ecosystem Organization, is leaving his role. Roanne Sones, corporate vice president of Xbox Devices and Ecosystem, will take a leave of absence and later transition into an advisory position.

Company sources say the new team will work across product, developer tools, subscriptions and cloud services to speed delivery of features and reduce internal friction. Jared Palmer confirmed his new role on social media.

Sharma wrote that the goal of the reorganization is to build a platform that is “affordable, personal, and open by staying close to the work and the people we serve,” and that the company will add the capabilities needed to achieve that aim.