Xbox VP Jared Palmer departs after just months under new leader Asha Sharma – joins AI startup Cognition

Jared Palmer, who joined Xbox as VP of engineering just months ago as part of new leader Asha Sharma’s team, is already out the door. He announced on X that he’s heading to Cognition, an AI company, to lead engineering.

“Personal update: I’ve joined Cognition to lead engineering,” Palmer wrote. “I’m grateful to Asha Sharma and everyone at Xbox for an amazing year.” The “year” part is doing some heavy lifting — Palmer’s actual time at Xbox was only about seven months, and his entire Microsoft tenure began just last October when he joined the CoreAI team.

A Short Stint at Xbox

Palmer was among several former colleagues Sharma brought over from Microsoft’s CoreAI team when she took the reins of Xbox in February. At the time, Sharma said Palmer would focus on developer tools, engineering, product, and infrastructure — “using technology to support creators,” as she put it. That vision apparently didn’t stick.

It’s not clear why Palmer left so quickly. The timing is suspicious, but the reason may have more to do with where he’s going than any issue with Xbox. Cognition is a buzzy AI startup, and Palmer’s background is in developer tools and productivity. AI is where the money and hype are right now.

The Bigger Picture: Xbox Under Asha Sharma

Palmer’s exit lands at the most turbulent moment in Xbox’s history. Sharma’s reset plan has already laid off 1,600 people across almost all of Microsoft’s studios, with another 1,600 cuts planned over fiscal year 2027 — a total of 3,200. Microsoft is also divesting from four studios it owned and proposing the closure of another.

This matters because the next-gen console, codenamed Project Helix, is supposedly in the works. The year or so before a new console launch is typically when platform work is most concentrated. Losing a VP of engineering — even one with a short tenure — doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in that timeline.

For now, Palmer’s move is a personal career decision. But in the context of Xbox’s chaotic restructuring, it’s another signal that the ship is still figuring out its course. What happens next for Project Helix and the teams left behind is anyone’s guess.