Azure Solution Area Lead Manager

at Microsoft Corporation in Chicago, Illinois, United States

Job Description

The Small, Medium, and Corporate (SMC) organization helps businesses achieve their digital transformation and business goals by helping customers with Microsoft solutions and partners. One of the fastest growing customer segments in the industry, SMC helps customers realize value from the Microsoft Cloud across customer solution areas like Modern Work, Security, Business Applications, Infrastructure, Data and AI, and Application Innovation.

The Small and Medium Business (SMB) segment within SMC is at the leading edge of growth and transformation. It’s a tremendous growth engine for the company dedicated to bringing the Microsoft cloud to millions of SMB customers worldwide through scalable routes to market, growing revenue, market share and net new customers while enabling a high level of customer and partner experience.

As the Azure Solution Area Lead Manager , you will be accountable to the Azure business goals of Microsoft in the SMB segment and be the SMB customer advocate across the organization. This requires continuous innovation and evolution of our Solution sales execution strategy, while remaining centered on the customer.

To be successful, you should have a deep understanding of the local market, customer acquisition engines and upsell/cross-sell motions across services/products and the respective routes to market. You will lead a team of Azure consumption experts and a v-team of key business partners from the partner, products and services, marketing, and operations teams, driving alignment on the SMB Azure strategy through the development of a holistic business plan, and ensure always on execution with the right level of investments to address customer needs and accelerate their digital transformation.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

Responsibilities

+ Sales Leadership – Accountable for delivering on revenue quotas as the business owner for one or more Solution Areas, developing small and medium business (SMB) and Scale strategies for the local market by sub-segment, defining sales engine targets, and reviewing sales engine and partner performance. Coaches SMB Sales program managers to develop execution plans for sales engines and sales plays with partners and holds them accountable for meeting key performance indicators (KPIs) targets, growth targets, optimizing return on investment (ROI) and aligning priorities with key stakeholders.

+ ?People Management – Build a high-performing team that delivers success through empowerment and accountability by modeling, coaching, and caring. Model by living our culture, embodying our values and practicing leadership principles. Coach by defining team objectives and outcomes, enabling success across boundaries, and helping the team adapt and learn. Care by attracting and retaining great people, knowing each team member’s capabilities and aspirations, and investing in the growth of others.

+ ?Planning – Oversees and develops long-term small and medium business (SMB) and Scale growth and investment business planning in partnership with stakeholder team(s) in local market(s) and monitors the use of resources and investments in execution plans to drive net customer adds and revenue growth across Solution Areas. Structures financial details for requests for additional investment and demonstrates business impact and ROI from previous investments to make a business case with executive stakeholders. Serves as escalation point for business planning and ensures virtual teams’ stakeholders are aligned on priorities and have the resources needed to identify and deliver optimal solutions for customers.

+ ?Managing Partner and Leader/Stakeholder Connections: Proactively manages relationships and engagements with leadership teams across internal sales and marketing organizations. Meets with internal and/or external stakeholders as needed to gain buy in and alignment on plans. Attends meetings with partners, distributors, and other business stakeholders to discuss opportunities and plans to drive revenue and performance within channels, markets, and/or solution area(s). May work with local governing entities to influence policies and market dynamics in their region(s).

+ ?SMB Management – Manage SMB segment revenue growth and net new customer adds on cloud-based solutions offerings within local markets. Ensures that SMB Sales roles are sharing insights from analyses of programs’ return on investment (ROI) with internal teams (e.g., Marketing, Global Partner Solutions) as needed to influence decision making related to investment budgets and seeks out additional investments as needed to maximize market opportunities and execute on strategies. Influences the development of channel strategies and go-to-market offerings that drive cloud solution provider (CSP) expansion across markets and facilitates collaboration across the business (e.g., Finance, Business Group Leaderships, Marketing, Digital Sales, Global Partner Solutions) to identify needs for additional capacity or capabilities, coordinate efforts to build upon them as needed, and identify potential partners to help achieve revenue, customer acquisition and consumption targets. While being a committed agent of change, clearly defines and aligns expectations for v-team members’ roles, performance targets, priorities, rhythm of business (ROB), and governance to ensure they are clearly aligned with customer and business needs and priorities.

+ ?Deal execution – Coaches and sets expectations for sales teams andparticipates in engagements with virtual team and/or partner stakeholders to support the scalable realization of deals that are complex and represent significant market share, as required. May work directly with customers to influence the closing of highly strategically valuable deals.

+ ?Customer/Partner Satisfaction – Holds sales teams accountable for monitoring trends in customer feedback, escalating customer issues, and leveraging best practices and feedback to improve program execution and satisfaction in doing business with Microsoft. Shares feedback with Business Groups and other relevant internal stakeholders to support improvements in engagements across customer segments and markets. Coaches team to apply expertise in local customer segments, campaigns, competitors, market trends, and digital maturity to understand the voice of the customer in their markets, identify sales plays and partner solution offerings that address local customer business needs.

Embody our Culture (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/about/corporate-values) and Values (https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/culture)

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

+ Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, Sales, Marketing, Economics, Engineering, or related field AND 8+ years relevant Sales or Marketing experience with Information Technology products and/or services

+ OR equivalent experience.

+ 2+ years experience managing others.

Additional or Preferred Qualifications

+ 10+ years relevant sales experience with Information Technology products/services.

+ 4+ years experience managing others.

+ ?Strategic thinking & execution.?Ability to develop sales and business strategy options, while also being able to successfully execute complex opportunities.?

+ Collaboration.?Experienced in orchestrating and leading virtual teams to develop and drive sales through various engines.?

+ Enterprise and/or Channel Sales. 4+ years’ experience selling business to business IT solutions and meeting revenue targets.

+ Executive Stakeholder Value.?Experienced in buildi