Cloud Solution Architecture Director - Modern Work - Retail & CPG - Microsoft

The Microsoft US Retail & Consumer Goods organization is responsible for the strategy, design, and implementation of Microsoft’s end-to-end customer experience. 

Come join us and help build a future where customers come to us not only because we provide industry-leading products and services, but also because we provide a differentiated and connected customer experience. This role will have a strong focus on managing our manufacturing customers that are leveraging Microsoft’s government cloud services.As a Cloud Solution Architect Manager, you will lead a team of people who enable customers to achieve their outcomes, based on their investments in Microsoft technology. Leveraging your business and technical expertise, you will coach the team to ensure customers get value from their MS investments such as M365 Enterprise solution and Unified support investments. As a hands-on manager, you will lead by example through direct involvement with customers. This opportunity will allow you to accelerate your career growth, honing your leadership skills, and deepening your Cloud expertise. This role is flexible in that you can work up to 100% from home. 

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.

People Management

• Managers deliver success through empowerment and accountability by modeling, coaching, and caring.
• Model - Live our culture; Embody our values; Practice our leadership principles.
• Coach - Define team objectives and outcomes; Enable success across boundaries; Help the team adapt and learn.
• Care - Attract and retain great people; Know each individual’s capabilities and aspirations; Invest in the growth of others.

Understanding the Customer

• Fosters alignment with internal teams on customer's business priorities, within and across solution areas. Takes ownership in understanding customer business, needs, and strategy across all aligned accounts. Keeps up to date with external customer information and industry trends through research (e.g., reads customer publications, speaks with direct reports and customer stakeholders). Gains insight and credibility as a trusted partner by influencing customers, providing thought leadership, and partnering with the customer to better understand their needs and digital transformation priorities. Leverages an external perspective with customers, bringing in insights from previous customer experiences. Anticipates market direction around technology to ensure team is equipped with the appropriate capabilities. Coaches team to develop and leverage understanding of customer business and industry. Guides building and/or expansion of stakeholder map, as needed.

Driving Business Value Realization

• Drives best practices and innovation in delivery of customer success plans to optimize customer value across accounts and stay aligned with strategic vision. Provides data-driven recommendations in defining success measures and promotes long-term customer success strategy with team. Coaches team to build customer success plans and utilizes them to build account team plan, leveraging own expertise and hands-on experiences (e.g., success plan workshops). Aligns multiple engagement plans and leverages corporate resources dedicated to awareness improvement of high potentials (e.g., Skills Learning platform). Facilitates cross-team and business unit collaboration (e.g., with Engineering, Partners, Cloud Solution Architects) to accelerate business value realization and ensure progress reporting. Facilitates team connections with technical and sales experts to drive business value realization. Leads team to cultivate successful customer outcomes as references/case studies in order to accelerate the velocity of all current and future customers.

Driving Consumption

• Leads team to work with business development managers (BDMs) and key stakeholders to execute actions outlined in the Customer Success Plan. Ensures team is using change management principles to be able to drive change management effectively. Ensures accountability for resolving consumption blockers by galvanizing resources and solutions, as required. Identifies patterns in blockers and success factors across business areas or a territory to influence and create effective execution strategies. Coaches team on best practices for handling escalations.

Guiding Customer Success Strategy

• Acts as a strategic partner to executive-level business and technical decision makers (e.g., Chief Executive-level) to guide customers in defining and realizing their digital and business transformational targets. Leverages expertise in relationship building and influencing to mentor team in building strategic partnerships. Leads team to leverage Customer Success Unit (CSU) solution Area engagement frameworks to guide customer success strategy, create customer journey map, and produce customer success plan (e.g., dynamic journey to success).

Partner Engagement

• Proactively builds and/or leverages relationships with relevant internal partners/stakeholders (e.g., services) and external partners to develop partner network and support business outcomes. Collaborates with internal teams (e.g., One Commercial Partner) to leverage strategic and updated offerings when running plays. Guides and coaches team in leveraging partner network for influence. Influences the development and landing of consumption motions with partners.

Cross-Team Collaboration

• Leads and oversees internal teams (e.g., FastTrack, One Commercial Partner) across functions to support business outcomes, enable execution of customer success through One Microsoft, and inform programmatic improvements. Leads rhythms of business (ROBs) and oversees processes to ensure efficiency. Aligns processes (e.g., forecasting) with other cross-functional internal teams within the Enterprise Operating Unit (e.g., Account Team Unit, Specialist Team Unit, Services, One Commercial Partner, Business Group). Orchestrates across subsidiary to drive consistency in approach on global basis for early-in-career team member experience. Manages team's collaboration on joint solution identification with key stakeholders in other solution areas to increase relevance, support execution, and drive customer business value.

Operational and Execution Excellence

• Provides support for team in maintaining operational excellence and customer health and ensuring consumption process compliance by coaching the team to leverage key tools, programs, and insights, orchestrating consumption rhythm of business (ROB) for the Operating Unit (OU), and reporting to Leadership on insights. Drives maintenance of governance processes. Leads ROB and reports on overall health across territories within the OU, interpreting and providing data-driven insights focused on the business unit. Drives operational excellence by promoting content sharing and knowledge building across teams and providing clarity to the team. Ensures team is using appropriate tools and offers guidance on maintaining engagement and pipeline hygiene. Contributes thought leadership to ensure team is effectively executing against operational excellence. Drives accountability in execution by providing coaching, ensuring use of tools, engaging in follow-up activities, overseeing processes, and offers guidance on maintaining engagement and pipeline hygiene. Optimizes team resources across engagements. Oversees updates provided to account and regional stakeholders on customers' transformation initiatives.

Customer Trust and Advocacy

• Enables and empowers team to act as the voice of the customer (VOC) and partner by championing feedback around technical capabilities, blockers, and insights and driving the resolution of existing items. Represents the customer to internal teams (e.g., Engineering) as an escalation point to shape strategy by providing insights across territories. Uses broad patterns of feedback to develop strategic and actionable insights and presents a compelling business case to program managers that influences product roadmaps and decision making. Enables and empowers team to identify gaps and take ownership in driving action based on feedback and advocating on the customer's behalf to drive resolution. Drives strategy for positive change within Microsoft. Brings in advocates to showcase success as references. Creates a culture of advocacy within the team to champion advocacy internally and represent the industry externally. Empowers team to establish trusted-advisor status by building trust with the customer/partner and drives and builds trust with customers/partners. Leads efforts to establish and drive executive sponsorship within customer/partner organizations and in Microsoft to support customer's success and digital transformation journey.

Community Involvement

• Empowers and coaches team to identify trends across customers and connect them to relevant communities (e.g., user groups, success factories) to drive customer success, initiating and developing new communities/events as needed (e.g., leads executive roundtable, develops user groups) to drive partner enablement and scale. Actively participates as a leader/moderator in relevant internal and external communities by giving presentations, etc. Shadows and is shadowed by Customer Success Managers (CSMs) on new workshops. Collaborates in iterating engagement frameworks, new initiatives, programs, and workshops. Champions programs and represents their region in regional and global virtual teams to progress execution and impact. Shares success stories and best practices across communities and provides feedback and insights into the playbook for optimization.

Technical Development

• Proactively provides mentorship and coaching to team members by sharing expertise to drive team capabilities. Enables and empowers team to utilize and optimize development opportunities (e.g., mentorships, role-based resources, training participation, internal events such as Ready, Ignite) and leverage network to build technical capability. Fosters a culture of professional development to drive continuous learning of Customer Success discipline expertise, including product and required technical skills. Drives teams to continuously update business process knowledge in relevant industries, as well as functional knowledge of workload.

Specialty Responsibility

• Motivates team and provides guidance to engage with the customer to drive all intent, use cases, and business value scenarios, through envisioning as appropriate. Guides team to prioritize and leverage top key performance indicators (KPIs) to drive prioritization of high-impact business outcomes. Guides team to proactively use knowledge of the products, services, and value propositions of Microsoft and its competitors to identify growth opportunities based on knowledge of customer needs. Serves as a sought-after resource and trusted advisor for customer. Coaches team to actively listen to and respectfully challenge customers when appropriate on their decisions and/or areas where they could drive more value from solutions purchased. Coaches team to secure executive sponsorship and build on network and industry experience to connect customers/partners with ideas, people, and resources that help orchestrate alignment.*

Other

• Embody our culture and values

Required/Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Engineering, Technology, or related field AND 6+ years related work experience (e.g., consulting, pre-sales/post-sales, business analysis, technical sales, technology solutions, change management, line-of-business leadership)
  • OR Master's Degree in Business, Engineering, Technology, or related field AND 4+ years related work experience (e.g., consulting, pre-sales/post-sales, business analysis, technical sales, technology solutions, change management, line-of-business leadership)
  • OR equivalent experience.
• 2+ years people management experience.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.  We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.