Director, Solution Area Specialists Manager - Cloud & AI Platform

The Solution Area Specialists Manager oversees and aligns multiple teams with the organization's strategic vision and customer success objectives, ensuring adherence to sales frameworks and guidelines. Strategically guides and empowers teams to proactively anticipate and address competitive threats and gaps in the market across all solution areas.

Develops and empowers teams to lead end-to-end artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud-driven transformation initiatives for customers. Works with area or organization leaders to ensure an accurate forecast through pipeline management and a deal-based forecast in each of the core solution areas. Drives cross-organizational collaboration to achieve operational excellence and execution of the business strategy.

Coaches teams to leverage technology to drive business growth across solution areas and ensures the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered analytics and forecasting tools to enhance precision. Proactively identifies and aligns solution scenarios with customer and partner organizations, ensuring that Microsoft's offerings integrate with and add value to their business operations. Acts as a prominent customer and partner advocate within the subsidiary/area, providing feedback to solution area leaders to shape strategy and drive continuous improvement to capture market opportunities and establish trust. In addition, this role has people management responsibilities including driving employee growth and development, executing projects, and managing performance.

Customer Engagement and Partnership
Acts as a prominent customer and partner advocate within the subsidiary/area, providing feedback to solution area leaders to shape strategy and drive continuous improvement to capture market opportunities and establish trust. Champions the prioritization of customer success and advocates for customized strategies that deliver on their specific needs and objectives. Promotes early involvement of strategic partners in the sales cycle to accelerate customer adoption and value realization at scale. Contributes to multiple rhythms of business (RoB) within the enterprise and incorporates both external (e.g., customer) and internal (e.g., sellers, internal teams) perspectives. Provides insights and feedback to internal teams to enhance go-to-market (GTM) strategies. Coaches and mentors teams on simplifying and aligning sales plays to meet market and customer needs.

Proactively identifies and aligns solution scenarios with customer and partner organizations, ensuring that Microsoft's offerings integrate with and add value to their business operations. Serves as a trusted advisor for customers and partners, leveraging insights to drive success in the marketplace. Leads high-level conversations with customers that underscore the strategic partnership between Microsoft, partners, and customers’ business objectives, fostering long-term business relationships. Ensures access to customer support resources through Unified Support, accelerating business value realization and transformation.

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.

Sales Operations and Pipeline Management

Works with area or organization leaders to ensure an accurate forecast through pipeline management and a deal-based forecast in each of the core solution areas. Ensures management of the sales pipeline and opportunities by reviewing overall pipeline progress to identify stalled deals and areas requiring assistance. Ensures active opportunity management, addressing potential roadblocks and driving the attainment of sales targets and business objectives. Develops and implements sales strategy to maximize return on investments (ROI) and optimizes resources that drives impact across the solution area with operational vigor.

Coaches teams to leverage technology (e.g., automation, Power Platforms, Sales Agents) to drive business growth across solution areas and ensures the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered analytics and forecasting tools to enhance precision. Develops teams to drive new revenue and business expansion across the subsidiary and ensures sales execution efforts capture market-specific opportunities and align with AI-enhanced sales methodologies and best practices. Executes the overarching enterprise sales strategy, translating the corporate blueprint into actionable plans within the local market context to drive revenue and business growth. Strategically allocates and manages organizational resources to cultivate a robust sales pipeline to seize market share and outperform competitors in key growth areas. Strategically identifies opportunities for customers to leverage technology, guiding them towards solutions that transform their business operations and drive growth.

Drives cross-organizational collaboration to achieve operational excellence and execution of the business strategy. Strategically simplifies complexity across solution areas and translates comprehensive go-to-market (GTM) strategies for cross-solution plays that drive business outcomes. Orchestrates the integration and alignment of solutions across the full technology stack, engaging stakeholders to demonstrate the business value proposition. Leads the strategic development and implementation of succession and development plans that advance technical sales acumen and capabilities across multiple teams.

Sales Strategy and Execution

Oversees and aligns multiple teams with the organization's strategic vision and customer success objectives, ensuring adherence to sales frameworks and guidelines. Leads strategic initiatives across teams that foster innovation and agility through artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud adoption and tailored, cutting-edge solutions that create a significant and lasting impact on the local market. Drives the integration of security principles in all customer engagements to uphold trust and compliance, influencing the integration of these principles across the solution area. Drives innovation and strategic problem-solving across multiple teams to establish a competitive edge in the technical sales landscape.

Develops and empowers teams to lead end-to-end artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud-driven transformation initiatives for customers. Ensures AI- and cloud-powered wins that enhance customer business capabilities and demonstrate transformative impact of cutting-edge AI technologies and cloud services. Empowers teams to articulate Microsoft's offerings to differentiate them from competitors by leveraging unique selling propositions to create competitive advantage and capture market interest. Leads teams to innovate and excel in achieving market impact with cutting-edge and innovative solutions. Fosters innovation and agility through AI and cloud adoption, aligning solutions to customer priorities and business outcomes.

Strategically guides and empowers teams to proactively anticipate, identify, and address competitive threats and gaps in the market across all solution areas and provides strategic direction to align solutions with market trends. Leverages artificial intelligence (AI)-driven market intelligence tools to analyze digital signals and market trends, providing expert insights that inform strategic decisions and drive organizational growth across teams. Crafts tailored business solutions that align with customer demands and market signals, ensuring proposals meet customers’ strategic needs. Builds, lands, executes, and maintains strategic sales plans for each solution area that respond to customer demands, industry needs, local regulations, and market trends to drive business growth and capture total addressable market (TAM) across the subsidiary. Develops and nurtures a pipeline of diverse talent that anticipates the needs of the market and optimizes the ability to capture total addressable market (TAM).

Required/Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, Business Administration, Analytics, Data Science, or related field AND 8+ years technology-related sales or account management experience OR equivalent experience.
• 8+ years people management experience.

Solution Area Specialists M6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $158,400 - $243,000 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $202,000 - $267,000 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.