Technology Specialist Manager - Azure Data, Apps, and AI

In Small, Medium, Corporate (SMC) and Digital Sales, we have set out with the purpose to empower our customers through the unique value of the Microsoft cloud by building a globally led, digital-first scale organization aligned with partners. As part of local subsidiaries or Digital Sales centers around the world, you will support a dedicated set of customers in identifying and achieving their business objectives through best-in-class digital engagement and partner co-selling. You will also have an opportunity to work cross-collaboratively while living our shared SMC and Digital Sales Culture priorities: Diversity and Inclusivity, Wellbeing, Sustainability, and Learning. If you have been described as customer obsessed and have a passion for digital-first solutions, we invite you to learn more about the SMC and Digital Sales organization and the value we deliver to our customers, partners, and one another, every day.

Are you inspired to help customers empower their employees, maximize the employee experience, and do great work using the devices and apps they love? We are looking for someone to help customers who are undergoing significant changes to the way they work as we continue to shift into a truly hybrid work model. Microsoft is at the forefront of this transformation come and help organizations rethink aspects of their business in a way that sets them and their people up for success in this new world of work.

As the Technology Specialist Manager in Azure Data, Apps, and AI, you will be leading a team of Azure Technology Specialists to provide and sell the best-in-class cloud service and platforms to our managed customers, building the momentum for digital transformation for our customers and partners as well as Microsoft itself. This leader is a great sales coach, has a "challenger" mentality, is savvy in sales-leadership practice and contributes with vision and flawless execution of solution sales across solution areas.

This opportunity will allow you to accelerate your career growth, honing your solution sales and collaboration skills, and deepening your cloud expertise.

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.

Required/Minimum Qualifications

• Master's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Business or related field AND 4+ years technical pre-sales or technical consulting experience OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND 6+ years technical pre-sales or technical consulting experience OR 7+ years technical pre-sales or technical consulting experience OR equivalent experience.
• Relevant certifications from Microsoft or competitive platforms AND 5+ years technical pre-sales or technical consulting experience.
• Advanced English level.
• 10+ years technical pre-sales, technical consulting, or related experience.
• 3+ years people management experience (including leading virtual teams).
• 4+ years experience working in the field of Data & AI, ideally in the cloud. 
• Experience leading sales teams working with US based customers.

Additional or Preferred Qualifications

• 6+ years experience with cloud and hybrid, or on premises infrastructures, architecture designs, migrations, industry standards, and/or technology management.
• 7+ years technical pre-sales or technical consulting, or related experience.
• Azure Data Engineer Certified or Azure Database Administer Certified preferred
• Breadth of technical experience and knowledge, with depth/subject matter expertise in two or more of the following data platform cloud solutions required: 

• SQL databases including Azure SQL, Azure SQL Managed Instance, Azure SQL on IaaS 
• Data Analytics including Azure Databricks, Microsoft Fabric, Azure Synapse, Azure Machine Learning 
• Artificial Intelligence solutions including Azure OpenAI, Azure Cognitive Services 
• Data Governance including Azure Purview 

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. 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.

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.

Scale Customer Engagements

• Identifies and engages with customer technical decision makers proactively while engaging sales team. Coaches and enables team to identify and proactively engage with key customer technical decision makers and influencers to help unblock technical obstacles.
• Uses knowledge of customer context, and broad technical, domain, cross-solution, and market/industry knowledge and experience to build credibility with and influence customers individually or at scale.
• Enables and empowers team to influence customer decisions and ensure technical wins by streamlining processes and managing the flow of wins, leveraging broad knowledge of processes (e.g., Managed Service Provider [MSP], co-sell partners), tools, and programs (e.g., FastTrack, End Customer Investment Funds [ECIFs]). Aligns goals across solution areas and facilitates cross-selling with various workloads (e.g., Apps, Data and Infrastructure).
• Leverages knowledge of resources (e.g., roles, Microsoft Technology Center [MTC], demo sites, virtual sites) and independently facilitates resolution of technical and non-technical blockers by engaging other teams (e.g., account team unit [ATU], specialist team unit [STU]) and conveying impact. Anticipates and addresses future potential blockers based on needs. Identifies patterns of blockers within area of expertise and drives resolution through local and global escalation.
• Ensures consistency and quality through sharing, evolving or developing standards and best practices (e.g., managed service provider [MSP], managed certified professional [MCP]) in customer engagements by implementing cross-functional initiatives to different channels across a subsidiary. Models and promotes proactiveness in customer engagement, enabling team to take initiatives on the agenda and drive progress.
• Orchestrates team resources and coaches team to maximize impact of customer engagements and drive mid- to long-term strategy through cross-workload capacity planning, prioritization, capabilities assessment, and utilization of resources. Proactively plans team resources and influences future blueprints. Holds team accountable for maximizing selling time to achieve scorecard objectives and subsidiary strategy.
• Ensures consistency and quality through adherence of standards and best practices (e.g., managed service provider [MSP], managed certified professional [MCP]) in customer engagements by holding team accountable.
• Orchestrates team resources and coaches team to maximize impact of customer engagements through capacity planning, prioritization, capabilities assessment, and utilization of resources. Prioritizes resources and holds team accountable for maximizing selling time to achieve scorecard objectives and subsidiary strategy.

Scale Through Partners

• Maximizes area-level capacity and capabilities of scaling through partners by coaching team to grow partner network, identifying gaps and promoting Microsoft within the Microsoft ecosystem (e.g., account teams). Raises escalations or alleviates blockers through collaboration with manager-level counterparts in cross-functional groups.
• Supports partner technical capacity by providing feedback and suggestions for improvement to internal teams (e.g., One Commercial Partner [OCP]).

Build Strategy

• Builds and applies competitive knowledge of team by enabling competitive learning and identifying experts to share knowledge and drive change. Enables team to share compete knowledge with internal teams and communities, influence compete strategies, and highlight Microsoft advantages during architecture and capability discussions.
• Coaches and provides support to team and across internal teams to define and execute strategy. Proactively leads team to approach customers to understand and identify cross-workload strategy opportunities. Engages internal teams to ensure capability to execute strategy.
• Supports the voice of the customer (VOC) through escalation, acceleration, and additional emphasis of feedback, blockers, insights, resources, etc. (e.g., OneList) items as needed. Looks across multiple customers for opportunities to consolidate and prioritize items across the business.
• Maintains communications with internal partners (e.g., account team unit [ATU], customer success unit [CSU], solutions specialist unit [SSU]) on highest potential customers to pre-align technical resources to customer and customer cases based on account planning and priorities, with the flexibility to realign to minimize orchestration and enable proactive engagements as needed.
• Works with local marketing teams to provide feedback on corporate domain messages. Works with the account team to tailor and drive the win plans to audience for the local markets using knowledge of Microsoft offerings, their context in the competitive landscape, and broader market trends. Ensures team is equipped to execute compete strategy, collaborating with cross-functional groups as needed.
• Designs the approach of promoting product usage. Oversees and guides team to analyze, develop, and implement approach or action plans to promote customer usage of key/prioritized Microsoft solutions/products that support customer’s business outcomes.

Solution Design and Proof

• Coaches team and oversees demonstrations (e.g., architectural design sessions [ADS], proof of concept [POC] sessions, pilots, hackathons) of solutions and position solutions against competitors. Ensures demonstrations enable customers to identify and resolve technical issues with clear criteria and next steps that guarantee deployment of Microsoft technology. Guides team on Microsoft standards on demonstrations to provide feedback to partners. Identifies patterns and trends to provide feedback on improving demonstrations.
• Applies and adapts sales methodologies (e.g., catalyst, challenger sales) and coaches team in guiding customers through digital transformation across solution areas and leveraging insights to align new or changing technology to customer business needs.
• Coaches team to leverage solutions in innovative ways that use Microsoft technology to meet customer needs. Supports team in coordinating with stakeholders to develop solutions for complex sales scenarios. Drives the culture of innovation and learning to enable team to execute on those solutions.
• Identifies new trends and needs, and identifies ideas that can be transformed into applications of solutions that benefit customers/partners, serving as the voice of the customer (VOC) to Microsoft. Ensure input is utilized and solutions for the customer are established at the area level.

Technical Leadership

• Enables and empowers team to develop technical expertise and provide technical insights to internal teams. Acts as a role model for continuous learning and development and anticipates future needs for capabilities based on industry/market trends.
• Influences and oversees team to conduct one-to-many events (e.g., workshops, Webinars) to present and educate customers, partners, and colleagues with broad knowledge across Microsoft solution areas/products.
• Contributes content and expertise, and ensures team members participate in tech communities and drives feedback to improve overall team member experience and effectiveness.

Other

• Embody our culture and values