Account Technology Strategist - Africa (FSI) at Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, consumer electronics and personal computers and services. Its best known software products are the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, Microsoft Office office suite, and Internet Explorer web browser. Its flagship hardware products are the Xbox game consoles and the Microsoft Surface tablet lineup. It is the world's largest software maker measured by revenues. It is also one of the world's most valuable companies. Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975, to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for Altair 8800. It rose to dominate the personal computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by Microsoft Windows. The company's 1986 initial public offering, and subsequent rise in its share price, created three billionaires and an estimated 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees. Since the 1990s, it has increasingly diversified from the operating system market and has made a number of corporate acquisitions. In May 2011, Microsoft acquired Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion in its largest acquisition to date. As of 2013, Microsoft is market dominant in both the IBM PC-compatible operating system and office software suite markets (the latter with Microsoft Office). The company also produces a wide range of other software for desktops and servers, and is active in areas including Internet search (with Bing), the video game industry (with the Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox One consoles), the digital services market (through MSN), and mobile phones (via the Windows Phone OS). In June 2012, Microsoft entered the personal computer production market for the first time, with the launch of the Microsoft Surface, a line of tablet computers. With the acquisition of Nokia's devices and services division to form Microsoft Mobile Oy, the company re-entered the smartphone hardware market, after its previous attempt, Microsoft Kin, which resulted from their acquisition of Danger Inc.

Overview

Microsoft’s Enterprise Team focuses on empowering customers on their digital journey, from envisioning new possibilities to delivering solutions that result in targeted business outcomes and great customer experience and revenue growth for Microsoft.

As an Account Technology Strategist focused on Africa, you will have the opportunity to drive digital technology transformation in partnership with your customer, to achieve both Microsoft and customer business outcomes. 
Paired with an Account Executive, leveraging your large, multi-functional team across the breadth of the Microsoft product portfolio, engage at the most senior levels of your customer and bring industry-relevant solutions to help the customer adopt and embrace digital technologies.
With a proven history of innovating technical solutions to achieve customers’ business transformation and achieving account growth targets, this role will give the opportunity to combine your technology and industry knowledge to deliver on digital solutions to accelerate your customer’s digital vision.

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.

Qualifications

Required/Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Business or related field AND 6+ years technical consulting, technical consultative selling, business consulting, practice building, or related technical/sales experience
• Deep Technology Knowledge & C-suite level engagement
• Strong presentation skills

OR equivalent experience.

Additional or Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related field AND 12+ years technical consulting, technical consultative selling, business consulting, practice building, or related technical/sales experience

OR equivalent experience.

• 6+ years experience in relevant customer industry.
• 6+ years experience in digital transformation, or using technology to drive customer business outcomes.

Responsibilities

Customer and Industry Insights

• Synthesizes and combines various business and industry insights from their team, global best practices, proof points from experience/case studies with countries and/or regions, and deep industry expertise (e.g., level 200) related to customers and their competitors to conduct forecasting and develop recommendations for managing accounts and subsidiary planning. Ensures that all levels of the organization challenge customers to consider alternatives and adapt strategies, plans, business models, and solutions to insights. Orchestrates cross-regional teams to gather information, collaborate on performance markers, and identify potential risks in customer accounts. Oversees technical teams for driving opportunities with others, as necessary. Brings in business and industry insights to address the broader business challenges for the customer and deliver solutions.
• Applies expertise (deep expertise across few accounts or broad expertise across many accounts) and thought leadership to identify and inform the development of the right Industry Sales Kits and industry partners within the customer's vertical industry. Articulates and understands specific industry-related market trends, as well as customer threats, opportunities, and barriers to growth as they relate to the customer's broader industry. Leverages industry trends from other industries to gather insights and develop an informed perspective on similar issues that may occur within their industry/industries. Applies industry knowledge to support customers in solving issues.

Trusted Advisor

• Provides Account thought leadership inclusive of information technology (IT), business strategy knowledge, and technology landscape, and shares best practices internally while providing coaching to subsidiary resources. Leverages account thought leadership in partnership with account executives to set strategy, own accountability for outcomes, and lead extended teams. Provides technical guidance to internal teams to position technology while using customer landscape knowledge. Creates connections and feedback loops with Product and Engineering teams.
• Creates security thought leadership with the customer's executives (e.g., technical decision maker [TDM]/business decision maker [BDM]) using the Microsoft Security and Zero Trust narratives and engages TDM and BDM stakeholders to position security as a business enabler and instill a security mindset in all aspects of the customer's technology landscape. Uses their understanding of the customers' technology and security needs to establish Microsoft’s security credentials and to build opportunities to improve the customer's security posture and orchestrates execution through security specialists.
• Leverages a broad knowledge of Microsoft's product landscape, solutions, and strategy to address customer's needs. Proactively coordinates with internal and external network of industry experts (e.g., Regional Experts, industry-specific partners) to build strong knowledge of the industry and the competitive landscape. Drives and leverages leaders from the partner ecosystem to bridge process gaps. Leverages deep understanding of their customer to share knowledge with extended team and leverages advanced knowledge of competitors to promote customer business perspectives. Partners with others (e.g., enterprise-channel managers) to provide sponsorship and increase impact.
• Acts as the voice of the customer, industry, and internal advocate by providing insights, feedback, and challenges from the customer to internal teams (e.g., product groups, engineers) across all levels of the organization. Drives action to ensure that internal teams understand and respond to insights. Articulates the business opportunity for Microsoft based on product gaps.

Technology Strategy Formulation

• Leads analysis of overall customer needs, outcomes, and blockers. Determines key stakeholders for driving execution on the largest and/or most complex accounts. Partners with global executives to lead overall strategy development
• (e.g., blocker identification, partner strategy) to identify and address gaps and drive end-to-end solutions. Leads the adoption of technologies by plotting the long-term vision of the customer's business strategy and driving action to bring to fruition.
• Leads and ensures execution of technology strategy and digital transformation by anticipating and/or leading the resolution of technical blockers that arise during strategy planning and implementation, and driving technology adoption.
• Creates mid- and long-term (e.g., 12 or more months) multi-horizon technology and business roadmaps for highly prominent, challenging, and/or strategic accounts based on a deep understanding of business and technology priorities and industry landscape. Challenges and validates the strategy and plan with customer stakeholders and drives envisioning and articulates business and program changes in the roadmaps around new and groundbreaking capabilities. Leads the translation of the customer's business objectives in conjunction with Industry Sales Kits and Solution Plays (including consumption-heavy workloads and cloud services) to develop an effective Industry Technology Architecture to plans for and drives consumption and adoption of Microsoft cloud and a higher share of customer potential and propensity (CPP).

Technology Sales: Demand Generation and Orchestration

• Creates, develops, and drives opportunities based on industry best practices, presents opportunities to the customer, and creates demand. Develops a plan, within a broader strategy, to create and qualify a set number of opportunities for product sales, solutions sales, or consumption. Leverages partners and multiple channels (e.g., social media) to create demand. Orchestrates efforts to drive MCEM lifecycle and stage progression. Leverages experience and strategic foresight to lead technical teams by driving opportunities with Specialist Team Unit (STU), Customer Success Unit (CSU), and others, as necessary. Leads efforts to reach out to key stakeholders to give customer-driven pitches and drives the appropriate customer reach together with the account executive to generate new demand. Uses advanced technical knowledge of products to determine feasibility of technical customer requirements requests and works with core engineering teams to prepare solutions.
• Leads Account Strategy Envisioning (ASE, formerly IDTA) with the extended account team, customer, and partner to deliver the outcomes for the customer through joint envisioning, as a vehicle for Industry Sales Kits and Solution Plays.
• Creates new Stage 1 opportunities, both billed and consumed, with technical decision maker (TDM) customer stakeholders, managing consumption pipeline with extended team to maintain velocity, and unblocking issues. Coaches peers (often as a mentor across a region or country) on how to create and maintain an opportunity initiation and how to map Microsoft priorities to opportunities. Defines the blueprint for opportunity initiation, and sets and shares standards and best practices for others to follow.
• Leads the customer journey into the era of AI and Industrial Metaverse by creating a targeted approach tailored to their current business requirements and positions Microsoft as a leader for the future, both for accelerating productivity as well as helping the customer create new capabilities to support their business. Leverages expertise of current technology landscape and understanding of AI and Industrial Metaverse capabilities to plot the foundational elements on the technology roadmap that need to be in place to realize value for the customer. Builds a mid-term strategy for AI and metaverse projects as well as an immediate opportunity pipeline and orchestrates execution through the appropriate technical teams from the Specialist Team Unit (STU) and with appropriate Partners.

Differentiated Value Proposition

• Acts as the customer's Technology Mentor in established relationships with a line-of-business leader or senior executive within a large-scale or high-impact customer organization senior leaders, including technical decision makers (TDMs) and/or Business Unit leaders at the C-level (e.g., HR, Risk, Finance leadership). Develops extended relationships beyond core customers, advises on solutions, and aligns Microsoft capabilities with customer needs. Drives market share (e.g., cloud, collaboration, AI). Leads customer business transformations through digital technologies for assigned accounts to drive business outcomes and create business value for customers by understanding customer industry and position to provide guidance and to challenge customer thinking with innovative ideas that showcase the need for change and new strategic direction, and proactively involves corporate and cross-industry resources to drive customer transformation. Ensures line-of-business wins are captured (e.g., customer write-ups) as reference for scale, and represents the face of the business during public relations events for significant business wins.
• Partners with a line-of-business leader or senior executive within a large-scale or high-impact customer organization to articulate how complex Microsoft technology/services will meet future business needs better than the competition and will enable the achievement of long-term growth and success. Provides an outside-in view around existing and emerging compete or other solutions that are also a requirement for the customer.

Mapping and Account Planning

• Helps customer technical specialists build the message to sell Microsoft offerings to other parts of their business or end users. Creates stakeholder maps for accounts, determines, and orchestrates a coverage plan, and builds out an execution framework across multiple Rooms of the House of the customer.
• Orchestrates internal teams and local partners (inclusive of global systems integrators and consultancy partners) to ensure sufficient technical resources for demand generation, when appropriate.
• Establishes best practices and standards around account planning for budgeting, quota attainment, consumption goals, and customer consumption gaps to inform quarterly and fiscal objectives. Coordinates highly complex extended account teams (e.g., spanning complex technologies, geographies, functions) and drives forecasting and tracking of the business. Owns the technical portion of the account plan and leads the customer plan delivery for large, critical, and/or strategic accounts. Captures all Account Planning input in MSX D365 Account Plan.

Education and Thought Leadership

• Leads customer technology engagement by engaging and influencing technical resources of customer, partner, and Microsoft towards customer’s business transformation. Delivers regular (e.g., quarterly, monthly) industry/technology briefings to customer technology senior decision-makers technical teams.
• Uses existing and new readiness resources and demonstrates expertise in creating enablement plans for large and high-stakes customers, and all-up Microsoft business. Drives innovations to help customers meet capacity and capability goals, maximize reach, and impact and drive long-term engagement and thought leadership on the Microsoft platform, and influences large
• customers to see and adopt the strategic value. Drives customer skilling initiatives and execution.

Method of Application