Sr. AE Digital Natives: High Growth Startups

Job description

**Overview** Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. Our culture is centered on embracing a growth mindset, being diverse and inclusive and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. Growth mindset encourages each of us to lean in and learn what matters most to our customers, to create the foundational knowledge that enables us to make customer-first decisions in everything we do. In doing so, we create life-changing innovations that impact billions of lives around the world. You can help us achieve our mission. This is a unique opportunity for a bold, customer oriented, strategic thinking sales professional to help identify unique prospects and execute Microsoft cloud deals that drive significant publicity, competitive share, and revenue for the Microsoft Azure platform. The primary focus will be on start-ups and ISV’s that are transforming key verticals. The High Tech Pursuits - Startup and Unicorn Program at Microsoft is at the leading edge of our business and one of the fastest growing and most exciting groups at the Company. We operate like a “startup” within Microsoft and the team driving this initiative is incredibly entrepreneurial and high-performance. The Sr. Business Development Manager is leading and orchestrating the One Microsoft team efforts to drive ambitious growth and wins, with start-ups and unicorns, on the Microsoft Cloud Platform. This senior role will partner closely with resources in the Business Development Organization, WCB, Engineering, Marketing, Finance and Legal, Business Desk, and other groups across Microsoft. The collective responsibility of the High Tech Pursuits team is:  - Leading and shaping the future of high potential startups and unicorns based on locally set selection criteria  - Assessing external data identifying those startups and unicorns, qualifying them based on current status, scores, cost of complexity and acquisition as well as internal Microsoft relationship and relevance (any upcoming ISV that can scale and go big) - Engaging with this segment to prioritize the right motion for a potential unicorn WIN (either through projects on Azure at the start, strategic partnership with commitment, or exclusivity on a specific workload) - Building strategic partnerships at the right time, with those unicorns to accelerate their growth and build new solutions - Envisioning new industry scenarios and business models with the unicorns - Driving technical alignment with the v-technical team across segments (CSU, STU, GBBs, Engineering, CSE) **Responsibilities** **Sales Leader:** Ensure each customer has the most valuable relationship with Microsoft and execute MS vision of empowering enterprise customers, driving business growth and transformation through strategic thinking, sales execution and influence - Strategic thinker and market expert: Accountable for identifying growth opportunities, defining strategies, prioritizing sales plays and developing go-to-market execution plans, to ensure Microsoft realizes its full growth potential within the startups and unicorns space. This process will integrate and rely on thorough analysis of external and internal data for building a solid portfolio of prospects **Growth & Transformation business leader and Customer Advocate:** Engage with the startups and unicorn customers to accelerate revenue growth, drive business outcomes, while helping customers to digitally transform in their industry. Responsible for supplementing global data with local insights to optimize for customer lifetime value through acquisition, retention and growth strategies Deal Strategy **Deal Maker:** Develop and progress the deal shaping and commercial deal construct that is optimal for both the customer and Microsoft - Contribute to identifying appropriate parties to partner with/sell to through conducting a partner/customer assessment of their current needs and defining a value proposition to meet those needs. Assesses and pursues market opportunities and trends for the specialists that provide opportunities for partners/customers to leverage Microsoft platforms/products by identifying, quantifying, and qualifying opportunities. Contributes to evaluation of opportunities and leads account planning in cooperation with partners to identify and prioritize goals and objectives for an achievable target. **Obtain buy-in and engages with other internal teams** (e.g., product, engineering, finance, legal, sales, marketing) to help inform and align the strategy. Execute and contribute to designing partner/customer strategic deals for a commercial strategic framework that are aligned with strategic business objectives and partner/customer current state and needs at an appropriate motion and cadence. Ensure strategic deals incorporate relevant market factors (e.g., competitive, economic, industry specific) to contribute to optimal results and return on investment. Help to empower a strong customer presence through a deep customer focus and strategic development, attracting and committing customers to the journey through integration of customer feedback. Maintain a strong customer focus throughout strategic development and brings customer along for the journey. Integrate information from prior engagements and learnings to build an improved strategy. **Stakeholder Management** - Identify the appropriate executive-level stakeholder within customers to connect and work with, in cooperation with Business Development and in pursuit of new business generation. Orchestrates sales or partnership pursuits with customers/partners. Act as the voice for customers/partners across internal teams to design and implement plans/programs. Ensures customers are aware of key influencers/players, as well as Microsoft's value proposition, in order to contribute to effective customer models and strategies. Contributes to incorporating partners/customers into relevant business unit