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 thinker to help identify unique prospects and execute Microsoft cloud deals that drive significant publicity, competitive share, and revenue for the Microsoft Azure platform.  The focus will be on deeply engaging with start-ups that have the potential to grow on the Microsoft Azure platform as well as Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365.  

This team at Microsoft is at the leading edge of our business and one of the fastest growing and most exciting groups in the Company. We operate like a “start-up” within Microsoft and the team driving this initiative is incredibly entrepreneurial and high-performance. Senior leaders across Microsoft are making an incredible commitment to this initiative and we are rapidly scaling this program, looking for new talent to join our rapidly expanding team.    

The Director - Cloud Solution Specialist is leading and orchestrating the One Microsoft team efforts to drive ambitious growth and wins with start-ups on the Microsoft Cloud Platform. This senior role will partner closely with our Microsoft for Startups teams and programs as well as additional members in Engineering, Marketing, Partners, Finance and Legal, Business Desk, across Microsoft.

Responsibilities

Growth & Transformation Business Leader and Startup Advocate:  

• Proactively engage with the start-ups and Digital Customer Success Managers to accelerate revenue growth, drive business outcomes, while the goal of helping startups realize their full potential.  

Trusted Adviser:  

• Earn and maintain trust with startup founders by understanding their needs and addressing them with the right Microsoft solutions; operating with high empathy for founders to build mutually winning scenarios for startups as well as Microsoft.  

Deal Negotiator and Closer:  

• Lead negotiation with existing startups in mid to long-term planning to form a strategically constructed deal. Engage and negotiate internally with key stakeholders (e.g., product, engineering, finance, legal, sales, marketing) to move opportunities forward with. Coordinate with all necessary internal stakeholders in the deal to assure that the deal is closed successfully and in a compliant manner.  

Stakeholder Management:  

• Ensure high potential startups have access to the right resources across Customer Architects, Engineering and Product Groups.  

Senior Sales Leader:  

• Ensure each startup has a valuable and strategic relationship with Microsoft; driving business growth and transformation through strategic thinking, sales execution, and influence.  

Strategic Thinker and Market Expert: 

• Accountable for identifying growth opportunities with high potential startups leveraging deep domain/industry knowledge to develop creative and innovative solutions for startups to improve optimization and workflow. Proactively demonstrates thought leadership, opportunities for improvement, best practices, and learnings internally and externally as appropriate.  

Qualifications

Required Qualifications    

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Finance, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field AND experience in business development, technical sales, or consulting 

• OR equivalent experience.    

Preferred Qualifications    

• Master's Degree in Business Administration, Finance, Computer Science, Law, or related field AND experience in business development, technical sales, consulting, or marketing   

• OR equivalent experience.    

• Extensive experience working in a matrixed organization, preferably in the technology industry.    
• Experience working within, or demonstrable empathy and passion for, the startup ecosystem  
• Desire to work on a diverse team and perpetuate a culture of inclusion  
• A deep understanding of the startup trends in your respective market  
• Deep understanding of cloud infrastructure and services (Infrastructure, Applications, Data, Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity).  
• Preferred experience in Power Platforms and Microsoft Teams.   
• An ability to speak to and engage effectively with leadership from different industries as well as first-time founders  
• Preferred experience in a startup, founding member, Cloud Infrastructure solutions sales leadership  
• Sales results-oriented with extreme attention to detail and organizational skills  
• Experience working in a rapidly-scaling environment with multiple variables in play  
• Strong written and verbal communication skills where you are equally comfortable interacting across all levels of an organization  
• Master’s Degree or equivalent industry experience  
• Extensive experience in the technology space  

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.