We are looking for a visionary sales leader to help us achieve our mission. Microsoft is on a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our culture is centred on embracing a growth mindset, a theme of inspiring excellence, and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. In doing so, we create life-changing innovations that impact billions of lives around the world.  

You are someone who is able to forge new and innovative cloud partnerships with cloud-native giants and Unicorns not utilizing the Microsoft Cloud today. As the Digital Native Director you will help us to build a new team to deepen the engagement with start-up and digital native customers and help them scale and grow. 

The impact you will be making 

As Digital Native Director you will want to change the trajectory of start-ups and digital native customers  - making sure Microsoft is their key partner for successful growth. Through your key relationships in the tech/start up ecosystem of innovators you will be able to engage our sales teams and partners to really deliver what these businesses want and need for growth. That means relevant, customised, cloud solutions and services. It’s no longer about selling a product; it’s about creating sustainable Azure consumption growth to drive innovation, whilst delighting and delivering for our amazing customers. 

As this is a new role you will have the opportunity to grow your own team of Digital Native sales executives focussed on the tech/start up space. The team will create new business across a select portfolio of top-tier digital natives in the UK.  The role will shape and enable customer strategy and transformation, coach for impactful account management, developing strong partnerships, and be a key leader in the organisation.  For us sales directors are trusted executives who are accountable for sales excellence and works with societal purpose and business outcomes in mind. They enable true strategic partnerships that are sustainable and deliver positive impact to Microsoft and our customer organisations. 

We are looking for someone who 

• Disrupts thinking with both a positive and consultative approach, harnessing transformational impact of digital technology  
• Embraces diversity and talent development within your team and adopts a coaching mentality 
• Communicates clear goals to your team and customers and deliver outcomes with accurate sales forecasting 
• Uses data to develop your team and customers goals, to anticipate individual and market trends and enhance ways of working informed by insight 
• Gets energy from establishing trusted relationships across internal and external stakeholders to deliver the best outcome for customers, the marketplace and society 

Responsibilities

Responsibilities: 

Inclusive Leader:  With strong interpersonal skills you will create an inclusive culture within your team that embraces diversity and reflects our mission to empower every person and organisation on the planet to achieve more.  You will be confident in establishing trust-based relationships and gaining valuable insights through collaboration and communication with your customers, partners and your teams.  You will live these values in your succession planning, talent management and acquisition. Microsoft follows a model, coach, care approach: 

• Model - Live our culture; Embody our values; Practice our leadership values. 
• 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 Intensity: Ensures the development and execution of business planning with the team, managing accounts within the portfolio, and holds the team accountable for ensuring engagements yield desired outcomes and impact with customers in line with plans and forecasts.  Defines expectations and goals and manages pipeline to meet sales goals by reviewing forecasts, assessing and mitigating risks, and ensuring strategy alignment with business priorities. 

Insight driven: Gather and share market insights and best practices for shaping diverse cross-functional teams and coordinates with internal Azure experts on account planning and execution. Coaches, inspires, and influences internal and external senior decision makers on long-term strategic business planning.  Anticipating customer trends and needs across the market to identify emerging opportunities. 

Empower and coach sales excellence: Empowers teams to define strategies and outcomes, and sets a rhythm of business and pace for account planning across the sales team and customer portfolio.  Clearly articulates ethics and standards as well as priorities and targets.  Coaches team on where and how to invest in account management resources, and report account progress and learning back to internal stakeholders. 

Strategic mindset: Inspires team members to identify new business opportunities, be responsible for account growth, and facilitate actions to win big bets. Develop a deep understanding of customers' business models and priorities and draw on insight and data from various sources to inform customer strategy. Leverages partners to scale business by identifying mutual opportunities for growth.  

Collaborate and Partner: Sponsors the development of strategic partnerships, networks and relationships with business decision makers to support execution of plans, grow sales and partner impact, and to ensure seamless account management experiences.  

Qualifications

Qualifications and attributes

• Strong leadership and team coaching skills, mentoring and developing mid-senior level executives to thrive in sales environments. 
• Extensive experience in Sales, Business Consulting or Consultative Selling. Experience working with or in with Digital Native or Start up organisations 
• Builder & learner mindset – ability to be adaptive, work with ambiguity and take direct ownership to impact       
• Track record of successfully engaging CxO and delivering impactful change for their business  
• Strong experience influencing, making recommendations to and/or collaborating with senior level executives.  

• Proven expertise in digital transformation roles and strategy  
• Experience working in a global team (there may be a need for global travel as part of this role)  

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.