Job Description
The Director Solution Area Specialists - Data & AI leads a team of Sales Specialists and manages a Specialized Sales manager with a team, covering all industries to discover and qualify new leads.
This role drives consumption with new and existing customers, identifying market and customer needs by collaborating with internal teams to devise solutions that meet those needs.
Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and organization to achieve more. Employees come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize shared goals, building on values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion.
* Bridges impactful industry insights into customer engagements, closes deals, coaches internally on this, and advises customers on digital transformation as a thought leader across solution areas.
* Orchestrates with team members to generate new leads, guides them on conducting personal campaigns, and leads conversations with strategic/high-potential customers along with account teams or partners.
* Drives consumption and grows business with existing strategic customers by initiating conversations, guiding demos or quotes, and collaborating with partners or internal teams.
* Assesses and challenges the needs of strategic/high-potential customers, articulates vision, and leverages broad technical community knowledge to drive new solutions.
* Leverages external stakeholder networks to engage top leaders and decision makers, acts as a thought leader and technical advisor to executive-level business decision makers.
* Develops strategies for driving and closing complex opportunities, collaborates with account teams to ensure alignment, and leads complex deal planning with deal teams.
Key Qualifications
* Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Business Administration, or related field, and 5-8+ years of technology-related sales management experience, or 10+ years of experience in solution sales for Data & AI Azure/Cloud solutions.
* Sales Account Planning and Management: 5+ years of experience in leading multi-million-dollar cloud deals requiring orchestration of virtual teams.
* People Management: 5+ years of demonstrated Sales Team Management experience in Enterprise sales with people leader experience.
* Executive Presence: Develops strong relationships and leadership connections to understand customer needs.
* Local market and languages (German and/or French) next to English preferred.
Responsibilities
1. Pipeline and Sales Management: Leads sellers to build and maintain strong pipeline and drive Azure business revenue targets.
2. Partnership Development: Drives strong partnership with sales teams and other engaging teams to identify new business opportunities.
3. People Management: Develops a high-performing team by hiring diverse talent, prioritizing development, and preparing people for senior positions.
4. Customer Engagement: Leverages a