Gaming Accessories Category Manager

In the Consumer Sales Organization (CSO) our purpose is to earn fans and drive growth by building connections to empower everyone. We engage with consumers globally throughout their shopping journeys, navigating both physical storefronts and digital visits across Direct and Partner Channels in Gaming, Windows, M365 and Surface. Together with our ecosystem partners, we strategize and implement plans for customer engagement and economic growth.

As an Accessories Category Manager, you’ll be part of growing a multi-billion-dollar business, charting new areas of innovation, and impacting billions of lives around the world. You also will be a part of a culture centered on embracing a growth mindset, a theme of inspiring excellence, and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. If that appeals to you, it’s an exciting time to be here in CSO.

Within Gaming, we accomplish Microsoft’s mission in two ways

1. Drive consumer engagement and revenue at retail: Use consumer insights, market data, store level analysis, and sales information to evaluate our business performance and develop seasonal, launch, & sustain plans to improve our partners’ business, win share, sell units, and drive revenue.
2. Amplify the Xbox brand through our retail partners: Plan and execute thoughtful and impactful through-line-full-funnel-marketing, focused on driving purchase intent, conversion & post purchase advocacy and consumer lifetime value for Gaming devices, content, accessories, and services.

What our team offers

At the core, we are a customer-focused team that encourages a diverse & inclusive culture. We are respectful, collaborative, accountable and approach work with a fun, positive attitude.

How you can make an impact

As Accessories Category Manager within CSO you will work as a part of an Americas Accessories Category Management team to achieve annual Retail Sales revenue & GM goals of the portfolio. Manage category strategy, business operations and investments from end to end and serving as a subject matter expert on Gaming Accessories. Build and drive GTM strategy and KPIs at the regional and/or sub-regional level to deliver upon the priorities and initiatives cascaded from Worldwide Category. Drive Accessories category leadership through revealing and pursuing white-space opportunities for growth. 

This role is flexible in that you can work up to 90% from home.

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.

In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

Responsibilities

 General Management

• Manage business operations within a category from end-to-end, serving as a subject matter expert on the Americas Accessories Category (e.g., product/service knowledge; historical context; category trends; where a product/service sits within category strategy), and provides expertise on the broader category and industry. 

• Report data-driven product channel insights from partners (e.g., voice of the customer [VOC] data) back to the Worldwide Category team and/or the business group to support product strategy, maximize revenue, and help define future product development. 

Financial Accountability

• Manages accountability for top-line and bottom-line profit and loss for the Gaming Accessories category. 

• Ensures efficient use of organizational resources to execute marketing and promotional plans within the category. 

• Manages & support key category management functions in fiscal year forecasting, planning, and budgeting, and ensures financial compliance. 

Business Planning & ROB

• Supports the development of go-to-market (GTM) plans and key performance indicators (KPIs) for Americas Accessories Category. Contributes to the definition of execution plans in partnership with key stakeholders (e.g., Sales, Marketing, Finance). Produces a regular cadence of reports as required to track overall performanc