Senior Director Strategic Business Engagement

At Microsoft, our goal is to enable every individual and organization on the planet to achieve more. In the Gaming division, we support this mission by bringing the joy and community of gaming to everyone. To accomplish this, it is essential that our gaming vision and strategy are clearly understood by the amazing teams that make up Microsoft Gaming. From our skilled studio personnel to our dynamic marketing and sales teams, and everyone in between, every member of Team Xbox feels connected to the goals we strive to achieve. 

As Senior Director Strategic Business Engagement, Game Content & Studios, you will guide others in conducting innovative market-based research by leveraging and interpreting information around high-impact strategic questions, including researching within existing businesses and identifying new spaces for Microsoft Game Studios. The expectation of this role includes a variety of business-critical deliverables, including:  

• Leveraging executive presence to influence decisions and proactively driving solutions to high-impact strategic questions and unaddressed opportunities.  
• Ensuring communication of insights to senior business leaders and conveys viewpoints through written documents and influence models through minimal iterations of feedback and vetting.  
• Managing multiple strategic projects and teams across organizational boundaries as a project lead through goals, deliverables, feedback, resource balancing, and timing expectations.  
• Deliver external communications on behalf of the Strategy function.

If you want to have fundamental impact on how partnership engagement initiatives are deployed and operated globally, want to be involved in a strategically important team with high impact, have analytical and project management skills, creativity and out of the box thinking, this job is for you.

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. 

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain an understanding of Microsoft Game Studios portfolio as well as customers, competitors, partners, business models, market sizing, and industry trends; develop and maintain an understanding of the merger and acquisition (M&A), venture funding and public market environment and trends; lead market landscape analyses and review of companies of potential interest; provide guidance to business partners to inform decision-making; use existing knowledge base to drive a deal thesis and business model; communicate deal thesis and business model. 
• Guide others in conducting innovative market-based research by leveraging and interpreting information (e.g., financial statements, reports, analyses, stakeholder feedback, expertise calls) around high-impact strategic questions, including researching within existing businesses and identifying new spaces for Microsoft; involve stakeholders as appropriate; leverage analyses of others to synthesize information and challenges research of others.  
• Own framing for broad research projects, ratifying with executives; assist less experienced colleagues with framing as needed. 
• Define and manage strategy project(s) as a project lead through goals, deliverables, feedback, and timing expectations, providing structure and guidance for others; proactively identifies and address roadblocks. 
• Identify and scope expansive ideas for company strategy, often missed by others; leverages insights to develop recommendations and provide thought leadership (e.g., trend identification, implications of competitor moves) around potential future growth opportunities and strategic issues for Microsoft.  
• Sell value of new efforts to business partners and/or senior leadership.  

Problem Solving & Insights: 

• Synthesizes broad findings into insights across a division, including implications that inform business decisions on complex issues, leveraging executive presence to influence decisions and proactively driving solutions to high-impact strategic questions and unaddressed opportunities. Identifies and scopes expansive ideas for company strategy, often missed by others; leverages insights to develop recommendations and provide thought leadership (e.g., trend identification, implications of competitor moves) around potential future growth opportunities and strategic issues