Cloud Solution Architecture Director

Join the EMEA Customer Success team at Microsoft and contribute to our mission of empowering every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As the Director for our Azure Direct Customer Success Cloud Solution Architect team, you'll lead a team of talented managers and technical architects, driving innovation and helping our customers on their growth and transformation journeys. Our team works directly with Azure customers from start ups to established successful and fast growing ISVs and companies. Our culture celebrates growth and learning, customer obsession, excellence and teamwork. Your leadership will drive customer success and adoption of Azure technologies across a range of customers and geographies. If you possess exceptional leadership skills and have a deep passion for technology, this role offers a unique opportunity to make a significant impact in the technology world. 

Responsibilities

People Management

• Managers deliver success through empowerment and accountability by modeling, coaching, and caring.
• Model - Live our culture; Embody our values; Practice our leadership principles.
• 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.

Customer Strategy

• Owns customer business, needs, and strategy across all aligned accounts to drive customer success. Serves as an expert on customer information and industry trends through research (e.g., reads customer publications, speaks with direct reports and customer stakeholders). Consolidates, articulates, and tells a effective story around customer insights that influences future direction and priorities. Anticipates market direction around technology to ensure team is equipped with the appropriate capabilities. Coaches team to develop and leverage understanding of customer business and industry. Coaches against best practices to engage, capture, and understand customer needs.
• Coaches team to demonstrate business value of role and solutions for complex customer organization and tailors message to their business strategy. Leverages deep knowledge and relationships to connect relevant industry, competitive, and/or customer insights to high-impact business outcomes. Coaches team and peers in business value selling and creates a culture of strategic thinking to ensure team capabilities.
• Guides team in utilizing best practices to guide long-term customer strategy and growth for Microsoft by cultivating customer affinity with Microsoft programs/solutions that drive impact for the customer, establishing Microsoft as a leader, and leveraging functional expertise. Promotes, influences, and inspires creation and sharing of new reference cases.
• Stays up to date on industry best practices and innovation in delivery of customer success plans to optimize customer value across accounts, and shares with team. Guides team in defining success measures and promotes long-term customer success strategy with team. Coaches team to build customer success plans and utilizes them to build industry/team plan, leveraging own expertise and hands-on experiences (e.g., success plan workshops). Aligns multiple engagement plans and leverages corporate resources dedicated to awareness improvement of high potentials (e.g., Skills Learning platform).
• Provides coaching and guidance on importance of driving value for customers. Ensures teams conduct analyses into what customers are using versus needs. Engages with C-Suite executives to discuss where Microsoft solutions drive customer value. Prompts teams to explore available resources and programs to help grow, retain, and optimize consumption. Identifies resources (e.g., v-team orchestration, programs, incentives) and partner solutions to help customers derive value from existing Microsoft investments.

Maintain Product and Solution Expertise

• Oversees sharing of systematic methods for staying up to date on Microsoft offers and solutions. Leads sharing of best practices across teams. Identifies technical aptitude and encourages specific training and education for teams and team members. Guides execution of plan to build and maintain product and solution expertise. Ensures team has time to dedicate to training and development. Holds self and team accountable for creating and executing personal development plan. Completes required and recommended training and certifications in a timely manner. Supports and models an environment where best practices are shared by the team in a self-sustaining fashion. Oversees Technical Skills Initiative (TSI) for the team. Develops and maintains own skillset to enhance self and team performance. Leads from the front.

Orchestration

• Proact