Are you insatiably curious, deeply passionate about the world of cloud computing and data enabling innovation, and ready to take on complex challenges in a dynamic environment? If so, we invite you to join our team as a Principal Technology Specialist of Azure Infrastructure at Microsoft.

The mission of the Microsoft Azure Infrastructure group is to drive innovation and prepare our customers to harness the potential of their disparate data, leverage the capabilities of Azure, and enable the use of AI-powered solutions. In an era where cloud computing, data, and AI play a central role in shaping industries and driving transformation, we are at the forefront of pioneering technologies and strategies.

As a Principal Technology Specialist of Azure Infrastructure , you will be a key player in architecting secure, scalable environments for your customers while showcasing a host of Microsoft and Azure-specific services. You will work as a technical sales leader and trusted customer advisor, collaborating with internal teams, partners, and consultants to map Microsoft solutions to customer challenges and priorities. Your role involves demonstrating and proving the value of our solutions, ultimately contributing to the achievement and surpassing of quarterly and annual revenue targets.

Your workday and week will be dynamic, with approximately 80% focused on engaging with customers and selling teams — planning, preparation, and various meetings, including technical presentations, demos, and workshops. The remaining 20% will be dedicated to continuously enhancing your technical expertise, staying abreast of industry trends, understanding the competitive landscape, and sharing that insight with the broader community.

This role focuses on our manufacturing customers across the United States, focusing on our top tier of accounts. The position offers flexibility, allowing you to work up to 75% from home, with travel percentages varying based on the requirements of the role.

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

Scale Customer Engagements

• Engages with and reaches out to customers proactively and independently.

• Uses knowledge of customer context, solution or portfolio expertise, and technical and industry knowledge to build credibility with customers.

• Leads and ensures technical wins for core and adjacent technologies by leading technical discussions with customers and establishing rules of engagement (e.g., role boundaries, handoff strategies) for extended teams, leveraging knowledge of processes (e.g., Managed Service Provider], Managed Certified Professional, tools, and programs (e.g., FastTrack, End Customer Investment Funds). Searches for customer references to use in engagements.

• Leverages foundational knowledge of resources (e.g., roles, Microsoft Technology Center demo sites, virtual sites, Customer Success Unit) and proactively engages product teams (e.g., engineering) to remediate blockers by conveying impact.

   

Leverage Partner Ecosystem

• Engages in partner sell-with scenarios by acting as liaison between the partner and team and facilitating partner resources and processes throughout the course of the project.

• Supports partner technical capacity by identifying skill and resource gaps and providing feedback to internal teams (e.g., Global Partner Solutions).

   

Build Strategy

• Captures core competitive knowledge and delivers back to product and engineering teams to enhance team capabilities and develop compete strategies for assigned customers.

• Provides strategic, technical, and partner input based on Microsoft capability at the account level to contribute to strategy development, leveraging partner, competitor, or open-source knowledge.

• Works with account and marketing teams to shape strategic win and customer success plans and tailor Microsoft messaging to the audience using knowledge of customer feedback, specific Microsoft solutions, and their context in a competitive landscape. Where applicable, builds consumption plans with Partner and Industry Solutions Delivery teams after customer sign-off.

   

Solution Design and Proof

• Demonstrates and oversees demonstrations (e.g., architectural design sessions, and proof of concept sessions) of products, services, and integration through initial engagements. Leverages partner/customer teams as needed to prove capabilities and integration into customer environment.

• Presents and applies architecture patterns to partners or customers and drives cross-workload support for Microsoft Solutions.

• Applies sales methodologies (e.g., challenger sales or value-based messaging) and coaches team in addressing customer digital transformation and leveraging insights to align new or changing technology to customer business needs.

   

Education

• Builds their own readiness plan and proactively identifies learning gaps. Grows domain knowledge and practices expertise by communicating with customers, partners, and colleagues to expand knowledge of architecture.

• Demonstrates new and updated products to increase internal virtual teams' understanding of solutions and new opportunities.

• Monitors and responds to internal tech community posts, attends community calls, sessions, hackathons, etc., and acts as a mentor for their technology area.

   

Other

• Embody our  culture  and  values

Qualifications

Required/Minimum Qualifications:

• 7+ years technical pre-sales or technical consulting experience

• OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND 6+ years technical pre-sales or technical consulting experience

• OR Master's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND 4+ years technical pre-sales or technical consulting experience

• OR equivalent experience.

Other Requirements:

• Citizenship & Citizenship Verification: This position requires verification of U.S citizenship due to citizenship-based legal restrictions. Specifically, this position supports United States federal, state, and/or local United States government agency customers and is subject to certain citizenship-based restrictions where required or permitted by applicable law. To meet this legal requirement, citizenship will be verified via a valid passport.

• Microsoft Cloud Background Check : This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

Preferred/Additional Qualifications:

• 8+ years technical pre-sales, technical consulting, or technology delivery, or related experience

• OR equivalent experience.

• 6+ years experience with cloud and hybrid, or on premises infrastructures, architecture designs, migrations, industry standards, and/or technology management.

• Certification in relevant technologies or disciplines (e.g., Azure Architect and Development exams, Cloud Platform technologies, Office 365, Power BI, Information Security, Architecture).

• Ability to obtain and maintaina US Security Clearance.

• Experience with Microsoft Azure services.

• Experience or knowledge of Azure VMware Services. 

Technology Specialists IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $129,200 - $248,800 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $162,000 - $268,900 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

Microsoft will accept applications for the role until September 25, 2024.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. Consistent with applicable law, all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations (https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/accessibility.html) .