Overview
Azure is the most comprehensive, innovative and flexible cloud platform today and Microsoft is seeking talented professionals that will drive customer cloud adoption within the most important companies in the market. We are always learning. Insatiably curious. We lean into uncertainty, take risks, and learn quickly from our mistakes. We build on each other’s ideas because we are better together. We stand in awe of what humans dare to achieve and are motivated every day to empower others to do more and achieve more through our technology and innovation. Together we make a difference.
As part of our transformation, one of our key areas of focus is the modernization of our sales motions. The Digital Sales organization is a dynamic, digital organization with a mission to accelerate Microsoft’s growth in its cloud-first, mobile-first businesses along with the traditional businesses. This organization is at the forefront of delivering a new sales model leveraging modern technology, big data, and analytics to drive impactful engagements leading to customer success.
Do you love working with customers to achieve their business outcomes? Would you love to build expertise around the leading, next generation cloud services? As a Customer Success Manager (CSM), you will become part of the next generation of sales leaders at Microsoft. With the aid of best-in-class sales processes, techniques and technologies, you will be empowered to shape customer relationships for a strategic set of Microsoft’s customers. These customers are adopting industry-leading products and services for their businesses, education systems or governments. You will serve as the central point of contact for the customer across engagements helping to drive Microsoft’s existing cloud & enterprise consumption through developing and managing customer relationships.
As a Customer Success Manager, you’ll be responsible for protecting and growing our most dynamic Azure customers. Embracing a challenger mindset, the successful Customer Success Manager leads, manages, and orchestrates their virtual teams and closes engagements with customers that produce transformative business outcomes.
The Customer Success Manager will be responsible for:
- Business Relationship Owner: Build coalition of support (IT and business) with customer. Define specific technology outcomes that align to customer strategy.
- Digital Transformation Leader and Operational Excellence: Lead, drive and manage engagements for repeatable achievement of revenue and consumption targets.
- Portfolio Management: Manage a dedicated portfolio of customers while preventing churn.
- Operationally Excellent: Follow processes, systems, and documentation as expected; identifies issues or barriers to efficiency. Recommends improvements and partners to implement solutions.
- Value Creator: Identify and articulate business value of role and solutions for customer organization through demonstrations, storytelling, etc. to provide evidence of business value in the customer environment.
- Consumption: Conduct analyses into what customers are using versus needs. Drives greater consumption with customers based on analysis of both usage and needs. Leverages insights to provide guidance and recommendations to customers; drives, retains, and optimizes customer consumption
- Technical Acumen: Apply technical knowledge and customer insights to create a modernization roadmap. Architect solutions to meet business and IT needs, ensuring technical viability of new projects and successful deployments, while orchestrating key resources and infusing key Infrastructure technologies
- Executive Presence: Engage with and influence business and IT decision makers by providing feedback or insights to help customers define and realize their digital and business transformational targets. Influences others to help meet customer needs and prioritize efforts accordingly. Recognizes systemic issues to resolve.
- Technology Strategist: Leverage best practices to guide customer strategy and future growth for Microsoft by cultivating customer affinity with Microsoft programs/solutions that drive impact for the customer and establishing Microsoft as a leader. Provide feedback to Microsoft on customer development needs, customer blockers, or mitigation strategies.
- Virtual Leader: Orchestrate activities across Microsoft and Partner resources to maximize business results and customer success.
- Customer Obsessed: Be the Voice of the Customer; Share customer insights, best practices, and connect with internal teams to remove key blockers.
- Build Customer Knowledge: Assess the Customers’ knowledge of Azure platform and overall cloud readiness to support customers through a structured learning plan and ensure its delivery through partners.
- Leading at the Edge: Leverage social, digital, video, chat, phone and demonstration environments to effectively reach, sell to and manage Microsoft customers
- Competitive Spirit: Meet and exceed targets for net-new revenue and sales pipeline; Accurately forecasting new usage and/or churn risks that impact portfolio pipeline.
- Continuous Learner: Maintain technical skills and knowledge of market trends and competitive insights; collaborate and share with the technical community.
- Microsoft Champion: Be an Azure Platform evangelist with customers, partners and external communities.
Responsibilities
Customer Strategy
- Seeks information about the customer through research (e.g., reads customer publications, speaks with peers and customers) to learn about their business, needs, and strategy and keeps up to date with customer business and business outcomes. Develops foundational understanding of competition and industry trends by meeting with and holding conversations with peers and customers. Ensures customer and some market insights are communicated to internal teams (e.g., product, support, operations).
- Identifies and articulates business value of role and solutions for customer organization through demonstrations, storytelling, etc. Applies knowledge of relevant customer stories and industry, competitive, and/or Microsoft best practices to support business outcomes. Learns to tailor relevant value proposition to audience (e.g., roles, levels, functions).
- Leverages best practices to guide customer strategy and future growth for Microsoft by cultivating customer affinity with Microsoft programs/solutions that drive impact for the customer. Provides feedback to Microsoft on customer needs. Responds to immediate needs and supports solution development.
- Understands customer needs and defines common success goals. Adapts customer success plans and timelines to meet relevant customer business goals measured by business and adoption key performance indicators (KPIs), success measures, and customer expectations, depending on the type of engagement. Identifies resources (e.g., v-team orchestration, programs, incentives) and partner solutions to help customers derive value from existing Microsoft investments. Challenges customers plans or approaches to maximize investment.
- Conducts analyses into what customers are using versus needs. Drives greater consumption with customers based on analysis of both usage and needs. Leverages insights to provide guidance and recommendations to customers. Drives, retains, and optimizes customer consumption.
Maintain Product and Solution Expertise
- Develops and implements systematic methods for staying up to date on Microsoft offers and solutions. Shares best practices with others. Uses knowledge to engage with customers and with internal teams. Shares knowledge with customers to demonstrate Microsoft innovation. Completes required training and certifications in a timely manner. Develops and implements personal development plan. Stays up to date on solutions. Becomes adept at cloud adoption best practices and how to implement in conversations with customers.
Orchestration
- Coordinates internal peers across functions to support business outcomes and enable execution of customer success through One Microsoft. Identifies and establishes strong relationships with customer team members. Demonstrates resourcefulness in navigating and identifying the right resources that have needed knowledge or expertise.
- Engages with business and Information Technology (IT) stakeholders by providing tactical feedback to help customers define and realize their digital and business transformational targets. Begins to influence others to help meet customer needs. Appropriately escalates to gain engagement. Connects issues across customers and recommends potential solutions.
Process Improvement
- Follows processes, systems, and documentation as expected. Identifies issues or barriers to efficiency. Recommends improvements and partners to implement solutions.
Change Management
- Supports customer change initiatives by developing an understanding of change management, applying foundational knowledge of change management principles, educating stakeholders to enable transformational change, and understanding alignment between customer culture and digital transformation. Conducts basic assessment (e.g., interviews, spreadsheets) of customer’s organizational change management capabilities and makes recommendations based on best practices.
Advocacy
- Acts as the Voice of the Customer (VOC) and Partner by driving awareness of existing feedback, blockers, insights, resources, etc., across communities so they can be added and prioritized. Responds to feedback and supports positive change within Microsoft. Advocates for customers by sharing stories, learnings, and best practices. Develops understanding of the market. Begins to represent needs of both customer and market to influence Microsoft priorities and resource engagement (e.g., product, offerings).
Qualifications
Required/Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Engineering, Technology, or related field AND 2+ years related work experience (e.g., consulting, pre-sales/post-sales, business analysis, technical sales, customer change management)
- OR Master’s Degree in Business, Engineering, Technology, or related field AND 1+ year(s) related work experience (e.g., consulting, pre-sales/post-sales, business analysis, technical sales, customer change management)
- OR equivalent experience.
Additional or Preferred Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Engineering, Technology, or related field AND 3+ years related work experience (e.g., consulting, pre-sales/post-sales, business analysis, technical sales, customer change management)
- OR Master’s Degree in Business, Engineering, Technology, or related field AND 2+ years related work experience (e.g., consulting, pre-sales/post-sales, business analysis, technical sales, customer change management)
- OR equivalent experience.
- 1+ year(s) experience in change management and/or technology adoption.
- Change Management Certification (e.g., Prosci).
Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.
Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.
- Industry leading healthcare
- Savings and investments
- Giving programs
- Educational resources
- Maternity and paternity leave
- Opportunities to network and connect
- Discounts on products and services
- Generous time away
