Cloud and AI Platform Specialist (Azure)

Digital Solution Area Specialists Overview We are seeking a highly skilled Cloud & AI Platform (Azure) Specialist to drive customer success through Microsoft's cutting-edge cloud and AI technologies. This role is critical in helping businesses modernize their cloud estate, build intelligent applications, and leverage AI-driven insights to accelerate digital transformation. As a specialist, you will engage with customers, understand their business and technical challenges, and position Microsoft Azure services as the preferred platform for innovation and growth. This role requires a blend of technical expertise, strategic thinking, and customer-centric sales engagement to drive Azure adoption and consumption. Responsibilities Sales Execution Engages in conversations with customers to introduce how other workloads could enable digital transformation areas that is aligned with the customer's industry and turns opportunities into deals. Has a deep understanding of customers' business and its priorities to drive conversations with customers on digital transformation across multiple solution areas, in collaboration with partners and services. Creates guiding examples of digital transformation through seminars, workshops, webinars, and direct engagement. Collaborates with team members to discover new opportunities. Drives incremental revenue growth through personal campaigns (e.g., portfolio analysis) or internal sources (e.g., marketing, account teams). Collaborates with account teams, partners, or services to track, qualify, and expand new opportunities. Collaborates with other teams (e.g., account teams) and services to build pipeline. Interfaces with customers and builds relationships via social selling. Applies Microsoft's sales process (MSP) to determine the quality of the opportunity and whether to proceed. Identifies opportunities to drive consumption and grow business with existing customers by initiating conversations, providing demos or quotes, and collaborating with partners or internal teams (e.g., Technical Sales Professionals, global black belts [GBBs]); for licensing transactions and project engagements, ensures rapid and robust deployment plan at point of sale that is validated by services and partners. Identifies, articulates, and facilitates the removal of blockers to consumption by partnering with internal and external stakeholders. Identifies customer business needs and technology readiness. Contributes to the development of solutions in collaboration with internal teams, partners, and services. Proposes prioritized solutions that align with customers' needs. Articulates the business value of proposed solutions. Proactively builds external stakeholders' mapping. Collaborates with account teams (e.g., Account Executives) to identify and engage senior business subject matter decision makers at the customer's/partner's business. Implements strategies to accelerate the closing of deals. Contributes input on strategies to drive and close prioritized opportunities. Coaches team members in deal plan execution. Implements close plans (e.g., how to map timeline, engage the customer, get customer buy in and commitment) to de-risk and drive predictable deal closure. Scaling and Collaboration Collaborates with One Commercial Partner (OCP) and with a network of partners to cross-sell, up-sell, and co-sell. Identifies and supports on-boarding new partners by researching and discussing customer scenarios. Provides feedback to OCP on partner gaps. Develops joint proposals and consumption plans with partners. Contributes to developing partner strategies to address gaps in partner capabilities. Applies the orchestration model to proactively drive deal closure by identifying and aligning internal stakeholders and leveraging and expanding relationships with partners. Technical Expertise Collaborates with the "compete" global black belts (GBBs) to analyze competitor products, solutions, and/or services and implements strategies to position Microsoft against competitors in customer communication. Proactively provides analysis of the competitive landscape in supported solution area. Evaluates opportunities and makes recommendations on pursuit or withdrawal. Sales Excellence Collaborates with partners and resources and leverages customer insights or industry knowledge. Contributes to exploring business and emerging opportunities to optimize the portfolio and support customer innovation. Reviews feedback report and coaches others on ensuring customer/partner satisfaction and decreasing dissatisfaction by establishing recovery action plans to improve clients' overall experience. Manages and/or orchestrates sales and delivery success through the account team and pursuit team. Engages with internal and external stakeholders on business planning, rhythm-of-business (ROB) meetings to review and plan for accounts in the assigned territory. Collaborates with extended sales team, partners, and marketing to conduct business analysis (e.g., whitespace analysis, identify industry trends) to pursue high-potential customers and develop a target list of potential business. Manages the end-to-end business of the assigned territory. Conducts forecasting for accounts and develops a portfolio and territory plan to drive intentional selling aligned with strategic priorities. Qualifications Required/Minimum Qualifications 10+ years of technology-related sales or account management experience OR Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology, Business Administration, or related field AND 5+ years of technology-related sales or account management experience. Additional or Preferred Qualifications 10+ years of technology-related sales or account management experience OR Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology, or related field AND 6+ years of technology-related sales or account management experience OR Master's Degree in Business Administration (e.g., MBA), Information Technology, or related field AND 5+ years of technology-related sales or account management experience 5+ years of solution sales or consulting services sales experience This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled. Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. 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 with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations. Experience Level Senior Level