Solution Sales Specialist

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. Our culture is centered on embracing a growth mindset, being diverse and inclusive and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. Growth mindset encourages each of us to lean in and learn what matters most to our customers, to create the foundational knowledge that enables us to make customer-first decisions in everything we do. In doing so, we create life-changing innovations that impact billions of lives around the world. You can help us achieve our mission.

Do you love working with Startups to achieve their business outcomes? Account Executive (Startups) is leading and orchestrating the One Microsoft team efforts to drive ambitious growth and wins with start-ups on the Microsoft Cloud Platform. With the aid of best-in-class sales processes, techniques and technologies, you will be empowered to shape relationships for a strategic set of Microsoft's startups. You will serve as the point of contact for the startups across engagements helping to drive Microsoft's existing cloud & enterprise consumption. This senior role will partner closely with our Microsoft for Startups teams and programs as well as additional members in Engineering, Marketing, Partners, Finance and Legal, Business Desk, across Microsoft.

This is a unique opportunity for a bold, customer oriented, strategic thinker to help identify unique prospects and execute Microsoft cloud deals that drive significant publicity, competitive share, and revenue for the Microsoft Azure platform. This team at Microsoft is at the leading edge of our business and one of the fastest growing and most exciting groups in the Company. We operate like a “startup” within Microsoft and the team driving this initiative is incredibly entrepreneurial and high-performance. Senior leaders across Microsoft are making an incredible commitment to this initiative and we are rapidly scaling this program, looking for new talent to join our rapidly expanding team.

**Responsibilities**:
**Growth & Transformation Business Leader and Startup Advocate**:

- Proactively engage with the start-ups and Digital Customer Success Managers to accelerate revenue growth, drive business outcomes, while the goal of helping startups realize their full potential.

**Trusted Adviser**:

- Earn and maintain trust with startup founders by understanding their needs and addressing them with the right Microsoft solutions; operating with high empathy for founders to build mutually winning scenarios for startups as well as Microsoft.

**Deal Negotiator and Closer**:

- Lead negotiation with existing startups in mid to long-term planning to form a strategically constructed deal. Engage and negotiate internally with key stakeholders (e.g., product, engineering, finance, legal, sales, marketing) to move opportunities forward with. Coordinate with all necessary internal stakeholders in the deal to assure that the deal is closed successfully and in a compliant manner.

**Stakeholder Management**:

- Ensure high potential startups have access to the right resources across Customer Architects, Engineering and Product Groups.

**Senior Sales Leader**:

- Ensure each startup has a valuable and strategic relationship with Microsoft; driving business growth and transformation through strategic thinking, sales execution, and influence.

**Strategic Thinker and Market Expert**:

- Accountable for identifying growth opportunities with high potential startups leveraging deep domain/industry knowledge to develop creative and innovative solutions for startups to improve optimization and workflow. Proactively demonstrates thought leadership, opportunities for improvement, best practices, and learnings internally and externally as appropriate.

**Other**
- Embody our culture and values

**Qualifications**:
**Required Qualifications**
- 7+ years experience working in a Startup industry driving digital transformation, or other relevant work experience (e.g., consulting, technology)
- OR Bachelor's Degree in Business, Technology, or related field AND 5+ years of experience working in a relevant Startup industry driving digital transformation, or other relevant work experience (e.g., consulting, technology)
- OR Master's Degree in Business Administration Degree AND 4+ years experience working in a Start up industry driving digital transformation, or relevant work experience (e.g., consulting, technology).

**Preferred Qualifications**:

- Master's Degree in Business Administration, Finance, Computer Science, Law, or related field AND 7+ years’ experience in business development, technical sales, consulting, or marketing
- OR equivalent experience.
- 7+ years’ experience working in a matrixed organization, preferably in the technology industry.
- Experience working within, or demonstrable empathy and passion for, the startup ecosystem
- Desire to work on a diverse team and perpetuate a culture of inclusio