Category Management Lead

At Microsoft our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. In Consumer Channel Sales & Marketing (CCSM) our purpose is to create value with our partners, to market and sell innovative consumer solutions powered by Windows, Office, Surface, and Xbox. We’re positioned right at the intersection of customers, hardware partners, and channel partners. Our team works with ecosystem partners and internal business groups to drive digital excellence and e-commerce capability, as well as accelerate cloud and subscription adoption. Together, we win by delivering compelling at-home and on-the-go experiences combining intelligent edge devices and services that create Microsoft fans for life.As a member of our team, you’ll be part of a multi-billion-dollar business, charting new areas of innovation and impacting billions of lives around the world. You also will be a part of a culture centered on embracing a growth mindset, a theme of inspiring excellence, and encouraging people to bring their best each day. If that appeals to you, it’s an exciting time to be here in CCSM.**Responsibilities**:

- Team leadership is important in this role and we look to our leaders to create clarity, generate energy and deliver results. You’re a culture-builder, attracting and retaining talent across unique perspectives and backgrounds. Our leaders manage with integrity, respect and dignity with expertise in how to model, coach and care to create an environment of empowerment, trust and inclusion. Working in a matrixed and global environment, you can influence and manage across functions, partners and teams to drive growth & transformation. You will also be someone who is passionate about inclusivity, developing people and are inspired by collaborating with high performing sales, category and marketing teams.

**Key responsibilities of the team include**:

- **People Leadership **- Attract, build and retain a high performing, diverse and inclusive team. Create an exceptional environment to work and inspire people to do their best work.
- **Planning** - Develop worldwide Sales, Marketing and Channel plans: identify key consumer segments for compete and growth opportunities. Lead the seasonal category planning across all categories to ensure we deliver growth across all consumer products, devices and services helping Microsoft and its partners grow revenue, profits and share
- **Execution** - Align investments and marketing to gain efficiencies across all consumer stakeholders by communicating the strategy; manage thru channel investments and ensure highest impact with investment.
- **Management & Monitoring** - Run the business by identifying upside and managing risk or gaps along with representing the voice of the partner and customer so we can build fans. Own annual, quarterly and monthly planning and reporting motions.
- **Transformation - **in partnership with our engineering, product groups and OEM team, develop new business models to accelerate customer acquisition while growing revenue and gross margin. Ability to reinvent ourselves and secure long-term growth leveraging approaches that will deliver loyal, highly satisfied, actively engaged customers.

**Key areas of responsibility**:
Empower our People
- As a manager, deliver success through empowerment and accountability by modeling, coaching and caring.
- Set a culture of diversity and inclusion where people aspire to work
- Attract, build and retain high performing team
- Establish succession planning and developing future leaders
- Evolve the skills and capabilities of the team and provide the best support and experiences for team members’ career development

Win customers at key marketing & sales beats
- Plan & execute category sales plans that maximize key market level seasonal selling beats (Back to School, Holiday, Spring)

Increase Windows Purchase Intent
- Partner to deliver full-funnel demand gen campaigns (direct & thru partner) via Digital, Social, and O&O levers
- Work with key partners to execute demand gen with top retail partners, driving thru the line co-marketing

Land the right assortment of PCs to engage customers/ retail partners
- Land right assortment by retail partner, executed to WW guidance & planogram
- Leverage existing product portfolio and line logic to create success for our partners
- Plan variants with top accounts and markets to drive differentiation, gain unit commitment & win share

Win share with compelling retail offers & programs
- Land strong consumer promo plans to stay competitive with Google and Apple to drive volume/ premium mix/ win share
- Drive incremental sell thru via well designed and funded programs

Optimize conversion
- Drive always on in store & online marketing that drives growth & optimizes channel footprint
- Increase attach of key Microsoft services, such as Microsoft 365 and Gamepass, thru proximity placement and RSP training
- Land digital execution that is best-in-cl