US Partner, Strategy, Marketing and Programs - Strategic Alliances and Local Engagement

This is a highly visible senior leadership position that will be part of a team that is driving innovation in the way we serve our customers and partners in the US. This team has responsibility for serving over 100,000 partners who drive a majority of our revenue into the small and midsize customer segments.

This position will lead a team that is driving a fundamental change in how we connect those partners with customers. We are looking for someone who has the proven ability to drive innovation through a variety of marketing engines and strategic partnerships.

Roles/Responsibilities: You will lead a team of at least 10 people who are geographically dispersed across the US, and who are focused on developing and implementing a new customer reach model focusing on locally-based marketing activities and strategic partnerships.

The LET model leverages resources from existing internal marketing engines, as well as external resources. External resources include major business partners like banks, credit card companies and retailers, local business associations like chambers of commerce, as well as traditional Microsoft partners like VARs and Small Business Specialists.

You will be responsible for owning the strategy around expansion and/or modification of the local engagement model, and for participating in group-wide strategy decisions around incorporation of the model into overall partner and customer engagement engines. You will have substantial cross-team dependencies, which will require excellent communications and virtual team leadership skills.

You will be measured on your ability to lead the team to develop and implement strategies and tactics that drive massive reach, sales through key activities and improve partner customer satisfaction.

Qualifications & Skills: To succeed, you should have a minimum 8 years of relevant Business Development, Sales or Marketing experience, preferably in the small or midmarket customer or partner space.

You should have at least 5 years of team leadership experience, preferably with a large geographically-dispersed team, as well as demonstrated abilities to attract and motivate high-performing team members. Experience working in or directly with Microsoft area sales offices and/or partner marketing is a major plus.

Experience in working with large partners is also highly preferable, since your team will be interacting with companies such as Bank of America, Comcast, MasterCard and FedEx/Kinko’s. Solid strategic thinking, execution and executive presentation skills are a must, as is the ability to manage diverse virtual and actual teams toward a common objective.

You should have the self confidence to work with abstract concepts and incomplete information. You should also possess excellent verbal and written communication skills, attention to detail, and a focus on measurement and ROI.

You should be willing and able to travel in the US 10-20% of the time.

At Microsoft, our People-Ready business vision is to provide the right technology to empower people to drive successful business outcomes: to innovate, connect with customers and partners, and find ways to improve operations.

Microsoft Services helps you achieve business objectives through your Microsoft Information Technology (IT) investment. Microsoft Services provides deep expertise and access to Microsoft Technology and leadership, to collaboration across a vast partner system, and to tools and best practices Microsoft Services offers this wide range of consulting competencies to meet your organization\'s IT and business management needs. Through a growing portfolio of service Offerings and packaged support options, Microsoft Services is a strategic business partner for every stage of your organization\'s expansion and development.