Cloud Solution Architect - Data & AI Microsoft
Redmond, WA

Job Description

Cloud Solution Architect for Partners

Are you passionate about the Cloud? Are you excited about the future of Microsoft's Enterprise Cloud Services business? Are you interested in driving global impact through partner-led solution sales? Do you want to be a part of the team that makes Microsoft Azure the global standard for excellence? If so, then the Cloud Solution Architect for Partners (CSA-P) may be the right place for you!

Come join the Partner Enterprise Architect Team (PEAT), part of One Commercial Partner (OCP) Enablement & Tech organization as a Cloud Solution Architect for Partners and be part of an elite team that is front and center helping our partners drive customer's cloud transformation. We work with Microsoft's strategic partners, providing them with access to senior Microsoft architects to assist with their customer opportunities to mentor and support Azure based cloud solutions, increasing the partner win rate on the Microsoft Platform.

As a Cloud Solution Architect for Partners, you will be driving high priority Azure initiatives in tight collaboration with our partners, ISVs and the MSFT field. The CSA-P is a technical partner facing role that is accountable for providing technical consultancy, guidance and enablement to Microsoft's strategic SI partners. You will own the technical partner engagement for Azure, delivering assessment workshops, solution architecture, Proofs of Concept (POCs) and mentoring partner solution architects on Microsoft cloud technologies

The ideal candidate will have experience in a customer/partner facing role at a leadership level and have demonstrated success leading technical and economic value discussions with senior customer executives, driving decisions and implementation. The successful candidate for this role will have a balance of technical and sales acumen and some business development skills. The CSAs on our team are highly visible within the partner's organization and are expected to lead from the front.

A BS in Computer Science or Engineering or comparable experience in a related discipline with 7 - 10+ years of related work experience along with the following:

* 7 - 10+ years' experience in consultative/complex technical sales and deployment projects managing various stakeholder relationships to get consensus on solution/projects.
* Fluent knowledge of Microsoft cloud services and technical expertise of the Microsoft platform
* Demonstrable architecture, design, implementation, and/or support of complex application architectures (i.e. having an architectural sense for connecting data sources, data visualization, structured and unstructured data, etc.).
* Problem-solving mentality leveraging internal and/or external resources, where and when needed, to do what's right for the partner and for the organization (i.e. think through workarounds, evaluate risk of various deployment options, etc.).
* Proven track record of building technical and business relationships with senior executives and growing wallet share in large or highly strategic accounts.
* Demonstrated technical thought leadership in customer facing situations
* Excellent oral and written communication skills including concisely communicating status and creating customer reports and presentations.
* A desire to learn and grow, as well as a desire to help others do so
* Ability to work remotely, over different time zones and in a diverse team

Experience with some of the following is a distinct advantage:

* Prior working experience in virtualization technologies including Hyper-V and VMware
* Proven track record of driving partner led sales motion as well as building relationships with senior partner (SI and ISV) stakeholders.
* Expert knowledge in:
* Software design or development
* Systems Operations / Management
* Database architecture
* Networking
* IT and Cloud Security
* Azure Storage
* Identity Management
* AWS
* VMware
* Google Business Services


* Microsoft Azure Architect certified (for example, Microsoft Certified Azure Solution Architect Expert)

If you find this opportunity to be compelling and can demonstrate your ability to excel as Cloud Solution Architect within the One Commercial Partner Team, we would like to explore the possibilities with you!

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.

Pre-Sales Solution Architecture Consultancy

* Working with both Partner and Microsoft account teams of partner focus accounts to support the Microsoft cloud strategy in these.
* Advise partner pre-sales & technical teams on best practice architectures for customer facing solutions. This can be both a proactive activity where you build a plan with the partner to pursue a specific technical scenario or it can be a reactive response to a customer need or request for proposal.
* Driving partner-led Azure consumption in the focus accounts that will include the below:
* Executing quick technical feasibility and proposal development for moving identified workloads to Azure (i.e. quick and dirty, comfortable with 80-20 rule)
* Building a technical and security architecture in Azure
* Reporting to partners as business objectives / business value conditions are met
* Documenting and sharing technical best practices / insights with partners, engineering and the architect community.

Azure Solution and Practice Building Consultancy

* Working with the partner development managers and partner practice leads to identify, architect and design new cloud-based solutions based on Azure technologies that the partner will sell to their customers.
* Identify, build and drive programs that establish new technical practices within your partner. These practices consist of partner architects and consultants who deliver consulting services to their customers Your role will be to mentor and develop these team members to be highly proficient in delivering Azure based solutions where they may have been unable to previously.

Evangelism & Mentoring of partner technical staff

* Interfacing with both the partner's generalist and specialist solution architects to mentor and evangelize Azure cloud services.
* Promote and position yourself as THE Azure subject matter expert for your partner.