Solution Area Specialist

Overview

Join the Retail & Consumer Goods Organization as a RCG Cloud & AI Solution Area Specialist who leads discussions with senior stakeholders and decision makers for high-value customers to identify, qualify, and accelerate sales opportunities. This role leads collaborations on whitespace analysis, leveraging expertise to identify and capitalize on business opportunities and market gaps, utilizing AI-driven market intelligence tools. You will synthesize evaluations of solution areas and markets to strategically align sales plays with complex customer priorities, incorporating AI-driven predictive analytics. The Solution Area Specialist also leads partnerships cross-organizationally, guiding the development of solutions for AI- and cloud-driven transformations, emphasizing cutting-edge AI technologies and cloud services. A key responsibility is leading sales pipeline reviews with internal senior stakeholders to drive forecasting accuracy and meet sales targets, ensuring the use of AI-powered analytics. Finally, this role leads the sales strategy tailored to each customer's security priorities, showcasing Microsoft's dedication to secure, AI-powered transformation and fostering long-term partnerships through AI-driven insights.

Responsibilities

Customer Engagement

• Leads sales strategies focused on customer security priorities, demonstrating Microsoft's secure, AI-powered transformation capabilities and fostering long-term partnerships.
• Leads partner teams and resources, building lasting relationships for co-selling strategies and partner attach throughout the sales lifecycle.
• Fosters partner organization connections (e.g., GPS) to drive shared gains, partner health, and accelerated customer value realization.
• Assesses and qualifies sales opportunities using AI-enhanced methodologies and best practices.
• Leads strategy development for closing complex, high-value opportunities, partnering across organizations for seamless deal orchestration.
• Advances best practices to gain customer trust, secure deals, and strategically mitigate risks in sales activities.

Sales & Pipeline Management

• Analyzes business and emerging opportunities to enhance customer portfolios and drive innovation, integrating technology like AI sales agents and Power Platforms.
• Employs comprehensive data analysis (propensity, renewal, consumption, usage) to refine sales strategy.
• Manages partner optimization for accounts and opportunities, ensuring seamless handoffs with other teams.
• Leads sales pipeline reviews with senior stakeholders to ensure forecasting accuracy and meet sales targets using AI-powered analytics.
• Coaches others on and maintains sales and/or consumption pipeline hygiene to achieve assigned sales metrics and monitor adoption trends.

Sales Strategy

• Leads discussions with senior customer stakeholders to identify, qualify, and accelerate sales opportunities.
• Serves as a key contact for internal senior stakeholders, driving customer success.
• Proactively engages with account teams to align customer AI transformation visions with business priorities.
• Ensures security principles are integrated into customer interactions, opportunities, and pursuits.
• Leads collaborations on whitespace analysis, leveraging expertise and AI-driven market intelligence to identify business opportunities.
• Integrates and translates market intelligence to inform team strategy, refining market analysis for strategic alignment.
• Synthesizes solution area and market evaluations to align sales plays with customer priorities, using AI-driven predictive analytics.
• Drives cross-functional collaboration to propose and prioritize solutions that achieve customer business objectives.
• Proactively identifies and addresses gaps, setting direction for market engagement and sales execution.
• Leads cross-organizational partnerships, guiding solution development for AI- and cloud-driven transformations for customers.
• Crafts strategies to distinguish Microsoft’s offerings, acting as a subject matter expert and trusted advisor to drive technology adoption.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Business Administration, Information Security, or related field AND 6+ years experience in technology-related sales or account management OR equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's Degree in Business Administration (i.e., MBA), Information Technology, Information Security, or related field AND 8+ years experience in technology-related sales or account management OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Business Administration, Information Security, or related field AND 12+ years experience in technology-related sales or account management OR equivalent experience.
• 6+ years solution or services sales experience.

Key skills/competency

• Sales Strategy
• Customer Engagement
• Pipeline Management
• AI Transformation
• Cloud Solutions
• Market Analysis
• Business Development
• Security Priorities
• Cross-functional Collaboration
• Forecasting