Account Technology Strategist in Brussels, Belgium

As a Senior Strategic Account Technology Strategist, you will have the opportunity to design and drive leading edge technology initiatives in partnership with your customers, both supporting your customers’ desired business outcomes and achieving Microsoft’s business objectives.

In this pivotal role, you will spearhead strategic initiatives that shape the future of digital platforms. The primary purpose of the Senior Strategic Account Technology Strategist is to own and develop technical business relationships with senior technology influencers and decision-makers at our strategic accounts. This role involves understanding the customer’s business objectives and aligning them with our technology solutions to drive value and innovation. The Senior Strategic Account Technology Strategist will act as a virtual CTO/CDO, providing strategic guidance and technical expertise to help customers achieve their digital transformation goals.

Paired with an Enterprise Account Executive, leveraging your multi-functional v-team across the breadth of the Microsoft product portfolio and the vast catalog of Microsoft Partner offerings, you will build and grow your network of technology executives within your customers and bring industry-relevant solutions to help the customers adopt and embrace Microsoft technologies.

The most successful Account Technology Strategists are keen on meaningful customer engagement, value diverse perspectives and are able to integrate a variety of views into a value proposition for our customers. The best Account Technology Strategists are resourceful leaders of virtual teams, and curious to listen and learn from their customers. These attributes allow them to advise confidently and elevate their customer’s business.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

Responsibilities

Trusted Advisor

• Acts as the “virtual Chief Technical Officer (CTO)/Chief Digital Officer (CDO)” or “go-to” person in established, long-term relationships with technical decision makers at the CXO level, and via direct relationship advises on solutions and position Microsoft capabilities to best meet the customer’s needs. Drives market share.

• Provides account thought leadership inclusive of information technology, business strategy knowledge, and technology landscape, and shares best practices internally. Leverages account thought leadership to provide technical guidance to internal teams to position technology while using customer landscape knowledge.

• Maintains and leverages a broad knowledge of Microsoft’s product landscape, solutions, and strategy to address customer’s needs. Proactively coordinates with internal and external network of industry experts to build strong knowledge of the industry and the competitive landscape.

• Acts as the voice of the customer and internal advocate by providing insights, feedback, and challenges from the customer to internal teams across all levels of the organization. Drives action to ensure that internal teams understand and respond to insights. Escalates pressing issues for customers to Microsoft internal stakeholders to facilitate the appropriate solutions and capabilities for the customer.

• Creates security thought leadership with the customer’s executives using the Microsoft Security and Zero Trust narratives and engages stakeholders to position security as a business enabler and instill a security mindset in all aspects of the customer’s technology landscape. Uses understanding to establish Microsoft’s security credentials and to build opportunities to improve the customer’s security posture and orchestrates execution through security specialists.

Technology Strategy Formulation

• Leads analysis of overall customer situation for some of the largest and most complex accounts and advises on gaps that would benefit from Microsoft solutions.

• Leads the adoption of technologies by plotting the strategic, long-term vision of the customer’s/partner’s business strategy and drives action to bring to fruition.

• Leads and ensures execution of technology strategy and digital transformation by anticipating and/or leading the resolution of technical blockers that arise during strategy planning and implementation and driving technology adoption.

• Leads the translation of the customer’s business objectives and scenarios in conjunction with industry priority scenarios, Microsoft sales plays, and solution areas to develop effective technology architecture. Ensures that developed architecture influences cloud journey to position all Microsoft clouds and drive consumption, usage, and a higher share of customer potential and propensity.

• Applies deep expertise and thought leadership to identify the right industry sales kits and industry partners within the telecommunications industry. Articulates and understands telecommunications industry market trends, as well as customer threats, opportunities, and barriers to growth as they relate to the customer’s broader industry.

Technology Sales: Demand Generation and Orchestration

• Leads the customer journey into the era of AI by creating a targeted approach tailored to their current business requirements. Builds a mid-term strategy focusing on AI and Security projects as well as an immediate opportunity pipeline and orchestrates execution through the appropriate technical teams and with appropriate partners.

• Leads Account Strategy Envisioning with the extended account team, customer, and partner to deliver the outcomes for the customer through joint envisioning. Creates new Stage 1 opportunities, both billed and consumed, with customer stakeholders, managing consumption pipeline with extended team to maintain velocity, and unblocking issues. Orchestrates efforts to drive sales lifecycle and stage progression in collaboration with the other Microsoft teams. Defines the technology blueprint for opportunity initiation and sets and shares standards and best practices for others to follow.

Differentiated Value Proposition

• Acts as the customer’s technology mentor in established relationships with senior leaders at the CXO level. Develops extended relationships beyond core customers, advises on solutions, and aligns Microsoft capabilities with customer needs.

• Leads digital transformation for assigned accounts to drive business outcomes and create business value for customers by providing guidance and challenging customer thinking with innovative ideas that showcase the need for change and new strategic direction, and proactively involves corporate and cross-industry resources to drive customer transformation.

• Partners with line-of-business leader or senior executive within a large-scale or high-impact customer organization to articulate how Microsoft technology/services will meet future business needs, achieving long-term growth and success. Provides an outside-in view around existing and emerging compete or other solutions that are also a requirement for the customer.

Mapping and Account Planning

• Helps customer technical specialists build the message to sell Microsoft offerings to other parts of their business. Contributes to the creation of stakeholder maps for accounts, determines and orchestrates a coverage plan, and builds out an execution framework across multiple areas of the customer.

• Orchestrates internal teams, local partners, global system integrators, and consulting firms to ensure sufficient technical resources for demand generation.

• Establishes best practices and standards around account planning and review for aligning with quota attainment, consumption goals, and customer consumption gaps to inform quarterly and fiscal objectives, collaborating account planning internally and with the customer. Coordinates highly complex extended account teams and drives forecasting and tracking of the business.

Education and Thought Leadership

• Leads customer technology engagement by motivating and inspiring technical resources ofcustomer, partner, and Microsoft towards customer’s business transformation. Delivers regular industry/technology engagements and/or briefings to customer to drive execution and focus on competitive advantage

• Uses existing and new readiness resources and demonstrates expertise in creating enablement plans for large and high-stakes customers, and all-up Microsoft business. Drives innovations to help customers meet capacity and capability goals, maximize reach and impact, and drive long-term engagement and thought leadership to adopt strategic value. Drives customer skilling initiatives and execution.

Qualifications

Required/Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering or Business Administration related field AND 8+ years technical consulting, technical consultative selling, business consulting, practice building, or related technical/sales experience OR equivalent experience

Additional or Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering or Business Administration related field AND Relevant technical consulting, technical consultative selling, business consulting, practice building, or related technical/sales experience OR equivalent experience

• Relevant experience in telecommunications industry

• Relevant experience in digital transformation with(in) large enterprise organization, or using technology to drive customer business outcomes

• Experience in leading, and orchestrating v-teams, and engaging with customers in a virtual world

• Experience in business and/or technology consulting up to CxO-level

• Business-level proficiency or higher in Dutch and French

Key Knowledge, Skills, Abilities

• Agility

• Business Acumen

• Conceptual Thinking

• CxO Relationship Management

• Design Thinking

• Embody “we-before-me” mindset

• Enterprise Architecture

• Executive Conversations

• Growth Mindset

• IT Operating Models

• Large-scale, multi-year enterprise change management

• Multi-level stakeholder Management

• Personal Leadership

• Storytelling

• Strategic Technical Planning

• Strategic Partnership

• Transformation

• Virtual Team Orchestrator

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. Consistent with applicable law, all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations (https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/accessibility.html) .