Account Technology Strategist

Overview As a Account Technology Strategist (ATS) within Microsoft's Defense Industrial Base (DIB) business, you will serve as the trusted technology advisor to some of Microsoft's most strategic Aerospace & Defense, Government Contractor, and Professional Services customers.

You will partner with senior business and technology leaders to align their mission, business, and digital transformation objectives with Microsoft's AI, Copilot, Security, Data, and Cloud platforms.

As a core member of the Account Team Unit (ATU), you will orchestrate Microsoft resources, partners, and customer stakeholders to create and execute long-term technology strategies that drive mission outcomes, business growth, operational resiliency, and competitive advantage.

You will help customers modernize legacy environments, secure critical infrastructure, accelerate AI adoption, and transform how they deliver services in highly regulated and complex environments.

This role combines executive engagement, technology leadership, industry expertise, and strategic business planning. The successful candidate will possess a deep understanding of the Defense Industrial Base ecosystem, including the technology, security, compliance, and operational challenges faced by government contractors and mission-critical organizations.

Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. We foster a culture of growth mindset, innovation, inclusion, and accountability, enabling our employees and customers to achieve meaningful impact.

Responsibilities

Customer and Industry Insights

• Applies expertise (deep expertise across few accounts or broad expertise across many accounts) and thought leadership to identify and inform the development of the right Industry Sales Kits and industry partners within the customer's vertical industry. Articulates and understands specific industry-related market trends, as well as customer threats, opportunities, and barriers to growth as they relate to the customer's broader industry. Leverages industry trends from other industries to gather insights and develop an informed perspective on similar issues that may occur within their industry/industries. Applies industry knowledge to support customers in solving issues.
• Synthesizes and combines various business and industry insights from their team, global best practices, proof points from experience/case studies with countries and/or regions, and deep industry expertise (e.g., level 200) related to customers and their competitors to conduct forecasting and develop recommendations for managing accounts and subsidiary planning. Ensures that all levels of the organization challenge customers to consider alternatives and adapt strategies, plans, business models, and solutions to insights. Orchestrates cross-regional teams to gather information, collaborate on performance markers, and identify potential risks in customer accounts. Oversees technical teams for driving opportunities with others, as necessary. Brings in business and industry insights to address the broader business challenges for the customer and deliver solutions.

Differentiated Value Proposition

• Acts as the customer's Technology Mentor in established relationships with a line-of-business leader or senior executive within a large-scale or high-impact customer organization senior leaders, including technical decision makers (TDMs) and/or Business Unit leaders at the C-level (e.g., HR, Risk, Finance leadership). Develops extended relationships beyond core customers, advises on solutions, and aligns Microsoft capabilities with customer needs. Drives market share (e.g., cloud, collaboration, AI). Leads customer business transformations through digital technologies for assigned accounts to drive business outcomes and create business value for customers by understanding customer industry and position to provide guidance and to challenge 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. Ensures line-of-business wins are captured (e.g., customer write-ups) as reference for scale, and represents the face of the business during public relations events for significant business wins.
• Partners with a line-of-business leader or senior executive within a large-scale or high-impact customer organization to articulate how complex Microsoft technology/services will meet future business needs better than the competition and will enable the achievement of 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.

Education and Thought Leadership

• Leads customer technology engagement by engaging and influencing technical resources of customer, partner, and Microsoft towards customer’s business transformation. Delivers regular (e.g., quarterly, monthly) industry/technology briefings to customer technology senior decision-makers technical teams.
• 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 on the Microsoft platform, and influences large customers to see and adopt the strategic value. Drives customer skilling initiatives and execution.

Mapping and Account Planning

• Establishes best practices and standards around account planning for budgeting, quota attainment, consumption goals, and customer consumption gaps to inform quarterly and fiscal objectives. Coordinates highly complex extended account teams (e.g., spanning complex technologies, geographies, functions) and drives forecasting and tracking of the business. Owns the technical portion of the account plan and leads the customer plan delivery for large, critical, and/or strategic accounts. Captures all Account Planning input in MSX D365 Account Plan.
• Helps customer technical specialists build the message to sell Microsoft offerings to other parts of their business or end users. Creates stakeholder maps for accounts, determines, and orchestrates a coverage plan, and builds out an execution framework across multiple Rooms of the House of the customer.
• Orchestrates internal teams and local partners (inclusive of global systems integrators and consultancy partners) to ensure sufficient technical resources for demand generation, when appropriate.

Technology Sales

Demand Generation and Orchestration

• Leads the customer journey into the era of AI and Industrial Metaverse by creating a targeted approach tailored to their current business requirements and positions Microsoft as a leader for the future, both for accelerating productivity as well as helping the customer create new capabilities to support their business. Leverages expertise of current technology landscape and understanding of AI and Industrial Metaverse capabilities to plot the foundational elements on the technology roadmap that need to be in place to realize value for the customer. Builds a mid-term strategy for AI and metaverse projects as well as an immediate opportunity pipeline and orchestrates execution through the appropriate technical teams from the Specialist Team Unit (STU) and with appropriate Partners
• Creates, develops, and drives opportunities based on industry best practices, presents opportunities to the customer, and creates demand. Develops a plan, within a broader strategy, to create and qualify a set number of opportunities for product sales, solutions sales, or consumption. Leverages partners and multiple channels (e.g., social media) to create demand. Orchestrates efforts to drive MCEM lifecycle and stage progression. Leverages experience and strategic fo