Sales Motion Strategy Lead
What you'll need to apply
Fields this application requires
Company-specific questions
- Is your legal name the same as your preferred name?
- Address
- Country/region of residence
- State
- Postal Code/Zip
- Ethnicity/Race
- Gender
- U.S. Armed Forces Status
- Veteran Status
- Are you currently or have you ever been a member of the military, a civilian employee, or an official of any government, whether national, state, local, or foreign?
- Have you signed a non-compete or non-disclosure statement which may become an obstacle to your acceptance at Microsoft?
- Have you ever worked with Microsoft as a full-time / part-time employee, intern, vendor, agency temporary, or business guest? If yes, please provide as much information about your former employment as you can.
- Are you currently employed by a Microsoft subsidiary (e.g., LinkedIn, GitHub, Gaming Studios, Activision, Blizzard, King)?
- As part of the online application process you were asked whether you possess certain minimum required qualifications for the role to which you are applying. By selecting yes, you agree that you answered these questions accurately. You further acknowledge that your answers may result in your application not being considered further for this role if you do not currently meet the required qualifications for the role.
- By checking this you agree to the Microsoft Data Privacy Notice (DPN) .
- By checking this, you affirm that you have familiarized yourself with the Microsoft recruiting process and agree to the candidate code of conduct .
About this role
Employer-provided description, formatted for easier reading.
Overview In SME&C (Small, Medium, Enterprise and Channel), we have set out with the purpose of empowering our customers through the unique value of the Microsoft cloud by building a globally led, digital-first scale organization aligned with partners. Dedicated to one of the fastest growing customer segments, the SME&C organization is committed to delivering the global digital scale engine for our business.
You will have an opportunity to work cross-collaboratively while living our shared SME&C culture priorities: diverse and inclusive, well-being, sustainability, giving and learning.
We are looking for a sales leader to join our SMB (Small, Medium Business) Global Vendor Digital Sales (VDS) team in an individual contributor capacity to lead the strategy, enablement, and governance of one of our core SME&C VDS sales motions. You will be responsible for the sales strategy of your motion and its execution through the VDS field team, leveraging an outsourced digital sales model.
We are hiring two leads against this description — one for the Scale motion and one for the Renew (Enterprise Agreement) motion — and you will be matched to the motion where your experience has the greatest impact.
The Sales Motion Strategy
Lead owns the strategy, design, and end-to-end orchestration of one of Vendor Digital Sales' (VDS) core growth motions across the SMB Upper-Medium segment. Our motion portfolio spans high-volume, digitally-scaled acquisition and growth through to account-based renewal, attach, and seat expansion.
This is a senior individual-contributor role that operates at strategic altitude, bringing recommendations rather than data.
The lead sets the motion's operating model and governance and leads through influence across VDS Core, the sales-motion PMs, Partner, vendors, business-support operations, and the regional Sales Execution OUs (Americas, EMEA, Asia) to convert strategy into consistent, measurable field execution and performance.
Two Motions
Scale motion
Renew (EA) motion
The high-volume, digitally-scaled, lead- and signal-based motion that drives customer acquisition, migration, and growth across the SMB Upper-Medium segment.
The account-based motion within Top Growth Accounts that drives EA renewal, Copilot attach, and seat growth across roughly 13k EAs in SMB through an outsourced delivery model and cross-org partners.
Measured on Cloud FRA, Copilot NPSA, Security, and Azure, with campaign design, customer selection, and conversion as the levers.
Measured on EA renewal revenue, Copilot attach and seat growth, and TAS, with solution-area strategy and operating governance as the levers.
Core priorities:
- Own the FY27 motion's operating model end-to-end — from solution-area strategy and customer selection through campaign design, conversion, attach, and seat growth.
- Innovate and drive above-market growth in the Upper-Medium segment across priority CSAs — Copilot NPSA through attach and seat growth, plus Cloud FRA, Security, and Azure.
- Define a quantified path to target and the where-to-play-and-win plan behind it, rather than reporting on the gap after the fact.
- Make the motion repeatable, AI-accelerated, and partner-aligned so every OU executes consistently with governance that runs without friction — while still allowing for innovation in region.
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
Motion strategy and design
Own the design, continuous evolution, and landing of the VDS operating model for the SMB Upper-Medium segment. Set the where-to-play-and-win strategy across priority solution areas (AIBP, AIWF, CAIP, Security), leveraging CLAS, the Global Campaign Framework, EA and CSP, End of Support, Open Value, CSP anniversaries, expiration-quarter and adoption signals, and CSA/cross-cloud propensity.
Execution and performance
Drive performance to target across Cloud FRA, Copilot NPSA and seat growth, Security, Azure, and TAS by owning the motion's core ROB with peer PMs. Bring sales insights, readiness, and activation. Identify and close execution gaps, bringing quantitative (performance) and qualitative (next action per cohort) clarity to leadership.
Partner-Aligned Execution (PAE)
Embed Partner-Aligned Execution into the motion — campaign-led, aligned-partner (MPL-pinned SSP) selection, Riley to VDS handoff, vendor-delivery renewal and TAS coverage, and one joint ROB against the outcome contract — so partner-supported business and above-threshold co-sell are captured and accelerated, and Partner Inbound Cosell lands.
AI and digital scale
Partner with VDS AI Transformation leads to embed Seller Assist and autonomous or agentic AI (Riley) into the motion, ship agentic workflows (Copilot, Cowork, Scout) into production that lift reach, attach, and seller productivity, and work with Cross Sales Motion Orchestration to apply the Nymeria propensity framework to targeting and lead distribution. Quantify the impact in time saved and pipeline or seat lift.
Cross-team orchestration
Orchestrate across Digital Customer Outreach, Sales Enablement, CSA programs, business-support operations, and VDS Sales Motions PMs to align signal design, enablement, inclusion and exclusion, and operating rhythms. Synthesize findings into insights and independently solve complex problems.
Executive communication and influence
Own the motion's narrative for finance and Operating Unit leadership reviews — leading with the “so what,” naming the decision, and driving it with executive presence — and align VDS leads, vendors, and cross-org partners at the GM and CVP level on one quantified view of the book across the Americas, EMEA, and Asia.
Rhythm of business, governance, and reporting
Own targets, reporting, governance, and the monthly ROB — including intake, reconciliation, and inclusion and exclusion — closing decisions within cycle and re-engineering the intake and governance model with business-support operations and cross-org buy-in. Represent the motion in VDS and OU leadership reviews with a clear, data-grounded narrative.
- Embody our Culture and Values
Qualifications
Required/minimum qualifications
Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Finance, Engineering, or related field AND 5+ years experience in business consulting, sales, sales operations, information technology (IT), account management, business development, marketing, IT field sales, or a related field OR equivalent experience.
6+ years experience in in Near Term Strategy (2 years out), Management Consulting, Sales, or Finance.
Additional or preferred qualifications
Master's Degree in Business Administration or related field AND 5+ years of marketing, strategy, sales, sales leadership, program management, project management, business planning, consulting, banking, finance, economics, and/or partner organization experience OR Bachelor's Degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Computer Science, or related field AND 7+ years of marketing, strategy, sales, sales leadership, program management, project management, business planning, consulting, finance, economics, and/or partner organization experience OR equivalent experience.
- Experience with Vendor Digital Sales or an equivalent outsourced or vendor-delivered sales model.
- Depth in one or more VDS growth motions — lead- and signal-based scale acquisition and migration, or Enterprise Agreement renewal and attach at scale including seat growth and Copilot attach.
- Solution-area fluency across AI business process, AI workforce, cloud and AI platform, and security — able to set a differentiated strategy for each.
- Familiarity with CLAS, Nymeria, MSX