Architect

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Microsoft is on a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our culture is centred on embracing a growth mindset, a theme of inspiring excellence, and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. In doing so, we create life-changing innovations that impact billions of lives around the world. You can help us to achieve our mission.

Microsoft Consulting Services helps Microsoft customers around the world get the best outcomes from their investments in the latest Microsoft cloud technologies. We focus on empowering customers on their digital journey, from envisioning new possibilities to delivering solutions that result in targeted business outcomes and a great customer experience.

The Western EuropeArea Solution Architect is a key role in Demand Generation and Opportunity Qualification for the 12 countries within the Western Europe Area providing focus on early-stage sales support. This role is involved in Account planning with other Area roles and ensures that opportunities are developed in line with Microsoft strategy and Microsoft Consulting Services priorities. The Area Solution Architect provides technical expertise predominantly, but not exclusively, during the 0-20% phase and guides sellers on potential Solutions Domain alignments. Mapped to a particular industry or solution area and interacting deeply with the local sales organization as well as Area Leadership Teams to prioritize account focus, they will have an awareness of multiple Domain Solutions & Offerings and be able to articulate what is possible and what is required to build and deploy solutions across industries.

This role also participates in the delivery of projects, generating value in the envisioning and adoption as well as the modelling, design, and implementation ramp up conversations. Must be able to hold delivery conversations with the Domain representing the Customer as well as the Area Team.

Responsibilities

The focus of the Area Solution Architect role is to Make the Market and drive customer multi-horizon Digital Transformation with a deeper focus on early-stage pre-sales in strong collaboration with Area Sales to drive demand generation. Key accountabilities include:

• Understanding Customer/Partner Technical Environment: gather customer insights and adapt business models, plans, and solutions to those insights. Socialize the resulting business solution with the key customer business sponsor and stakeholders. Use evidence-based approach for story telling of the value of Microsoft Consulting and its partners as well as customer advocacy towards Product Engineering teams.
• Architecture Design and Deployment: leverage leading edge agile methodologies. Manage and resolve complex ambiguity in the requirements and constraints and documents assumptions and implications to be further clarified in the sales cycle. Drive agreement based on the customer’s priorities. Build and documents a realistically costed, advanced/complex Solution Approach with traceability of scope, effort and expected cloud consumption. Anticipate scenarios that could slow or impede pre-sales/delivery.
• Practice Development: Generate new and/or improve existing intellectual property. Connect gaps and patterns across business and technology areas to drive changes considering scale across customers. Drive the re-use of intellectual property. Participate and contribute to internal/external communities.
• Trusted Advisor: develop a network of internal/external relationships with senior-level decision makers to build influence. Lead the adoption of Microsoft solutions technologies based on understanding of competitor solutions and how customer business value can be driven through Microsoft’s offerings. Differentiate Microsoft’s solutions in customer/partner conversations to influence the industry-wide direction for specific architecture(s).
• Thought Leadership: lead virtual teams around industry scenarios, technologies and customer/partner challenges. Participate in external architect community events and share learnings with internal teams. Act a mentor to junior colleagues.
• Drive & Accelerate Cloud adoption: drive production-level Cloud Solutions in line with Customer and Microsoft strategy.
  

You must have ROM and BE estimation capabilities in your area of expertise. Review proposals from MCS Domains and Partners, review project deliverables and ensure that they meet the client’s expectations prior to their final delivery to the client.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in Business Applications (Dynamics)with preferable focus on Finance and Operations solutions
• Proven success and expertise in architecting innovative solutions primarily in a client-facing role.
• Deep technical knowledge, ideally with experience in multiple sectors and industries
• Track record of delivering quality solutions as a technical leader.
• Executes recognized Software Architecture methods, processes, and tools.
• Technical background, with demonstrable technology-related experience.
• Leadership and seniority in roles such as Solutions Specialist, Solution Architects, Project Managers, others similar.
• Preferable experience preselling and delivering around following industries: Manufacturing, Banking, Retail or Public Sector.
• Proven experience establishing conversations with IT leadership teams and business areas. Present and navigate conversations with CIO and BDM level customers.
• Bachelor’s degree relevant to Information Technology, Computer Science/Engineering (or equivalent)
• 50-75% travel within the 12 WE countries is needed to meet customer for envisioning and opportunity qualification meetings
  
  

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.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.