Solution Architecture Leader

Job content

Provides support for their team in gathering and propagating customer/partner insights to help shape and form both the definition and ongoing execution of the project. Holds teams accountable for leveraging existing architecture approaches to achieve Microsoft’s agreed commitments to the customer/partner and developing new solutions to scale across multiple customers/partners and markets. Guides team in defining and documenting the architecture. Collaborates with the other managers to jointly drive project/technical governance of the design, build, and deployment into use of proof of concepts and pilots. Guides team in working with the business sponsor and customer/partner stakeholders to gather and ratify requirements and constraints. Creates a culture and clarity around technical insights and escalations, and ensures broad sets of projects move forward. Defines risk mitigation activities that are foundational to the project plan. Anticipates and addresses organization- and industry-wide gaps, patterns, and needs to drive changes. Drives awareness across all levels of the organization of partner challenges, industry trends, and competitor architectures to allow team members to engage with partners, demonstrate Microsoft’s value, and develop counter strategy. In addition, this role has people management responsibilities including driving employee growth and development, executing projects, and managing performance.

Responsibilities

People Management

• Managers deliver success through empowerment and accountability by modeling, coaching, and caring.
• Model - Live our culture. Embody our values. Practice our leadership principles.
• Coach - Define team objectives and outcomes. Enable success across boundaries. Help the team adapt and learn.
• Care - Attract and retain great people. Know each individual’s capabilities and aspirations. Invest in the growth of others.
  

Understanding Customer/Partner Technical Environment

• Provides support for their team in gathering and propagating customer/partner insights to help shape and form both the definition and ongoing execution of the project. Holds teams accountable for mapping architecture and digital transformation solutions to customer/partner business outcomes, and ensures that proposed solutions are aligned with broader organizational strategy. Leverages prior work, customer/partner insights, and industry trends, and shares insights with team to apply.
• Supports their team in working with customer/partner stakeholders (e.g., Enterprise Architects, Security Team, Development Team, Operations Team) and business sponsor to socialize both the business solution an the project approach. Advises team on managing changes and facilitating feedback. Uses broad patterns of feedback to develop strategic and actionable insights and presents a compelling business case to program managers that influences product roadmaps and decision making. Contributes to Microsoft-centric operations and cadences to align with customer feedback.
• Drives internal advocacy by facilitating insight sharing with Product Engineering teams, and providing guidance through escalation, acceleration, and prioritization. Looks across multiple customers/partners for opportunities to consolidate and prioritize items across the business. Mentors peers and teams on best practices around internal resources usage.
  

Architecture Design and Deployment

• Holds teams accountable for leveraging existing architecture approaches to achieve Microsoft’s agreed commitments to the customer/partner and developing new solutions to scale across multiple customers/partners and markets.
• Guides team in defining and documenting the architecture through an architecture description document, an architecture decisions log, and a requirements/constraints traceability matrix. Ensures team is equipped to communicate the value proposition of the business solution along with the project approach. Guides team in cost-based and technology-based discussions to explain the architecture in terms of its build, deployment, and ongoing operational use to determine customer appetite for the business solution. Promotes a business-value approach that values return on investment (ROI) and customer costs-savings over technical ease of execution. Provides coaching to allow architects to scale solutions.
• Collaborates with the other managers to jointly drive project/technical governance of the design, build, and deployment into use of proof of concepts (POCs) and pilots. Provides end-to-end governance, oversight, and thought leadership within assigned account. Provides guidance to team in understanding and demonstrating business value (e.g., release of revenue, cost savings) that the business solution realizes.
• Guides team in working with the business sponsor and customer/partner stakeholders (e.g., Business users, Enterprise Architects, Security Team, Operations Team) to gather and ratify requirements and constraints. Supports team in managing and resolving highly complex ambiguity in the requirements and constraints and documents assumptions and implications where it cannot be resolved. Ensures maintenance of the requirements/constraints traceability matrix to prove that solution components have a rationale/justification for inclusion in the architecture of the business solution. Oversees development and execution of test plans to prove that each requirement/constraint has been implemented as expected by the customer.
• Leads team in collaborating to understand the business solution/problem. Drives agreement, based on the customer’s priorities, requirements/constraints, approach, principles, concepts, and expectations. Ensures team builds and documents a realistically costed, advanced/complex solution approach. Provides thought leadership on oversight and governance sets expectations for quality practices and standards to realize the business solution. Promotes a cohesive build methodology so the solution can be transitioned to live operations, leveraging solution expertise. Ensures communication of and adherence to the pre-sales value proposition.
• Creates a culture and clarity around technical insights and escalations, and ensures broad sets of projects move forward. Provides support and guidance to team in identifying scenarios that could slow or impede pre-sales/delivery. Anticipates blockers and resolves escalations as needed and coaches team on best practices for handling escalations. Ensures that issues and blockers and addressed by the appropriate groups. Identifies widespread patterns in blockers across business areas or territories. Develops strategies to prevent blockers and issues in the future.
• Works in close collaboration with the Project Manager and Account Team to identify, categorize, and communicate business and technical risks. Defines risk mitigation activities that are foundational to the project plan. Defines risk contingency plans for invocation should the risk occur.
  

Practice Development

• Generates new and/or improvements to existing intellectual property. Anticipates and addresses organization- and industry-wide gaps, patterns, and needs to drive changes. Identifies which ideas should be culled, with consideration for scale across customers. Drives the re-use of intellectual property and recommends practices in both pre-sales and delivery. Leads and contributes to internal/external communities.
  

Trusted Advisor

• Develops a deep network of internal/external relationships with senior-level decision makers at high-impact customers/partners to build influence in addressing problems/blockers and facilitating additional views on the matter of interest. Acts as an advisor to external stakeholders. Provides direction to facilitate relationships between others. Stays up to date on Microsoft’s technologies, products, and services in order to communicate Microsoft’s mission, strategy, and capabilities. Provides guidance to others in doing so.
• Coaches team to use evidence-based arguments that articulate complex concepts in a simple manner to respectfully challenge Microsoft and customers/partners when a decision or course of action will not produce optimal results. Leverages strategic expertise to encourage alternative approaches where applicable. Leverages network and industry experience to connect customers/partners with ideas, people, and resources to support their success. Serves as the "technical conscience" to challenge the status quo and unrealistic expectations. Proactively resolves conflicts and seeks resolution to balance the overall outcome. Drives consensus where possible and leads decisions to resolve conflict when needed and guides team in doing so.
• Drives awareness across all levels of the organization of partner challenges, industry trends, and competitor architectures to allow team members to engage with partners, demonstrate Microsoft’s value, and develop counter strategy. Holds team accountable for leading the adoption of Microsoft technologies.
  

Thought Leadership

• Fosters community sharing of stories and leveraging of pre-existing resources by encouraging and empowering team to share learnings and by establishing a cadence (e.g., internal technical brainstorming calls, presenting latest challenges in staff meetings) to calibrate on challenges and trends that impact the team at the corporate level. Holds teams across all organizational levels accountable for sharing insights with virtual team members, including C-level leaders, to inform the direction they take with customers/partners.
• Initiates and drives external architect community events (e.g., conferences, seminars, technical meetups, Webcasts, blogs, hackathons). Acts a mentor to junior colleagues by educating them on technical and non-technical concepts and sharing best practices. Serves as an industry-leading expert and drives recognition for Microsoft solutions through presentations and engagements with external audiences and publishing white papers around key technical topics and/or architecture design templates.
  

Other

• Embody our culture and values
  

Qualifications

Required/Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related field AND proven experience in technology solutions, practice development, architecture, consulting, and/or technology domain (e.g., Security))
• OR Master’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related fieldhands on experience in technology solutions, practice development, architecture, consulting, and/or technology domain (e.g., Security)
  

Additional Or Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related field and experience in technology solutions, practice development, architecture, consulting, and/or technology domain (e.g., Security)
• OR Master’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related field AND experience in technology solutions, practice development, architecture, consulting, and/or technology domain (e.g., Security)
• OR equivalent experience.
• Demostrated ability in technical sales experience.
• Project management experience.
• People management experience, including managing consultant practice managers, technical sales managers, and/or technical architect managers.
• Technical or Professional Certification in Domain (e.g., Security).
  

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. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

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

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