Overview
Are you passionate about AI and eager to transform the IT landscape? Join our dynamic Cloud & AI team as we lead the charge in AI transformation! As trusted advisors, we help customers modernize their infrastructure, optimize operations, and drive innovation with Azure's cutting-edge AI capabilities. Whether it's migrating and modernizing estates to be AI-ready, accelerating innovation with AI agents and platforms, empowering development teams with AI, or unifying and modernizing data estates, we help customers build technology solutions to achieve their business needs.
At Small Medium Enterprises and Channel (SME&C), we are leading a significant-growth, AI-powered global sales team—one that is deeply connected to our partners and driven by customer success. By uniting our Small Medium Business, Corporate, Strategy, and Partner teams, we are unlocking the largest customer opportunity, backed by the industry’s most significant investments. Leveraging the power of AI and our extensive partner ecosystem, we are redefining how businesses of all sizes adopt technology to drive growth and innovation.
SME&C is more than a sales organization—it’s a culture of innovation, opportunity, and inclusivity. Here, you’ll be part of a diverse, significant-performing, and customer-obsessed team where collaboration, connection, and continuous learning fuel everything we do.
If you thrive in a fast-paced, digital-first environment and are eager to make a meaningful impact, explore how SME&C can be the next step in your career. Together, we are shaping the future of business.
As a Senior Director, Cloud & AI Sales you will lead a team of frontline managers who oversee Azure Specialists, Azure Solution Engineers and Partner Solution Sales across the SME&C segment. You will set strategic direction, drive execution excellence, and empower your managers to build significant-performing teams that accelerate Azure customer acquisition, consumption, and satisfaction. Your leadership will be instrumental in scaling impact across regions, aligning cross-functional priorities, and delivering business outcomes through AI transformation.
This opportunity will allow you to:
- Accelerate your executive leadership growth by developing and coaching a team of managers to deliver customer success and business impact.
- Expand your strategic influence by shaping go-to-market execution, partner engagement, and customer transformation strategies.
- Build future-ready capabilities through organizational learning, talent development, and exposure to Microsoft’s evolving Cloud & AI platform.
You’ll also benefit from a flexible work environment that supports partial remote work, enabling you to lead with impact while maintaining work-life balance.
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
As a Cloud & AI Sales Leader in the SME&C segment, you will oversee a team of frontline managers responsible for Azure Specialists, Azure Solution Engineers, and Partner Solution Sales. Your leadership will be pivotal in driving digital transformation, customer success, and business growth through Microsoft's Cloud & AI platform.
People Leadership
Build and grow Significant-performing, diverse teams through intentional talent development, inclusive hiring, and career coaching.
Inspire a culture of customer-centricity, technical excellence, and collaborative execution across Cloud & AI and partner teams.
Embody Microsoft’s leadership principles:
- Model: Live our culture and values.
- Coach: Define clear objectives, enable cross-boundary success, and foster continuous learning.
- Care: Invest in each individual’s growth and aspirations.
Sales Execution
- Lead your team to bring industry insights into customer engagements, drive significant-impact solution sales, and accelerate digital transformation.
- Guide strategic opportunity development and execution through orchestration across internal teams (Engineering, CXE, Go To Market (GTM) and partners.
- Engage with C-level stakeholders to expand relationships and influence strategic outcomes.
- Competes to win new market share.
- Coach teams to identify and close new Cloud & AI opportunities, aligning solutions to customer business needs.
Business Value Selling
- Champion a business value selling approach, especially in identifying and advancing new Cloud & AI opportunities.
- Disciplined Operator – Maintains excellence in pipeline management, forecasting and driving integrated territory and budget achievement planning.
- Experience driving new sales and customers using innovative approaches, leveraging partnership events, social selling (Linkedln) and networking
Scaling and Collaboration
- Enable your team to apply the orchestration model effectively and build a advanced partner ecosystem to drive cross-sell and up-sell motions.
Technical Expertise
- Drive technical depth in customer engagements and represent Microsoft at external events as a thought leader.
- Coach your team on market trends, competitive positioning, and how to connect Cloud & AI solutions to customer impact.
Learning Culture
- Foster a growth mindset by investing in your own and your team’s learning—especially in emerging Cloud & AI capabilities.
Sales Excellence
- Lead strategic planning and execution across your territory, ensuring alignment with sales excellence practices and operational rigor.
- Oversee business performance, ensuring sales targets and operational standards are met.
- Guide your team in leveraging partners, technical expertise, and innovation to open new markets and optimize the Cloud & AI portfolio.
- Ensure your team completes required training and certifications, while mentoring them to continuously grow their capabilities.
Strategic Thinking & Execution.
- Ability to develop sales and business strategy options, while also being able to successfully execute plans and build advanced relationships.
- Advanced Communicator. advanced negotiation, organizational, presentation, financial acumen, written, and verbal communication skills.
- Advanced Performer. Driven person who consistently exceeds goals and expectations and has the ability, characteristics, and determination to compete effectively against skilled and diverse competition.
- Collaborative. Work cohesively with members of the Microsoft sales & services team, Microsoft partners, engineering, and marketing to solve customer and partner issues, leverage best practices, & deliver results.
- Growth Mindset. Ability to overcome and work around problems that are inevitable in rapidly growing businesses – positive approach to problem solving, learning, and development.
Qualifications
Required/minimum qualifications
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Business Administration, or related field AND 8+ years of technology-related sales or account management experience
- OR 11+ years of technology-related sales or account management experience.
**Additional or preferred qualifications **
- Demonstrated experience selling complex, cloud-based solutions to small and medium enterprise customers.
- Proven seller coaching and negotiation experience.
- Demonstrated experience driving adoption across multiple stakeholders with varying agendas.
- Experience in managing channel sales complexities
- 10+ years services sales or account management experience.
- 5+ year(s) of people management experience including 2+ years manager of managers experience.
- Experience with complex sales training (e.g., Miller Hyman, Spin, Michael Bosworth, Holden, etc.) and sales methodologies
- Enterprise customer level experience with cloud, hybrid infrastructures, productivity and security technologies, and industry standards
- Lead strategy and execution for a $250M+ portfolio, ensuring sustained growth and client success
Digital Solution Area Specialists M6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $76.15 - $116.83 per hour. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $98.03 - $127.45 per hour.
Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay
This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.
Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. 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 with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about **requesting accommodations.**