Principal Azure Cloud Solution Architect

Overview

As a Principal Azure Cloud Solution Architect on our Financial Services Industry team, you will be at the forefront of designing and implementing Azure infrastructure solutions for some of the largest and most advanced Financial Services Institutions in the world, as well as many of their most strategic Independent Software Vendor (ISV) partners. You will leverage your technical expertise and leadership experience in partnership with other technical experts to solve complex challenges and capitalize on industry opportunities, ensuring optimal performance and security for our clients' critical applications in the cloud during every step of their journey.

Responsibilities

1. Customer Centricity
   • Identify and evaluate industry trends (customer industry verticals, information technology [IT] industry), gather customer/partner insights (e.g., feedback around technical preferences, environments, business needs, competitive landscape), and map architecture and digital transformation solutions to customer/partner business outcomes.
   • Act as the Voice of the Customer (VOC)/partner, by driving new feedback, insights, and resources across territories to add and prioritize.
   • Represent the customer/partner to internal teams (e.g., Engineering) to shape products and services by providing insights across the territory.
2. Develops and expands existing impactful relationships
   • Develops and expands existing impactful relationships with customer and partner architects, C-level Technical Decision Makers (TDMs), and business stakeholders (to the extent that the customer/partner will call for consultation without being prompted).
   • Provides direction to TDMs and builds the bridge between TDMs and Business Decision Makers (BDMs).
3. Addresses requirements/issues/strategies
   • Addresses requirements/issues/strategies with win-win technical architecture(s) and demonstrates and proves the capability and value of those solutions through design collaboration sessions with the customer/partner.
   • Contributes to and understands how works aligns with customer success plan and delivers customer outcomes by driving partnerships with the appropriate internal teams/resources.
4. Guides other team members
   • Guides other team members to focus on customer/partner experience through efficient delivery and ensuring a seamless and connected customer experience.
   • Drives definition of customer/partner conditions of success.
5. Anticipates customer/partner dissatisfaction
   • Anticipates customer/partner dissatisfaction and unmet needs and helps create strategies to improve experience, value realization, and acceleration of customer transformation.
6. Actively listens, creates, and sustains constructive tension and trust
   • Actively listens, creates, and sustains constructive tension and trust with customers/partners by respectfully challenging their decisions and/or areas where they might do more and encouraging them to consider alternative architectures/solutions and approaches.

Business Impact

1. Drives their team in operating and optimizing complex and high-impact situations
   • Drives their team in operating and optimizing complex and high-impact situations for strategic customers/partners in collaboration with internal stakeholders (e.g., Customer Services and Support, Customer Success Account Management, other Account Team members, Product Groups).
   • Anticipates and manages business and technical risks, and adapts methodology and applies governance to identify, communicate, and minimize business and technical risks.
2. Owns complex customers/partner relationships
   • Owns complex customers/partner relationships to anticipate, identify, propose resolution, and lead removal of technical blockers through regular technical reviews and check-ins to accelerate consumption and solution implementations.
   • Anticipates and routes non-technical issues for removal by the appropriate party.
3. Shapes and enhances customers' requirements
   • Shapes and enhances customers' requirements.
4. Proactively uses deep knowledge of the products, services, and value propositions
   • Proactively uses deep knowledge of the products, services, and value propositions of Microsoft and its competitors in customer/partner conversations and to propose and coach others to develop new solutions to scale across multiple customers/partners while demonstrating the business case and presenting alternative scenarios.
5. Optimizes to drive customer consumption
   • Optimizes to drive customer consumption and aligns with Customer Success Account Management or other Account Team members on customer/partner priorities to drive growth in consumption via cost optimization, operational excellence performance efficiency, and security.
6. Creates opportunities to expand or accelerate cloud consumption
   • Creates opportunities to expand or accelerate cloud consumption (including through cloud related managed intellectual property [MIP]) and leads these customer/partner conversations.
7. Leads architecture design, resiliency reviews, and technical optimization
   • Leads architecture design, resiliency reviews, and technical optimization across multiple applications for the customer/partner, resulting in production deployment application and increased customer/partner usage and consumption.
8. Ensures that the customer/partner's applications have as few points of failure as possible
   • Ensures that the customer/partner's applications have as few points of failure as possible.
9. Provides thought leadership to help drive technical solution design, development, and deployment
   • Provides thought leadership to help drive technical solution design, development, and deployment and supports the customer/partner throughout implementation to achieve value outcomes and Microsoft's Customer Promise.

Technical Leadership

1. Leverages market insights to assist leadership in defining global vision
   • Leverages market insights to assist leadership in defining global vision by identifying relevant areas in which to drive up-skilling.
2. Role models effective technical readiness
   • Role models effective technical readiness and influences team to drive their own technical readiness.
3. Drives and engages others to adapt to changes
   • Drives and engages others to adapt to changes aligned with solution areas/services priorities.
4. Acts as a mentor to less experienced colleagues
   • Acts as a mentor to less experienced colleagues by educating them on technical and non-technical concepts and sharing best practices.

Connects gaps and patterns across business and technology areas

1. Drives changes and improvements to existing Intellectual Property (IP)
   • Drives changes and improvements to existing Intellectual Property (IP), technologies, and/or processes that enable solutions to scale across customers/partner.
2. Drives consumption acceleration, as well as IP reuse and best practice sharing
   • Drives consumption acceleration, as well as IP reuse and best practice sharing.
3. Develops and contributes to the company stock of structured frameworks and methodologies
   • Develops and contributes to the company stock of structured frameworks and methodologies.

Embody our Culture and Values

We understand the importance of work-life balance and flexibility. Therefore, this role offers the option to work from home partially or fully, depending on your preference and the project requirements. 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.

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