Cloud Solution Architect - Data & AI

We are seeking an experienced Cloud Solution Architect to serve as a trusted advisor and technical leader for Microsoft's strategic Retail & Consumer Goods customers.

As a Cloud Solution Architect, you will help customers achieve measurable business outcomes through Azure, AI, Security, Data, Business Applications, Modern Work, and Unified solutions. You will proactively identify customer challenges, translate business requirements into scalable cloud solutions, and drive adoption, consumption, usage, and expansion opportunities across the Microsoft platform.

This role requires deep technical expertise, strong executive communication skills, customer-centric leadership, and the ability to lead virtual teams across Microsoft, partner organizations, and customer stakeholders. The Cloud Solution Architect serves as both a customer advocate and a transformation leader, helping organizations modernize their technology estate while accelerating business value realization.

Responsibilities

Business Impact

Proactively identifies and anticipates new cross-solution opportunities for Consumption, Usage & Unified expansion (especially Enhanced Solutions) at scale based on business value to customer/partner and clear understanding of the Microsoft value proposition for supported platforms to empower cloud success, foster and strengthen security and resiliency, and drive AI innovation. Strategically consults with, actively listens to, and respectfully challenges customers/partners, building trust to then advocate for alternative architectures/solutions/approaches that shape and/or enhance customer requirements. Identifies, anticipates, and evaluates industry trends (e.g., customer industry verticals, information technology [IT] industry), gathers customer/partner insights (e.g., feedback around technical preferences, environments, business needs, competitive landscape), and maps both existing and novel architecture and digital transformation solutions to customer/partner business outcomes. Proactively anticipates and captures opportunities in appropriate systems, processes, and tools, working collaboratively across the organization to execute on opportunities aligned with Microsoft's Customer Engagement Model.

Anticipates, identifies, escalates, and mitigates blockers using appropriate tools and processes to accelerate solution deployment, value realization and usage/consumption for complex customers/scenarios. Proactively applies broad business, technical, industry, and/or enterprise knowledge to architecture or support projects to meet business and information technology (IT) requirements and resolve identified constraints.

Operates according to required operational excellence and proven practice standards throughout all sales stages/activities/tools of record (e.g., pipeline updates, time tracking). Orchestrates and collaborates across Microsoft and customer/partner teams through on-strategy delivery to achieve customer/partner objectives and increase customer/partner satisfaction. Proactively anticipates and manages business and technical risks, adapts methodology and applies governance principles to identify, communicate, and minimize business and technical risks. Executes work in compliance with industry and Microsoft guidelines and procedures. Continuously prioritizes among competing demands in their work and identifies where impact occurs with customers, ensuring alignment with business priorities and goals.

Delivers solutions in line with company methodologies (e.g., product offerings such as value-based deliverables [VBDs], advice, training, technical validation), ensuring proven practices and patterns are followed to prepare complex customers for operational readiness and achievement of their business goals and targets. Leveraging knowledge of change management proven practices and/or involving the change management team, proactively helps the customer deploy for long-term organizational adoption to increase customer satisfaction and drive consumption/usage. Guides complex customers/partners towards a well-architected (e.g., secure, resilient, artificial intelligence [AI]-enabled), and cost- and performance-optimized solution to increase retention and expansion opportunities. Articulates the value of Unified and supports sellers, partnering with account teams to build consumption plans aligned with appropriate services. Provides feedback to Unified Delivery Team on VBDs to refine and further develop content.

Customer Centricity

Proactively identifies and/or translates customer/partner problems into industry solutions aligned with Microsoft product and platform strategy, creates or improves an existing business model, and explains why and/or how they meet customer/partner outcomes and return on investment (ROI) goals (e.g., via proof of concept, minimally viable product [MVP], rapid prototype) relative to competitive offerings. Proactively helps the customer/partner accelerate their adoption and use of Microsoft product/platform strategy-aligned (cross-solution area) solutions. Builds relationships with, and provides direction to technical decision makers (TDMs) up to the C-suite level, and builds the bridge between TDMs and business decision makers (BDMs). Leads and elevates interactions as needed with customers/partners' Chief Information Office (CIO), Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), and other C-level (CXO) roles to bridge understanding of security, compliance, operational and risk requirements across BDMs, TDMs, CIO and CISO teams, appropriately engaging additional subject matter experts when deeper expertise is required.

Proactively acts as the voice of the customer/partner, sharing ideas, feedback, insights, success stories and strategic/technical input with Engineering teams, Product Offerings teams and internal communities leveraging relevant insights from feedback tools and systems. Identifies and aggregates patterns of feedback across customers/partners/territories/industries, and leverages them with relevant industry perspective to develop strategic and actionable insights. Presents business cases to program managers to advocate for and influence product roadmaps, decision making, and bug fix prioritization, and own and drive initiatives as appropriate.

Drives self and guides other team members to focus on customer/partner experience through efficient delivery and ensuring a seamless and connected customer experience. Drives the realization of customer/partner conditions of success by leveraging an understanding of customer goals. Anticipates, addresses, and leads customer confidence calls to resolve customer/partner dissatisfaction and unmet needs, and creates and executes strategies to improve customer experience, value realization, and acceleration of transformation.

Partner Specialization

Identifies and directs attention to multiple, strategic opportunities (e.g., launch deals) that align with revenue goals, and orchestrates growth of solution utilization pipeline with partners. Leads assistance with partner and sales teams to bring clarity to specific, complex opportunities through proof of concept and technical pre-sales support.

Understands and anticipates solution area-specific market opportunities (e.g., competitor insights) and proactively leads initiatives to address them by supporting, assembling, and leading a v-team. Influences, challenges, and supports partners in developing scalable offerings, practices, products, and solutions, and investing and adopting new technologies at scale of the customer. May maintain relationships with non-technical senior stakeholders (e.g., sales) within the partner to understand their business model. Maintains active visibility in solution area-specific communities both to build credibility in internal/partner work and information sharing (e.g., technical updates, public facing roadmap) and to influence partners. Collaborates with internal stakeholders (e.g., engineering, sales) to provide field-based insights related to products/solutions related to functioning, pricing, implementation, and other areas.

Technical Leadership

Leverages market insights and demand signals to assist leadership in identifying relevant areas in which to drive up-skilling and/or accreditations based on demand. Role models technical readiness, both depth-aligned to solution area priorities and breadth-aligned to Customer Success Unit (CSU)/corporate initiatives (e.g., security, resilience, AI), and influences team to drive their own technical readiness. Acts as a mentor, leading readiness and upskilling activities in the team/organization by educating colleagues on technical and non-technical concepts and sharing proven practices.

Leads, mentors, and may assemble virtual teams around technologies and customer/partner challenges, sharing ideas, insights, and strategic, technical input with technical teams, internal communities across the field, and the larger teams across Microsoft using knowledge of Microsoft architectures and their context in the competitive landscape. Demonstrates deep industry knowledge and drives recognition for Microsoft solutions by leading presentations and engagements with external and internal audiences (e.g., Tech Connect, Build, Ignite) Contributes to and collaborates on intellectual property and proactively identifies patterns where no IP exists (e.g., Copilot and AI scenarios) to help build scalable and repeatable models. Participates in and leads external technical and non-technical community events (e.g., conferences, seminars, technical meetups, webcasts, blogs, hackathons) that elevate the Microsoft brand and shares learnings across internal teams.

Proactively identifies and anticipates gaps through delivery, communicates those gaps to and influences relevant team members and internal/external stakeholders, and connects gaps and patterns across business and technology areas that drive changes and improvements to products, intellectual property (IP) (both existing and new), technologies, and/or processes/practices that enable solutions to scale across customers. Develops and contributes to modifications of Microsoft's structured frameworks and methodologies. Proactively provides thought leadership and innovation to customers/partners and internal communities at the worldwide level.

Qualifications

• 12+ years experience in cloud and Data & AI technologies, information technology (IT) consulting/support, systems administration, network operations, software development/support, technology solutions, practice development, architecture, and/or consulting.
• 10+ years experience working in a customer-facing role (e.g., internal and/or external).
• 8+ years experience leading technical projects.
• Expereince in Data, Azure, AI, Security, Business Applications, Modern Work, and Unified solutions. Deep technical expertise, strong executive communication skills, customer-centric leadership
• Technical Certification in Cloud (e.g., Azure, Amazon Web Services, Google, security certifications).

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.