Microsoft Alliance Lead, North America

For more than two decades, Avanade has been at the forefront of driving innovation designed to create a genuine human impact.  Created in April 2000 by two industry giants – Accenture and Microsoft – Avanade has one goal: deliver innovative services and solutions to enterprises worldwide using the Microsoft platform. Collaboration is at the heart of our culture, and as the industry’s most successful joint venture, partnering with Microsoft is literally in our DNA.  As the global leader in the Microsoft Partner Ecosystem, we’ve earned countless partnership accolades, but the most powerful evidence of what the partnership is capable of – and what we’re most proud of – is the success of our joint clients.

As the Avanade Microsoft Alliance Leader for North America, you’ll be part of one of the most exciting partnerships in the industry.  You’ll be the “face of the partnership” for North America, managing the Microsoft partnership across all aspects of the business – from stakeholder alignment and relationship management to Regional Alliance Team leadership, from joint sales and go-to-market orchestration to field alignment and ongoing enablement. You’ll be responsible for executing the global alliance plan with Microsoft in North America to support our growth opportunities in all channels, you’ll act as a key strategic advisor to Area/Region leadership, providing the voice to the partner and from the partner, you’ll align to sales leadership to enable co-selling at scale, mobilize across Avanade, Accenture, and Microsoft to drive increased share of wallet and mindshare for Avanade services. You’ll lead the extended Regional Alliance team to consistently deliver results and impact across the area, and you’ll be a core member of the global alliance leadership team accelerating the next phase of transformation of the Avanade Microsoft Partnership. 

Core Skills 

Alliance management in today’s fast-paced market dynamics requires a unique, next-level skillset.  In this role, you’ll have an opportunity to bring the breadth of your partner management and leadership acumen to deliver market-making results, demonstrating your acumen across: 

• Sales – you bring a sales mindset and an entrepreneurial attitude, with a relentless focus on our joint clients  

• Business – you are a go-to person for leadership, an influencer and trusted advisor, known for doing what you say you’ll do 

• Strategic – you bring a cross-functional perspective and the foresight to anticipate decisions, problems, conflicts & opportunities 

• Communication – you are a seasoned communicator, with the ability to tell articulate clearly upstream and downstream to get results 

• Operational – you know who to connect with and when to get things done

• Relationship & political acumen – you build credibility and deep relationships internally & externally, you can negotiate and build consensus, and possess the empathy to drive to win/win solutions  

• Results-focused – you have a bias for action, you aren’t a ‘reporter of the news’

Accountabilities 

• Partner relationship owner for Area 

• Joint alliance Area plan execution  

• Joint program/initiative orchestration

• Management of Region Alliance Team

Responsibilities 

• Lead alliance relationship in Area, working closely with Avanade leadership, Microsoft and Accenture to drive execution of joint activities to support growth goals. Manage escalation resolution, executive alignment, scorecard across Area and regional execution.  

• Lead the Global Joint Alliance Plan for the Area, overseeing execution plans, programs & achievement of metrics. 

• Lead team of Region Alliance Managers to ensure consistent execution across Area with localized plans & scorecards.  

• Collaborate with Microsoft & Avanade Area Sales Leaders to execute ‘sell-with’ and joint go-to-market initiatives   

• Manage Area Joint Account targeting process – orchestrate attainment of joint account planning session and incremental pipeline

• Support joint area/region account planning sessions to influence, extend, and/or accelerate deal closure 

• Develop and execute a coordinated enablement plan to drive partnership awareness

• Manage Area alliance operational rhythm of the business to accurately track and report impact of joint activities to Area growth

• Serve as primary influencer to Area Alliance Marketing to ensure effective demand generation activities to support Area sales strategy 

• Act as part of Global Alliance Leadership Team to ensure close coordination, continuous communication related to Area requirements  

Metrics & KPIs 

Carry Area Scorecard Targets:

• Area Partnership Health   

• Pipeline impact 

• Revenue metrics 

Preferred Experience

• Bachelors or equivalent experience

• 15+ years of relevant experience

• 10+ yeas of management experience