International Customer Success Unit (iCSU) brings scale, agility, and cross solution coverage to our largest, most strategic Global Account customers in their international downstream locations outside of headquarters. We operate out of key geographic locations around the world enabling global execution of our customer's digital transformation strategies. We bring a seamless customer experience that crosses functional and geographic boundaries empowering customers to realize the business value of their investments in our technology.

The CSA role is responsible for driving customer satisfaction in adopting and effective use of Microsoft's cloud platforms, consumption, growth with using the array of Cloud services, and the governance of delivery for their portfolio of accounts.

We are looking for a highly motivated and passionate Azure Infra Cloud Solution Architect to drive high priority customer initiatives on the Microsoft Azure Platform in collaboration with customers and the Microsoft field in Enterprise accounts segment of our business. This is a customer facing role, owning overall technical relationship between customer and Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Platform.

You will own the Azure Infra technical support for both pre and post sales including architectural design sessions, specific implementation projects, build MVPs and trouble solving and prevent the issues and support to build more efficient systems with Well-Architect framework. The ideal candidate will have experience in customer-facing roles and success leading deep technical architecture discussions with senior customer executives, Enterprise Architects, IT Management and Developers to drive Azure Infrastructure solutions to production.

Responsibilities
Scale Customer Engagements

• Engages with customer technical decision makers and anticipates customer needs and issues proactively through data gathering.
• Uses knowledge of customer context and solution or portfolio expertise to build credibility with customers individually or at scale. Develops technical and market/industry knowledge.
• Ensures technical wins for core technologies by driving technical discussions with customers. Improves customer interactions through feedback and observation.
• Engages other internal resources (e.g., roles, Microsoft Technology Center, demo sites, virtual sites), mapping out and leveraging foundational resource knowledge for key areas of technology as needed to overcome technical blockers on assigned technology set.

Scale Through Partners

• Engages in partner sell-with scenarios by contributing to the facilitation of technical engagements and partnering with colleagues to manage the sales process.

Build Strategy

• Shares competitive insights from customer sessions with colleagues and escalates/resolves competitive situations to influence compete strategies.
• Provides strategic, technical input based on Microsoft capability to contribute to strategy development, leveraging partner and internal teams.
• Acts as the voice of the customer (VOC) by driving new feedback, blockers, insights, resource (e.g., OneList) items across communities so they can be added and prioritized.
• Works with account teams to tailor Microsoft messaging to audience and captures and shares customer feedback using knowledge of specific Microsoft solutions and their context in a competitive landscape.
• Collaborates with team members to monitor and analyze customer usage of key/prioritized Microsoft solutions/products that support customer's business outcomes. Identifies opportunities to promote usage.

Solution Design and Proof

• Identifies and applies existing demonstration assets. Demonstrates and oversees demonstrations (e.g., architectural design sessions [ADS], proof of concept [POC] sessions) of solutions based on specific Microsoft products through initial engagements. Leverages partner/customer teams as needed to prove capabilities and integration into customer environment. Reviews partner demonstrations and provides feedback to ensure alignment with Microsoft standards.
• Presents and applies reference architectures across technologies/solution areas to partners or customers for their technology sets.
• Expands awareness of and begins practicing digital transformation sales methodologies (e.g., challenger sales).

Technical Leadership

• Builds their own readiness plan and proactively identifies learning gaps. Grows domain knowledge and practices expertise by communicating with customers, partners, and senior colleagues to expand knowledge of architecture.
• Conducts group training or one-to-many events (e.g., workshops, Webinars) or leverages existing scale enablement programs to present and educate customers and colleagues on the capabilities and benefits across Microsoft solutions/products.
• Monitors and responds to internal and external tech community posts, attends community calls, sessions, hackathon, etc., and acts as a mentor for their technology area. Contributes and participates in Customer Executive Briefing Center sessions. Shares best practices internally on community calls and drives recognition of Microsoft cloud solutions through presentations and engagements with external audiences.

Other

• Embody our culture and values

Qualifications
Required/Minimum Qualifications

• Relevant certifications from Microsoft or competitive platforms AND 3+ years technical pre-sales or technical consulting experience

• OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering or related field AND 4+ years technical pre-sales or technical consulting experience

• OR equivalent experience.

• Business level of Japanese skill is required.

• Conversational level of English is required.

Additional Or Preferred Qualifications

• 5+ years technical pre-sales or technical consulting, or related experience.
• 3+ years experience with Azure Infra, hybrid, or on premises infrastructures, architecture designs, migrations, industry standards, and/or technology management.
• Certification in relevant (Microsoft or industry) technologies or disciplines (e.g., Azure Architect and Development exams, Cloud Platform Technologies, Architecture).

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. Consistent with applicable law, 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 and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.