Pursuit Lead Manager

Overview

The leader is responsible for the overall direction and management of the consulting services pursuit and bid process. This includes identifying and evaluating new business opportunities, leading and coordinating the pursuit/bid management process, and crafting persuasive proposals. They are also tasked with performing risk assessments, ensuring all deadlines are met, and managing the pursuit/bid team effectively.

Responsibilities

People Management

• Managers deliver success through empowerment and accountability by modeling, coaching, and caring.
• Model - Live our culture; Embody our values; Practice our leadership principles.
• Coach - Define team objectives and outcomes; Enable success across boundaries; Help the team adapt and learn.
• Care - Attract and retain great people; Know each individual's capabilities and aspirations; Invest in the growth of others.
  
  

Pursuit Leadership

• Participates and supports the deal qualification process with ORB (Opportunity Review Board), managing prioritization against pursuit management capacity. Ensures pursuit teams assemble and lead a relevant team of technical and sales resources with a broad variety of expertise across domains to support pre-sales engagements and deal shaping for pursuits.
• Leads collaborative engagements between pursuit, sales, delivery, and business operations to drive deal pursuits. Coaches team to influence customers and internal stakeholders to remove obstacles and drive deals forward. Learns and applies lessons from experience to future pursuits. Shares lessons with others to enhance growth and efficiency. Leads and coaches partners and Microsoft stakeholders on the common sales and delivery methodology for Microsoft and related processes. Represents the Regional Pursuit Organization to drive clarity with partners and stakeholders.
• Contributes to the progression of the deal and ensures team members work with sales in pursuit to create winnable deals. Knows when to challenge issues and assumptions. Guides team to continue deal qualification as appropriate and may influence in/out of a pursuit. Helps sales team expand deals through pursuit team.
  
  

Deal Quality

• Coordinates and influences the development of portfolio of deals, inclusive of pursuit artifacts, for relevant deals that meet customer expectations of scope, timeline, deliverables, and business outcomes. Defines expectations and accountabilities for artifact development and ensures they are followed by team members. Ensures consistency and direction across artifacts.
• Directs pursuit team to balance customer expectations with Microsoft business goals while mitigating risk for clients and Microsoft and maximizing delivery best practices (e.g., right shoring, delivery mix capabilities that include partners) and deal profitability.
• Provides clarity on complex or unclear requirements (e.g., region), and holds team accountable for analyzing insights to shape deals and pursuit artifacts. Identifies those who can apply solution area knowledge to improve deal quality for the practice. Leverages lessons learned and shares knowledge with others.
  
  

Execution

• Holds team accountable for collaborating with sales and the Industry Solutions teams to create and execute combined opportunity plan for deals that outline owners and their actions and drives deal velocity.
• May create or facilitate intellectual property (IP) through team. Identifies trends in the use of intellectual property (IP). Adapts practices according to trends. Models reuse of intellectual property (IP) appropriately. Seeks and actively includes intellectual property (IP). Acts as a champion within community to model learning and reuse pursuit approaches, best practices, tips, and tricks, and contributes back to the community.
• Coaches area, service line, domain, and pursuit teams to achieve effective high quality reviews, approvals and contracts. Champions velocity and quality initiatives to deliver agility in contracting, leveraging teams, and support as player/coach for selected customers and deals. Work with sellers, operations and Pursuit Fulfilment Services (PFS) to issue contracts, supporting sales through negotiations with the customer as well as contract signature and processing.
• Ensures the pursuit teams manage and execute pursuits using standard processes and tools according to the defined sales and delivery methodology for Microsoft, including sales to delivery handover.
  
  

Portfolio Management

• Oversees a broad portfolio of pursuits within their team. Maintains portfolio health by helping their team make decisions, prioritize actions, engage stakeholders, and remove blockers. Manages pursuit lead capacity through deal prioritization with area sales and delivery leadership.
  
  

Business Growth

• Contributes to landing and adoption of Industry Solutions Delivery strategies and acts as change advocate for initiatives that impact deal shaping and sales.
• Negotiates, collaborates on, reviews, and approves deals through Sales and within Industry Solution teams. Challenges deal construct to ensure Microsoft initiatives are incorporated appropriately.
• Drives a team of pursuit leads to meet business targets and core priorities around consumption and the pursuit portfolio. Supports sales growth, consumption, win rate, and financial target attainment. Ensures pursuit team alignment and holds team accountable for delivering on strategy.
  
  

Other

Embody our culture and values

Qualifications

Required/Minimum Qualifications

• 15+ years enterprise technology sales, consulting, delivery management experience, or relevant experience
• OR bachelor's degree in business, Management, Technology or related field AND 6+ years enterprise technology sales, consulting, delivery management experience, or relevant experience
• OR master's degree in business, Management, Technology or related field AND 4+ years enterprise technology sales, consulting, delivery management experience, or relevant experience.
• 5+ years people management experience.
  

Additional Or Preferred Qualifications

• 14+ years enterprise technology sales, consulting, delivery management experience, or relevant experience
• OR bachelor's degree in business, Management, Technology or related field AND 8+ years enterprise technology sales, consulting, delivery management experience, or relevant experience
• OR master's degree in business, Management, Technology or related field AND 6+ years enterprise technology sales, consulting, delivery management experience, or relevant experience.
  

3+ years pre-sales or bid management experience.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

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.