Strategic Account Executive

Overview

Microsoft Canada's Financial Services Industry team is seeking a Strategic Account Executive – Financial Services to join our team to lead one of our strategic clients headquartered in Toronto. This candidate will lead and manage a strategic customers in the Financial Services market. We need a driven, C-suite customer facing Executive with a proven ability to lead a large, geographically dispersed team of technologists and sellers. This candidate will anchor and inspire the team around a strategy for growth, displacement and transformation.

This role requires proactive networking with key internal and external stakeholders to ensure successful execution of tasks and transactions, and to offer a comprehensive account management experience. A deep understanding of the customer's industry and priorities is essential to identify opportunities for optimization and new digital solutions that align with their strategies. The role demands a grasp of the customer's business and technology transformation drivers, enabling the engagement of internal teams to foster co-innovation and digital and AI strategy advancement. It involves cultivating strategic relationships and applying Microsoft's business-value sales approaches across various levels of the customer's organization to align with long-term goals and ensure commitment and implementation. The role also entails leveraging extensive knowledge of Microsoft's product ecosystem, solutions, and strategies to generate insights, provide thought leadership, address customer needs, and translate these needs into Microsoft solutions.

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.

In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

This role does not provide relocation assistance.

QualificationsRequired/Minimum Qualifications

• 7+ years experience in working in an industry (e.g., Financial Services, Retail, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Energy, Government, Education), driving digital transformation, or other relevant work experience (e.g., consulting, technology)
  • OR Bachelor's Degree in Business, Technology, or related field AND 5+ years experience working in an industry (e.g., Financial Services, Retail, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Energy, Government, Education), driving digital transformation, or other relevant work experience (e.g., consulting, technology)
  • OR Master's Degree in Business Administration AND 4+ years experience working in an industry (e.g., Financial Services, Retail, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Energy, Government, Education), driving digital transformation, or other relevant work experience (e.g., consulting, technology).

Additional or Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Technology, or related field AND 8+ years experience working in an industry (e.g., Financial Services, Retail, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Energy, Government, Education), driving digital transformation, or other relevant work experience (e.g., consulting, technology)
  • OR Master's Degree in Business Administration AND 6+ years experience working in an industry (e.g., Financial Services, Retail, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Energy, Government, Education), driving digital transformation, or other relevant work experience (e.g., consulting, technology).
• 5+ years account management experience OR equivalent.

Account Management IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across Canada is CAD $139,100 - CAD $205,700 per year.

Find additional pay information here:

ResponsibilitiesCustomer Engagement

• Proactively cultivates relationships with customers and uses Microsoft sales strategies with executive, business, and technical decision makers at high levels of the customer's organization through consultative engagement to establish alignment and secure buy-in and execution. Connects the customer to Microsoft business and technical executives. Establishes Rhythm of Business (RoB) with top customer sponsors to regularly highlight the value of the Microsoft solutions and subsequent Return on Investment (ROI). Works with the customer partners foster trust and brand growth and loyalty through multiple levels (e.g., managers, executives) of the customer's organization in the assigned accounts. Assists partners in joint-selling by establishing joint desire to create new go-to markets by starting to build relationships in new markets (e.g., Vice President). Leverages digital selling methods (e.g., digital) to grow your network and create a pipeline, consume account-based marketing output, and reflect in the engagement strategy in our customer plan.
• Proactively develops a comprehensive understanding of the customer's business and technology needs and priorities for each assigned account. Identifies opportunities to drive optimizations and new business and technology solutions based on customer's strategies. Presents solutions and ideas based on customer insights. Advocates on behalf of the customer internally, ensuring requests and needs of assigned accounts are being addressed. If industry aligned, also develops a comprehensive understanding of the customer's industry.
• Supports business transformation through technology for assigned accounts in multiple business units to drive business outcomes and create business value for customers. Leverages consultative and insightful listening skills that disrupts the mindset of customers by bringing innovative ideas that showcase the need for change and new strategic direction. Is sought out by the customer for guidance related to transformation. Proactively involves corporate resources and engages cross-industry resources to drive customer transformation. Ability to influence and mitigate proactively competitive risk. Ensures line-of-business wins are captured (e.g., customer write ups) as reference for scale through insightful listening.

Account Management

• Develops and oversees the execution of account plans utilizing common sales and delivery methodology for the Microsoft sales organization for multiple accounts and works to ensure engagements yield high volume sales for both Microsoft and the customer that are on track with goals, outcomes, and forecasts. Leads multiple, diverse, and high-performing teams and coordinates with internal industry experts on account planning and execution for various accounts. Coordinates with industry experts to identify new business opportunities and drive account growth. Leads extended team and embraces partners to scale business by understanding partner goals and creating an interest in mutual business growth, and deep understanding of plan to ensures achievement of revenue and consumption targets and drives integrated joint account governance through customer plan on regular frequency to achieve customer outcomes. Identifies initial stakeholders, customer needs, and customer priorities. Proposes initial Solutions/Sales Plays. Leverages strong sales acumen to set action items and approach to drive big bets and drive new business opportunities based on customer strategy and priorities.
• Thinks strategically about customer planning for assigned accounts, setting standards and priorities, outlining where to and how to invest resources of the account management team and other stakeholders, engaging internal and external decision makers on long-term business planning, and anticipating needs of assigned accounts to turn enterprise accounts into strategic accounts. Influences to scale strategic plans (inclusive of partners) and involves senior leadership team. Ensures teams are documenting in the Account Plan.
• Oversees a complex/multiple account(s) and leads planning and prioritization efforts to anticipate and ensure appropriate responses to account needs. Develops strategies to manage pipeline and meet sales goals by reviewing forecasts, assessing and mitigating risks, and ensuring strategy alignment with business priorities. Leads virtual teams to properly re-adjust priorities, all while maintaining a high level of commitment and accountability. Prioritizes line of business projects to achieve business outcomes. Reduces complexity for the customer and for internal teams by prioritizing the most strategic partners to deliver outcomes.
• Expands network of key internal (e.g., Industry Solutions [IS]) and external partners and other business decision makers in customers' accounts to grow sales and partner impact and to provide a seamless account management experience to the customers, ensuring proper execution of core tasks and account transactions. Engages with key mainstream partners to promote long-term, mutually-beneficial business and technology transformation strategies. Expands network of influence on the board to expand reach and influence decision making. Drives joint solutions with partners. Where applicable, shares opportunities outbound with partners, and reviews/accepts opportunities shared inbound. Proactively engages and works with partners' sellers directly to drive non-qualified opportunity momentum and deal closure inclusive of partners.

Sales Excellence

• Actively seeks customer feedback (both formal and informal) of assigned accounts regarding ways to identify and understand the drivers of satisfaction and/or dissatisfaction. Helps in the creation of long-term strategies aimed at maintaining levels of customer satisfaction. Orchestrates others (e.g., Customer Success Account Management [CSAM]) to anticipate issues/risks on customer satisfaction, determine the root cause of problems, remove blockers, and establish recovery action plan to improve customer's overall experience. Leverages key executive relationships to build trust with the customer organization. Proactively establishes agreement on success measures and manages execution on success measures to prevent need for recovery plans.
• Positions oneself as a thought leader and trusted advisor internally and externally to executive-level business decision makers of multiple assigned accounts by leveraging best-in-class sales and communication techniques to lead extended virtual teams and key stakeholders with deep industry expertise (e.g., customers' sponsors) to build stronger relationships with decision makers of assigned accounts. Document and creates stakeholder map in the account plan of the key decision makers, influencers, sentiment, etc.
• Engages decision makers of assigned accounts to clearly articulate Microsoft's value proposition aligned to customer's business objectives. Translates features into business impact and outcomes that accelerate the customer's digital presence. Develops plans to offer more targeted solutions that satisfy customers' key performance indicators (KPIs) and align the right partner solution for customer industry needs.
• Develops compelling, value-proposition presentations (e.g., with the use of business cases) and specialized business plans for customers that drive business outcomes. Demonstrates thought leadership and presents business plans to customers to generate new non-qualified opportunities. Guides others on how to tailor industry-specific presentations. Presents outcome based cross solution strategies.
• Develops and implements plans for maximizing upselling/cross-selling non-qualified opportunities in certain accounts. Drives plans to highlight Microsoft's and partners' solutions to solving additional business and technology issues and aims to expand budget allocated to Microsoft. Leverages virtual teams to identify and act on new non-qualified opportunities while utilizing common sales and delivery methodology for the Microsoft sales organization.

Industry Knowledge

• If aligned by industry, exhibits deep knowledge of the industry, current trends, and market dynamics, and the competitive landscape. Leverages their depth of industry knowledge to position Solution Area technology in industry context. Demonstrated ability to position how Microsoft products and solutions will help customers realize innovation through business transformation.

Other

• Embody our culture and values

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