Partner Marketing Manager

Xbox is Microsoft's Gaming brand and has been revolutionizing gaming and entertainment for over 20 years. You will play a pivotal role in continuing Xbox's success by bringing existing and new gaming experiences to life and help our 15 game studios deliver great games to our fans, wherever they play - on console, PC, mobile devices, and smart TVs. From blockbuster franchises like Halo, Minecraft, Forza, Gears, Age of Empires, and Fable, to new and growing IP, Xbox is dedicated to uniting our fans, because when everyone plays, we all win. Coupled with industry-defining services like Xbox Game Pass, Cloud Gaming, and Xbox All Access, our gaming business is one of the most exciting places to work in technology.

In the role of Partner Marketing Manager, you will be accountable to plan and execute consumer-centric, omni-channel marketing with our retail partners that is aligned to global priorities, functional expertise and local market insights with the goal of driving conversion, sell-through and Return on Investment (ROI) for our Gaming Consumer Solution Area (CSA).

With a passion and depth of knowledge across our Gaming portfolio, you will work with partners to influence the design of unique Microsoft experiences across channels and at every touchpoint in the customer journey, working across organizational boundaries to deliver integrated consumer marketing, execution excellence and brand love.

You will act as a trusted advisor to drive strategic decisions about our marketing investment strategy and marketing mix, leveraging multiple funding sources and working with partners to optimize impact and create joint value.

By joining the Consumer Sales Organization ( CSO) Americas Gaming Marketing team, you'll collaborate closely with Category and Sales teams locally to drive full-funnel marketing for an exciting ecosystem that continues to grow. As part of a regional team, you'll have the opportunity to share learnings and best practices across markets as well as leverage the global infrastructure for support and shared platforms.

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.

Responsibilities

Partner/Consumer-Centered Insights and Learning

• Conducts partner/consumer-centered insights and learning across values/lines of business by evaluating internal and external data and reports, through discussions with partners/consumers, and by leveraging insights and collaborating with the broader virtual team.

Strategic Planning

• Develops, drives, and influences product/campaign strategies with partners and internal/external stakeholders based on research and expert-level understanding of the partner's financials and strategic priorities, as well as business, industry, and competitive landscapes. Leverages marketing meetings and understands the growth opportunities necessary to help develop the strategic plan. Identifies and engages in opening up short to mid-term growth opportunities/plans for Microsoft growth through partnerships to drive key performance indicator (KPI) accountability against internal goals.

Seasonal/Promotional Marketing Campaign

• Develops and scales/edits materials and collateral for specific partners/customers to promote the product and support the campaign. Monitors campaign performance and adjusts strategies/offerings after identifying root causes, if necessary. Develops and edits integrated campaigns with partners/customers based on initial research and audience segmentation to help understand how a campaign will be shaped.

Partner/Customer/Consumer Experiences

• Designs, executes, and localizes end-to-end partner/customer/consumer experiences (e.g., digital marketing, visual merchandising, customer events, demos). Develops and mutually creates new partner capabilities and opportunities through partner experiences to help provide a competitive advantage and to land key product messages with customers. Drives partner-to-partner collaboration of marketing activities to build the impact of partner experiences and sell-through.

Compliance

• Serves as a compliance advocate to ensure privacy, brand, financial, Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs (CELA), and Human Resources (HR) compliance of products, processes, and policies are followed across teams and functions. Drives partner compliance education through partner training and education on compliance and policies, as well as standard compliance/policy training.

External Partner Management

• Owns/drives trusted executive-level partner relationships in order to work toward mutual business objectives and alignment to partner's priorities to establish trust and credibility. Advises and aligns partners on best practices as a subject matter expert. Engages with, identifies, and influences key executive-level external partner stakeholders' decision-makers on different teams.

Internal Stakeholder Management

• Builds trust and credibility in existing relationships with internal teams, while applying expertise to cross-functional and partner teams. Manages and balances escalations to and from stakeholders. Connects customer/partner opportunities with internal stakeholders (e.g., product management, category, business development, sales) and advocates for customers/partners to internal teams.

Analytics and Insights

• Conducts, and assists others in conducting, analyses to measure success metrics of products/projects (e.g., return on investment [ROI], return on spend). Helps to determine/define methods to pull data, as well as metrics that need to be analyzed, to complete analyses. Identifies trends in partner and competitive data to help assess the impact of a campaign/project, as well as long term needs and risks. Changes and adapts partner strategies based on feedback and evaluation of data. Gathers and synthesizes data from retailer partners, Microsoft, and industry resources to form actionable learnings and tactics. Procures and assimilates

consumer behavior into insights within the context of digital consumer profiles to drive unified sell-thru plans.

Thought Leadership

• Uses subject matter expertise to provide feedback across partners and customers on how products and processes may be improved to simplify product optimizations and workflow or better serve partners/customers or internal stakeholders. Shares and scales successes, thought leadership, opportunities for improvement, best practices, and learnings internally and externally (e.g., case studies, industry events, training contributions) to help drive digital transformation and to rally internal and external audiences around Microsoft's world view. May brainstorm new initiatives and product/projects for partners in unexplored areas (beyond current offerings).

Other

• Embody our culture and values

Qualifications

Required/Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Public Relations or related field AND 6+ years digital, retail, channel marketing, marketing, retail sales, or commercial sales experience

o OR equivalent experience.

Additional or Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Public Relations or related field AND 8+ years digital, retail, channel marketing, marketing, retail sales, or commercial sales experience

o OR Master's Degree in Business Administration, or related field AND 6+ years Digital, Retail, Channel Marketing, Marketing, Retail Sales, or commercial sales experience

o OR equivalent experience.

• 2+ years project leadership/generic management experience.

Channel Marketing IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across Canada is CAD $121,800 - CAD $219,100 per year.

Find additional pay information here:

Microsoft will accept applications for the role until June 8, 2024

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. 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.

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