As an **Azure Data & AI Sales Specialist** you will be a trusted advisor for our **German Enterprise Clients** and a subject matter expert in Analytics, Data & AI with core capability and expertise in Data Modernization, Analytics and AI. You will work with customers key stakeholders to leverage data helping them achieve their business priorities and guide customer’s journey through Analytics-led Azure Data transformation. You will help customers evaluate their applications and business requirements, recommend solutions that meet their requirements and demonstrate these solutions to win the technical decision. You will need to support customers to remove roadblocks to deployment and drive customer satisfaction. You will help our customers take advantage of our unique hybrid data platform and leading Analytics & AI solutions to realize the value of digital transformation. **Responsibilities** **Sales Execution** + Implements strategies to help accelerate the closing of deals in collaboration with other team members. Implements close plans (e.g., how to map timeline, engage the customer, get customer buy-in and commitment) to de-risk and drive predictable deal closure. + Engages in conversations with customers to introduce how other workloads could enable digital transformation areas that is aligned with the customer's industry. Initiates conversations with customers on digital transformation in a solution area, in collaboration with partners and services. Shares learning on digital transformation through seminars, workshops, webinars, and direct engagement. + Identifies opportunities to drive consumption and grow business with existing customers by initiating conversations, providing demos or quotes, and collaborating with partners or internal teams (e.g., Technical Sales Professionals, Global Black Belts. For licensing transactions and project engagements, ensures rapid and robust deployment plan at point of sale that is validated by services and partners. + Develops an understanding of external stakeholders' mapping, including who the decision makers and influencers are. Participates with account teams (e.g., Account Executives) in communication with business or subject matter decision makers at the customer's/partner's business. + Identifies customer business needs and technical readiness. Collaborates with internal teams, partners, and services to propose prioritized solutions that align with customers' needs. Leverages the value propositions to communicate business impact of proposed solutions. Listens to customers to understand business outcomes. + Collaborates with team members to discover new opportunities. Drives incremental revenue growth through personal campaigns (e.g., portfolio analysis) or internal sources (e.g., Marketing). Collaborates with account teams, partners, or services to track and qualify new opportunities. Collaborates with other teams (e.g., account teams) and services to build pipeline. Interfaces with customers and builds relationships via social selling. Applies Microsoft's sales process (MSP) to determine the quality of the opportunity and whether to proceed. **Scaling and Collaboration** + Collaborates with internal Partner Organisation and with a network of partners to cross-sell and up-sell products, solutions, and services. Identifies new partners by researching and discussing with partners on customer scenarios. Develops joint proposal with partners. Implements partner strategies to scale the business. + Applies the orchestration model to leverage relationships with stakeholders and partners **Technical Expertise** + Extends relationships with peers and senior team members across solution areas. Creates connections at technical community events. + Initiates conversations with prospective customers/partners at events to expand external network. Acts as a subject matter expert in one or more solution area(s). + Researches competitor products, solutions, and/or services and collaborates with the 'compete' global black belts (GBB) to implement strategies to position Microsoft against competitors in customer communication. **Sales Excellence** + Seeks client feedback (both formal and informal) to identify and understand the drivers of satisfaction and execute plans to maintain and continue to build on it, and to identify and understand the drivers of dissatisfaction, determine the root cause of problems, and establish recovery action plan to improve clients' overall experience. Shares feedback with account teams. + Manages the pipeline of the assigned territory. Conducts forecasting for assigned accounts and develops a portfolio and territory plan with guidance. + Collaborates with extended sales team, partners, and marketing to conduct business analysis (e.g., whitespace analysis, identify industry trends) to pursue high-potential customers and develop a target list of potential business. + Completes required training and obtains relevant product and role certifications aligned to the role and workload/industry. + Collaborates with partners and resources and learns about customer business. Supports senior team members to explore business and emerging opportunities. **Qualifications** **Required/minimum qualifications** + Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology, or related field AND several years (ideally 3+) of technology-related sales or account management experience + **Profound experience in solving customer problems through cloud technologies** and expertise in selling to senior business decision makers by aligning & reinforcing the value of the solution to the customer’s overall business pain and/or strategic opportunities and decision criteria. + **Strong understanding of cloud platforms including Azure data platform services** , hybrid cloud technologies, developer tools and services and/or complementing solutions. Ability to engage with developers and IT architects as trusted advisors, as well as ability to articulate and present the business value of Microsoft's Azure Data & AI related cloud solutions and have firm understanding of Microsoft's strategies. + Full proficiency in **German AND English** is a must. **Additional/preferred qualifications** + Several years (ideally 4+) of solution or services sales experience. + Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology, or related field AND several years (ideally 4+) of technology-related sales or account management experience + **Previous experience with Microsoft Advanced Analytics platform** (Azure Databricks, Azure Synapse, Microsoft Fabric, PowerBI and Azure Machine Learning) and CosmosDB is a differential. + **Lead technical sessions making use of whiteboards or other resources to drive solution discussions** leveraging published solution architectures for common infrastructure implementations, and demonstrate Azure Solution using pre-packed Azure Demo environments. + **Understanding of partner ecosystems** and the ability to leverage partner solutions to solve customer needs. + **Success-driven, works well in a diverse team** and enjoy a dynamic and changing environment. 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 (https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/accessibility.html) .