Consulting Practice Leader

Job Description

The Consulting Practice Leader role in Microsoft’s Industry Solutions organisation leads delivery teams responsible for the deployment of a portfolio of complex customer solutions operating at the leading edge of Microsoft technologies. Focussed on UK based multinational accounts, the role will lead a multi-disciplined team of consultants, architects and project managers in establishing a deep understanding of customer strategies, needs and outcomes, enabling the best possible time to value during the Lead to Order, and Order to Cash phases of project delivery. The role provides a single point of accountability and leadership for the portfolio they are responsible for and will have direct and frequent CxO interaction.

Representing UK Industry Solutions Delivery, Microsoft’s consulting organisation for complex delivery, you will ensure our contractual commitments are met in alignment to our company vision and values, such that our customers are enabled to achieve more.

This exciting role will place you in a leadership role at the heart of helping shape the newest, most impactful and complex Microsoft solutions across a wide portfolio of customers, covering the entire Microsoft cloud including areas such as AI, Machine Learning, Azure, Dynamics and Modern Work.

Responsibilities

People Management

• Managers deliver success through empowerment and accountability by modelling, 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 everyone’s capabilities and aspirations. Invest in the growth of others.

Customer Focus

• Creates a customer-centric culture within the practice that drives digital transformation and ensures customer satisfaction across the entire operating unit by maintaining stakeholder relationships, reviewing and acting on voice of customer. Holds accountability for portfolio, account, and financial management in presales and delivery. Establishes accountabilities to drive customer outcomes and ensure internal stakeholders are in place.
• Alleviates customer blockers as a point of escalation by working with direct reports and key stakeholders to manage customer escalations and resolve issues at the practice level.
• Develops and maintains highly complex business relationships through conversations and in-person customer engagements, leveraging in-depth knowledge of customer's business and industry.
• For assigned customers and for their team, supports guidance of customers/partners through relevant change initiatives and leverages core change-management methods and techniques. Supports management of changes (e.g., negotiations, change requests, amendments, customer expectations) while overseeing financial accountability and overall responsibility between Microsoft and the client.

Strategy

• Develops and executes a large, complex (e.g., global account, cross-territory impact) plan for their practice and assigned customers to achieve consumption metrics and revenue targets (e.g., delivered, billed, consumed) by supporting the team, collaborating with internal partners, and driving culture.
• Establishes and drives rhythm of business (ROB) around consumption by managing financials (e.g., Enterprise Cloud Investment Funds [ECIFs], internal investments).
• Oversees a broad portfolio of accounts. Manages and ensures the all-up delivery of consulting engagements. Serves as a proven thought leader on the direction of the consulting offerings portfolio for a large, complex practice, leveraging insights from reports (e.g., efficiency, operations), internal team members, and across organizational boundaries.
• Promotes Industry Solution Delivery (ISD) consumption strategy with regional perspective by articulating ISD consumption strategy, goals, and mission to internal and external audiences, and aligning practice strategy with the customer and other internal organization objectives (e.g., Consulting Sales, Go-To-Market).
• Supports sales activities (e.g., close planning, delivery sponsorship, strategy, management) to support the lifecycle of deals for a large practice, leveraging prior experience and expertise. Ensures delivery team alignment and holds delivery team accountable for delivering on sales strategy.
• Collaborates on highly strategic (e.g., high profile) captures by ensuring a strategic capture plan, engaging the resources needed for pre-sales, and supporting the global pursuit team in winning large-contract deals.
• Acts as an innovative agent of change by working within leadership communities to define and sponsor organizational change, driving consistent messaging and support to land organizational change initiatives within and across practices, and providing feedback on organization information/initiatives.

Delivery Excellence

• Orchestrates a large cross-functional team to drive high-impact business growth, profitability, utilization, maturity, quality, etc., through delivery by developing a rhythm of business (ROB). Governs areas of fiscal responsibility, through delivery team, staying within budget while driving engagement profitability and risk management.
• Ensures delivery excellence and maximizes efficiency of resources for a large practice by managing complex scopes and budgets, balancing funding and resources across workstreams, communicating resource needs (e.g., hiring, resource planning, capacity) with the business, collaborating to meet those needs, and leveraging in-depth resource-management experience and expertise.
• Creates a problem-solving climate across teams that resolves complex or high-impact delivery issues across lifecycle of deal (e.g., lead to order, order to cash, resourcing, pricing, invoicing, proof of execution) through cross-cultural collaboration and partnerships (e.g., Selling partners) to ensure sustained delivery quality. Interfaces at high levels in organization (e.g., executives) to resolve critical issues (e.g., subsidiary, worldwide issues).
• Applies governance controls to mitigate and manage risks and ensure policy compliance in delivery and sales. Models and holds team accountable for execution and adherence to Microsoft Consulting processes
• Drives action plans and continuous improvement plans to increase maturity of organization and delivery quality using feedback from others and industry standards.

Practice Building

• Builds organizational capability by leveraging in-depth industry knowledge to anticipate and plan for future capability needs. Adheres to the Model, Coach, Care framework and Leadership Principles to attract, develop, and retain talent, deliver results through teamwork as One Microsoft, role model Microsoft values, and commit to performance management across their practice.
• Drives financial targets by leading a forecasting rhythm (e.g., monthly business rhythms) for delivered revenue (e.g., Industry Solutions Delivery, key dependencies to Delivery Value), margin, consumption, and utilization to predict business results for a large, complex geographic area. Drives internal revenue targets through team by providing guidance and monitoring progress.
• Drives clear expectations with all team members around intellectual property (IP) reuse in alignment with organization goals (e.g., proactive delivery/efficiency targets, projects/pre-sales),

Other

• Embodies Microsoft’s culture and values.

Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Engineering OR

Proven & related field relevant work experience OR equivalent experience.

• Several years team leadership or people management experience either with or without direct reports.
• Proven track record of managing complex project portfolios and P&L in leadership roles.

Additional or Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or related field AND proven work experience OR equivalent experience.
• Proven and demonstrated people management experience.
• Excel within sales/selling.
• Outstanding project/portfolio management experience.
• Strong account management experience.

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.