Solution Sales Specialist - Cloud & AI (Azure)

As a Solution Area Specialist focused on the retail & consumer goods industry, you will be responsible for driving digital transformation and business value for retail customers by aligning Microsoft’s cloud and AI solutions with their strategic priorities. You will engage directly with customers and partners to understand their business challenges, identify opportunities, and deliver tailored solutions that improve operational efficiency, customer experience, and competitive positioning. This role requires deep industry insight, consultative sales acumen, and the ability to orchestrate cross-functional teams to deliver impactful outcomes.   In line with our Flexible Work approach, for roles at Microsoft Germany, we recommend spending at least two days per week in the office or at the customer site.

Customer Engagement Assesses and qualifies sales opportunities following sales frameworks and guidelines, ensuring alignment with AI-enhanced sales methodologies and best practices. Participates in strategy development for driving and closing moderately complex, significant value opportunities. Collaborates across organizations (e.g., Account Team Unit [ATU], Global Partner Solutions [GPS], Customer Success Unit [CSU], Industry Solutions Delivery [ISD], Partner) to contribute to deal orchestration and handoffs throughout the deal lifecycle. Utilizes best practices to earn customer buy-in, secure deals, and mitigate risks to facilitate sales activities across the solution area. Drives sales strategies tailored to each customer's security priorities, showcasing Microsoft's dedication to secure, AI-powered transformation and addressing their specific needs within the customer success plan. Reviews and translates customer and partner feedback to establish recovery action plans. Develops relationships with key customer and partner stakeholders to understand sentiment and satisfaction goals Drives partner teams, resources and relationships are activated, driving co-selling strategies and partner attach to each opportunity through every stage in the sales lifecycle. Drives partner organization connections (i.e. GPS) to drive share, partner health, that aligns with execution plans to accelerate customer value realization at scale. Sales & Pipeline Management Analyzes business and emerging opportunities to improve the customer portfolio and encourage customer innovation. Leverages technology (e.g., AI sales agents, automation, Power Platforms) to drive growth within assigned domain. Utilizes propensity, renewal, consumption, and usage data to prioritize sales strategy. Optimizes partners assigned to each account and/or opportunity to facilitate handoffs with other teams (e.g., Global Partner Solutions [GPS], Customer Success Unit [CSU], Industry Solutions Delivery [ISD], Partner) throughout the deal lifecycle. Engages in sales pipeline reviews with internal stakeholders to drive forecasting accuracy and meeting sales targets, ensuring the use of AI-powered analytics and forecasting tools to enhance precision. Maintains sales and/or consumption pipeline hygiene to enable tracking to achieve assigned sales metrics using all available tools, resources, and processes Leads usage and/or consumption pipeline hygiene to actively monitor adoption trends, identify opportunities for intervention, enabling customers to realize the value of solutions purchased, drive expansion, and ensure healthier, more predictable renewals Sales Strategy Evaluates solution area(s) and market and develops insights to align sales plays with customer business priorities and outcomes, incorporating AI-driven predictive analytics to forecast future market needs. Partners across teams to propose solutions and strategies that align with customer business objectives. Identifies and addresses gaps, driving market engagement and sales execution. Partners with others cross-organizationally and supports the development of solutions to enable AI-