Networking Technology Consultant

• Acts as an ambassador in consumption of intellectual property (IP) and leverages IP in projects. Proactively assists in the creation of intellectual property content and seeks areas that are available for more IP. Communicates areas that need refreshing or gaps in intellectual property. Provides feedback for continuous improvement.

• Completes operational tasks and readiness and ensures timeliness and accuracy while maintaining adherence to security standards through Delivery Compliance, Privacy, and Security (DCPS). Follows Microsoft policies, compliance, and procedures (e.g., Enterprise Services Authorization Policy, Standards of Business Conduct, labor logging, expenses, travel guidelines).

• Participates in the pre-sale process as needed. Helps scope the project by sharing customer or technical knowledge in their specialty domain by leveraging their expertise as a subject matter expert.

• Implements technical solutions by completing assigned project tasks with defined quality standards and following Industry Solutions processes and security initiatives. Oversees aspects of implementation.
• Follows the capacity process outlined by Resource, Insights, Capacity, and Capability (RICC) team. Maintains tools with up-to-date skills and availability.
• Proactively manages relationships with customers/partners/stakeholders to identify and contribute to the drivers of satisfaction and dissatisfaction, determine the root cause, and establish recovery actions to improve the experience.
• Supports project planning and the development of project documents by defining the risks and dependencies. Communicates the business value of planned solutions to customers/ partners with direction/guidance. Implements mitigations on technical, business, and security risks. Manages their schedule and communicates with project leads. Delivers against Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).
• Participates in and/or may lead meetings with customers/partners to understand their business needs and/or scenario they are trying to solve. Uses business, technology, security, and industry strategies to define customer/partner requirements and constraints. Engages others (e.g., EAG Security stakeholders) appropriately to understand and define customer requirements, ensuring security is prioritized.
• Proactively identifies issues and risks and engages with customers/partners or internal stakeholders (e.g., Project Managers) as appropriate to address and resolve issues while maintaining a security-first mindset.

Additional Responsibilities

• Leads virtual teams around technologies and customer/partner challenges by sharing ideas, insight, and strategic, technical input with technical teams, internal communities across the field, and the larger virtual team across Microsoft using knowledge of Microsoft architectures and their context in the competitive landscape.
• Participates in external architect community events (e.g., conferences, seminars, technical meetups, Webcasts, blogs, hackathons) and shares learnings with internal team.
• Acts a mentor to less experienced colleagues by educating them on technical and non-technical concepts and sharing best practices.
• Demonstrates deep industry knowledge and drives recognition for Microsoft solutions through presentations and engagements with external audiences.
• Collaborates with the Account Team and/or Bid Team to understand the business solution/problem.
• Drives agreement, based on the customer’s priorities, requirements/constraints, approach, principles, concepts, and expectations.
• Builds and documents a realistically costed, advanced/complex Solution Approach with traceability of requirements, constraints, decisions, and tradeoffs that balances risk, technical credibility, and technical innovation to meet customer need, predominantly based on existing solution offerings and/or reference architecture.
• Jointly leads the implementation in close partnership with the Project Manager.
• Leads oversight and governance and establishment of quality practices and standards to realize the business solution.
• Uses a cohesive build methodology with an agreed release schedule and timeline so the solution can be transitioned to live operations, leveraging solution expertise.
• Ensures communication of and adherence to the pre-sales value proposition.
• Works with the Project Manager to highlight where assumptions have proven false.
• Uses change requests to modify the Solution/project approach when needed. 
• As needed, collaborates with subject matter experts to receive specialized advice that can help define the Solution and project approach and increase the time to value for the customer.
• Works in close collaboration with the Project Manager and Account Team to identify, categorize, and communicate business and technical risks.
• Defines risk mitigation activities that are foundational to the project plan.
• Defines risk contingency plans for invocation should the risk occur.
• When appropriate, oversees a broad portfolio of accounts. Manages and ensures the all-up delivery of consulting engagements, as necessary.
• Defines and documents the architecture through an architecture description document, an architecture decisions log, and a requirements/constraints traceability matrix to communicate the value proposition of the business solution along with the project approach.
• Leads complex cost-based and technology-based discussions to explain the Architecture in terms of its build, deployment, and ongoing operational use to determine customer appetite for the business solution.
• Uses a business-value approach that values return on investment (ROI) and customer costs-savings over technical ease of execution.
• Leverages a structured approach to Architecture Projects using existing methodologies (e.g., Waterfall, Agile, Iterative) that make use of existing reference architecture and established architectural styles and design patterns.
• Proposes and develops new solutions to scale across multiple customers/partners.
• Builds and maintains an architecture description document, an architecture decisions log, and a requirements/constraints traceability matrix to ensure the rationale for the business solution's Architecture is known and understood.
• Collaborates with the Project Manager to jointly drive project/technical governance of the design, build, and deployment into use of proof of concepts (POCs) and pilots, using enterprise architecture processes and ensuring quality control through peer review. Works with customers to understand and demonstrate business value (e.g., release of revenue, cost savings) that the business solution realize.
• Anticipates and identifies scenarios that could slow or impede pre-sales/delivery.
• Orchestrates the broader Microsoft team to address technical blockers and works with account/project team to resolve non-technical issues. Reports significant problems to Microsoft management and resolves escalations when needed.
• Plans a way forward in complex and ambiguous situations with an innovative approach and durable design.
• Delegates and leverages specialist skills of others to drive technical alignment across internal/external teams.
• Coordinates disparate approaches into a single plan of action for complex scenarios. Works with the business sponsor and customer/partner stakeholders (e.g., Business users, Enterprise Architects, Security Team, Operations Team) to gather and ratify requirements and constraints.
• Manages and resolves complex ambiguity in the requirements and constraints and documents assumptions and implications where it cannot be resolved.
• Maintains the requirements/constraints traceability matrix to prove that solution components have a rationale/justification for inclusion in the architecture of the business solution.
• Drives development and execution of test plans to prove that each requirement/constraint has been implemented as expected by the customer.
• Where there are defects, works in close collaboration with the Project Manager and Customer to redress or accept and document the status of the test results.
• Leads the adoption of Microsoft solutions technologies based on understanding of competitor solutions and how customer business value can be driven through Microsoft's offerings.
• Differentiates Microsoft's solutions in customer/partner conversations to influence the industry-wide direction for specific architecture(s).
• Develops a network of internal/external relationships with senior-level decision makers to build influence in addressing problems/blockers and facilitating additional views on the matter of interest.
• Acts as an advisor to external stakeholders. Provides direction to facilitate relationships between others.
• Stays up to date on Microsoft’s technologies, products, and services in order to communicate Microsoft's mission, strategy, and capabilities.
• When appropriate, develops a strategic relationship with key stakeholders within the customer portfolio, often as part of a steering committee, to ensure service delivery is on track and major issues are being anticipated, identified, and managed.
• Uses evidence-based arguments that articulate complex concepts in a simple manner to respectfully challenge Microsoft and customers/partners when a decision or course of action will not produce optimal results.
• Leverages strategic expertise to encourage alternative approaches where applicable.
• Serves as the "technical conscience" to challenge the status quo and unrealistic expectations.
• Proactively resolves conflicts and seeks resolution to balance the overall outcome. 
• Drives consensus where possible and leads decisions to resolve conflict when needed.