Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and organisation to achieve more. As part of Microsoft Frontier Company, the Strategic Technical Lead helps our most strategic customers reinvent priority business processes with AI. The role combines industry insight, enterprise-grade engineering, change leadership and Microsoft’s Intelligence + Trust platform to create differentiated outcomes that customers can own, operate and continuously improve.
This sales-aligned technical leadership role combines executive engagement, transformation strategy, architecture, commercial accountability and end-to-end deal orchestration. The Strategic Technical Lead acts as the technical conscience and Deal CTO for Microsoft’s most complex strategic partnerships, shaping the opportunity from qualification and outside-in point of view through solution design, commercial commitment, execution planning and transition to the field.
The successful candidate brings rounded technical leadership across cloud infrastructure, applications, data, security and AI, with sufficient depth to shape enterprise-scale architectures and mobilise specialists when required. They connect customer priorities to a robust transformation roadmap, a credible and optimised consumption plan, the right commercial construct, and a practical path to production and value realisation.
They model the Microsoft Frontier Company operating posture by using Copilot, agents and agentic workflows in daily work; applying them to research, discovery, solution shaping, consumption planning and decision-making; and helping customers redesign work for effective human-agent collaboration with security, governance and observability built in from the start.
Responsibilities
Technical Strategy and Deal CTO Leadership — Owns the end-to-end technical strategy for complex strategic partnerships, connects architecture to commercial and execution choices, maintains the integrity of the customer outcome, and makes high-quality decisions under ambiguity.
Rounded Core and Frontier Technical Leadership — Brings broad credibility across cloud infrastructure, applications, data, databases, security and AI, with depth in enterprise IQ, generative and agentic systems, platform engineering and scaled AI architectures. Knows when to lead directly and when to mobilise specialist, engineering or delivery expertise.
Business and Commercial Outcome Leadership — Translates customer priorities into measurable business outcomes, adoption milestones, consumption growth and a credible commercial construct. Balances customer value, technical feasibility, delivery capacity, risk, competitive position and Microsoft economics.
Outside-In Challenger and Compete Mindset — Listens deeply to the customer’s industry context, constraints and differentiated value; challenges conventional approaches with evidence; and articulates the strengths, trade-offs and business consequences of Microsoft and competing platforms.
Executive Influence and Trusted Advisory — Builds durable relationships with business, technology, finance and operations leaders; communicates complex choices with clarity; establishes executive sponsorship; and earns the mandate to lead consequential transformation decisions.
Frontier Company Leadership — Models AI-native working, uses Copilot and agents to increase the quality and speed of execution, and helps customers redesign priority workflows for human-agent collaboration. Embeds security, governance, Responsible AI, observability and change adoption into the transformation so that intelligence compounds safely within the customer’s environment.
One Microsoft Orchestration and Execution — Mobilises cross-functional teams around one outcome-led plan, clarifies decision rights and ownership, manages dependencies and conflict, applies disciplined quality gates and workback rhythms, and drives timely execution from qualification through transition.
Change and Continuous Improvement Leadership — Helps customers establish the operating model, skills, governance and adoption approach required to sustain AI transformation. Creates feedback loops across customers, engineering and the field, then converts learning into repeatable assets, improved tools and stronger execution standards.
Key responsibilities include:
Build trusted relationships with customer business and technical executives, secure sponsorship for priority outcomes, and lead strategic Cloud and AI opportunities from qualification and origination through commercial commitment, execution readiness, transition and early value realisation.
Create preference for Microsoft by bringing an outside-in industry and competitive point of view, challenging assumptions, translating customer constraints into transformation opportunities, and positioning a differentiated Intelligence + Trust platform strategy.
Own the end-to-end technical strategy across cloud foundations, applications, data, databases, security and AI. Shape architectures for enterprise IQ, agentic systems and scaled AI adoption, with governance, Responsible AI, sovereignty, resiliency, observability, capacity and operational readiness designed in from the outset.
Identify high-value business processes for human-agent reinvention and determine when deep Forward Deployed Engineering engagement is warranted. Co-design production solutions with Engineering Studios, industry experts, delivery teams and partners while ensuring that customer capability, ownership, operating model and continuous improvement are built into the engagement.
Develop the customer value case, technical narrative, transformation roadmap and consumption plan. Ensure each plan is robust, realistic, maximised and optimised; connects workloads, capacity, services, investments and milestones to measurable outcomes; and supports a credible commercial construct, forecast and path from commitment to consumption.
Orchestrate the Strategic Partnership Lead, account team, specialist and success organisations, Engineering Studios, Industry Advisory, delivery teams, partners, finance, deal desk and product engineering around one outcome-led plan. Establish clear ownership, quality gates, workback plans and decision rhythms, then execute a disciplined handover that preserves customer context, delivery accountability and consumption momentum.
Own the technical quality of strategic MACC and partnership constructs by shaping Frontier workloads and embedded services, testing assumptions against customer readiness and competitive alternatives, planning capacity and investments early, and protecting the path to ACR growth, renewal and realised customer value.
Act as Customer Zero for Microsoft’s AI-enabled selling and consumption-planning practices. Use and improve agentic tools, standardise repeatable methods, capture product and process feedback, publish reusable intellectual property, and coach the STL community so that learning from each strategic engagement scales across Microsoft.
Qualifications
Required/minimum qualifications
Additional/ Preferred qualifications
Solution Sales Advisory IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $133,000 - $222,700 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $170,300 - $239,800 per year.
Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay
This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.
Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. 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 with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.
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