Are you ready to seize an opportunity to work with Microsoft's most established and innovative enterprises and advising Line of Business and IT Executives? Have you got a track record of helping enterprise leaders transform their business by executing against long-term strategies and roadmaps for pragmatic technology adoption? Interested in employing strong business and architectural skills and leveraging your abstract thinking to create innovative solutions for the largest organizations in the world?
Microsoft Services helps customers realize their full potential through accelerated adoption and productive use of Microsoft technologies. We are a global team of exceptional people who deliver world-class services with partners, earning customer confidence, trust, and loyalty by improving the overall customer and partner experience, serving as the customer advocate within Microsoft, and driving customer-centric product improvement.
As an Enterprise Architect, in this strategic role within Enterprise Strategy Services, you will deliver advisory and planning services to Microsoft’s top enterprise customers, enabling our customers to achieve their most challenging business and organizational goals while leveraging value from their investment in the Microsoft Platform. Through a programmatic approach and objective assessment of the customer’s existing business imperatives, organizational capabilities and IT investments, you will systematically plan, orchestrate, and contribute to the development and execution of their strategic technology initiatives.
With IT sponsorship, you’ll develop relationships with key business executives, enabling the customer to translate business needs and insights into actionable IT strategy, and assist IT in driving these initiatives to early results and business value.
You will also share industry-proven architectural and planning practices and promote successful integration of Microsoft technologies in a heterogeneous environment. You’ll be provided an extensive network of professional colleagues with complementary competencies and expertise, bringing the best of Microsoft to customers.
The sections below identify the key areas of focus and offer insight into the more common activities:
Relationship-driven differentiation: As the primary delivery resource for the Enterprise Strategy business, what you provide is unique and available only from Microsoft. You’ll advocate on behalf of the customer back into the Microsoft organization and maximize the value delivered from the relationship. Core activities include:
• Orchestrating Executive Briefing Center visits and bi-directional connection with Microsoft Product Development Groups as well as many other teams and communities.
• Facilitating the Customer’s uptake of Technology Adoption Programs for early advantage from pre-released Microsoft Products.
• Harnessing insights from groups like Microsoft Research, one of the largest sponsored technology research organizations worldwide. You’ll also have access to ‘the Library’, a catalogue of reference architectures, industry insights and field-driven Intellectual Property, providing exceptional and unique value to the customer.
• Partnering with your CTO/CIO and facilitating IT staff development amongst their reports.
Business-driven portfolio value management: A disciplined approach is followed in this role - first to understand the customer’s needs and then to develop roadmaps that result in an increase in realized value from their Microsoft investment across a heterogeneous IT environment. Activities include:
• Creating business case development and benefits management programs that define, track and report accrued value through the optimal application of IT to business challenges.
• Orchestrating and/or designing and architecting solutions that leverage both the investment made in the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement and the customer’s current heterogeneous IT environment in the best interests of the customer, driven through a formal program of change and drawing from the collective know-how of Microsoft.
• Providing portfolio governance and oversight to drive lifecycle optimization and alignment across all Microsoft-related initiatives.
Teaming to accelerate value: When a customer invests in an Enterprise Agreement license with Microsoft, the Enterprise Architect accelerates the time-to-value by aligning the technology deployment and business adoption plans with the customer’s broader organizational objectives. Activities to support this objective include:
• Creating architectural and technology roadmaps that result in stronger business/IT alignment and that drive adoption and value from the Enterprise Agreement.
• Orchestrating the use of the Microsoft network of resources formally from within the Architect’s individual engagement. This can range from formal architectural systems design through to general technology consulting and beyond. Likewise an Architect may be called on by colleagues to contribute from their area of specialization in other large engagements or to work jointly with the Microsoft support team around specific customer initiatives.
Practice development: In this role, you’ll contribute to the growth and maturity of the local and international communities by providing mentorship, fostering IP development / knowledge transfer, and thought-leading by example. In addition, opportunities exist to contribute to IP development and reuse initiatives and drive proven practices in architecture, planning, and customer relationships.
Business development: You will also have the opportunity to bring your years of experience and expertise to influence continued business development opportunities for Microsoft.
In addition to the above activities, it is expected that the successful candidate will have significant experience in at least one specialization from the three categories below:
Industry: Experience in one or more of the following Sectors/Industries: Government; Healthcare; Financial Services; Telecommunications, Retail; Manufacturing; Energy
Microsoft Strategic priorities: Cloud/S+S; Enterprise level / Mission Critical Applications; Optimized Desktop; Unified Communications and Collaboration
Enterprise Architect Specializations:
• Business Value Analysis and Benefits Management
• IT Governance & Portfolio Lifecycle Optimization
• IT-Led Business Insight & Innovation
• Organizational Design & Change Management
• Enterprise Architecture
• Information Management
Qualifications and Experience:
• Must have a relevant degree and/or equivalent experience
• At least 8 years related business and IT consulting experience across the lifecycle of Information Technology (examples may include assessment and analysis, design, business case development, architecture, envisioning, planning, deployment, benefits analysis, and management)
• Must have a proven record of delivering business value from IT at an executive level
• Solid understanding of interoperability issues and platform/product strengths and weaknesses
• Able to provide a trusted voice at the decision-making table
• Deep understanding of markets, industries, business, customers, and technology
• The ability and background experience to provide leadership and a demonstrated effectiveness in consulting and client management
• Executive-level interpersonal, verbal, written and presentation skills
• Forming and leading virtual teams and collaborating across large, matrixed organizations
Location/Travel: This role will be based in the Midwest District, which includes Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, with a preference for Indianapolis, IN. Travel is an integral expectation of this position as the needs of our customers and our business demand.
If you find this opportunity to be compelling and know you can excel as an Enterprise Architect, we are eager to explore the possibilities with you!
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Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, national origin, marital status, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other protected status.
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