At Microsoft our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. In Consumer Channel Sales & Marketing (CCSM) our purpose is to create value with our partners, to market and sell innovative consumer solutions powered by Windows, Office, Surface, and Xbox.  We’re positioned right at the intersection of customers, hardware partners, and channel partners. Our team works with ecosystem partners and internal business groups to drive digital excellence and e-commerce capability, as well as accelerate cloud and subscription adoption. Together, we win by delivering compelling at-home and on-the-go experiences combining intelligent edge devices and services that create Microsoft fans for life.

 As a member of our team you’ll be part of growing a multi-billion-dollar business and Region, charting new areas of innovation and impacting billions of lives around the world. You also will be a part of a culture centred on embracing a growth mindset, a theme of inspiring excellence, and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. If that appeals to you, it’s an exciting time to be here in CCSM.

 We are seeking a Regional Category Manger to help lead the Category Management discipline for the Consumer Channel for the Microsoft Consumer Channel Sales and Marketing (CCSM) organization across the Europe, Middle East and Africa Region. This role will be pivotal in building and energising a community of Category Managers across the region as well as driving close alignment with the WW Category leads for all Microsoft’s Consumer products (Windows Devices, M365, Gaming/Xbox, Surface devices and PC Accessories). You will influence WW product strategies, Go to Market activities with our partner channels and direct business and ensure these get executed within the region to deliver sustainable category growth.

Responsibilities

In close partnership with the EMEA Category Lead and WW CCSM category teams, this role will:

• Help develop the consumer device channel strategy for the region
• Support development of building category skills within the regional category management community
• Drive the seasonal category planning across all categories to ensure we deliver growth across all consumer products, devices and services helping Microsoft and its partners grow revenue, profits and share
• Drive key consumer/audience insights as well as product insights leveraging telemetry and usage data
• Support the 6 -sub-areas in the region to identify growth opportunities across markets, categories and channels.
• Provide additional value to sub-areas and subsidiaries by removing blockers to enable growth.

Responsibilities

Key areas of responsibility and success criteria:

Aligned to the transformational principles the key priorities for the role include:

1. Consistent and Compelling Story Telling

• Ensure the Regional Category team provide deep category and audience analytics and consumer insights to support the field teams in building strong Category plans and to enable them to become trusted advisors of their key retail, mobile operator, online and distribution accounts
• Integrate new categories, services and business models into category planning, specifically, aligned to the subscription economy, M365 and Gaming
• Land new product launches with key partners/channels in partnership with Consumer Channel Partner Marketing (CCSM) , Channel Sales, and Business Sales Operations.

1. Operational Excellence

• Own the Regional CRISP readiness and project management for all categories to ensure stronger seasonal planning
• Own the Category components for all partner opportunities to present the value of Microsoft in helping partners grow their revenues and profitability, and the value this can and will drive for consumers.
• Contribute to channel investment plans (in partnership with Channel Sales and CCPM and priorities based on the Category Strategy and priorities including managed retail, Mobile Operator, breadth, online and distribution
• Support Strategic Account planning for top 60 Managed accounts including joint scorecards, analytics and business priorities aligned to the CCSM Annual planning process and priorities
• Review and manage the monthly/quarterly Category ROB, data, reporting and analytics and Monthly MBU/QBU for the region.
• Lead the Regional Category Community and Communications to enable success and best practice sharing in the field.

1. Influence Product Group Strategies and Programs

• Build strong and influential relationships with the respective Business Groups at the WW level.
• In partnership with WW Category and BG leads, support on partner disclosure, feedback and escalations for all new products and services and GTM planning
• Contribute to the respective category strategies and priorities for Microsoft by providing regional insights and the Voice of the Customer to ensure annual and seasonal priorities and strategies are strong and regionally relevant
• Drive deep financial insight and knowledge into all programs at the Regional level specific to the respective channels

1. Business Results

• Actively engage in the respective category sales motions to ensure the Region exceeds all revenue and contribution margin targets, metrics and KPI’s
• Support Regional Channel sales teams to build and maintain strong relationships with defined partners. Understanding their business models, business objectives and growth plans
• Support the Regional strategy to ensure we are focused and addressing all Compete scenarios (Apple, Chrome, Sony etc.)

1. Building and leading a great team

• Help build and lead a team of high performing people who are passionate and love what they do and have significant impact on the Category Management business with great collaboration across other Microsoft & eco-system teams
• Build and execute a category readiness/training plan in conjunction with WW Category stakeholders in Corp.
• Lead community engagement, communications and ROB

Key Success Criteria

• Ability to set clear goals/timelines for the team to achieve or exceed to deliver on revenue and scorecard targets
• Manage talent remotely and understand market dynamics across varying geographies and cultures
• Collaborative and consistently demonstrate Microsoft’s Leadership principles (Clarity, Energy and Success) across diverse groups and at all levels. Ability to easily navigate corporate stakeholders and communicate clearly in ambiguous situations
• Ability to build relationships and influence stakeholders across marketing and commercial teams at key channel and eco-system partners
• Ability to build growth plans through deep business insights and understanding of customer and partner needs.
• Quality and effectiveness of the product/category plans to guide the channel/sales planning and execution aligned to the business KPI’s
• Build a great team environment that people want to be part of
• Improvement in operational effectiveness within WW teams
• Good understanding of digital marketing strategies and transformation
• Strong commercial acumen and awareness of current industry trends

Qualifications

Experiences Required: Education, Key Experiences, Skills and Knowledge:

• Bachelor’s degree
• Master’s degree preferred (MBA)
• Min 5 years’ experience in Consumer FMCG industries with a proven track record in category management
• Knowledge of the device ecosystem is an advantage
• Core Competencies
• Impact and Influence
• Confidence
• Communication
• Strategic Planning
• Negotiation skills
• Commercial Acumen
• Drive for Results

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.