Agency Development Manager

Overview

Microsoft Advertising (MSA) empowers the largest advertisers around the world to reach their maximum potential through digital advertising solutions on the Microsoft Advertising platform. In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day. In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day. In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

Microsoft Advertising's Global Agency Development team sits at the intersection of some of the industry's most innovative agencies, advertisers, technologies, and emerging advertising solutions. Within the Global Emerging & Independent Agency team, you will help shape how Microsoft partners with a fast-growing and strategically important segment of the agency ecosystem, working across agency leadership, practitioners, Microsoft sales teams, product, marketing, learning, and technical partners to turn strategic partnerships into measurable client growth.

Our team is focused on building deeper, more scalable agency partnerships that accelerate advertiser adoption, diversify investment across Microsoft Advertising solutions, and create new opportunities for joint innovation. You will join a highly collaborative, globally distributed team that combines executive relationships and commercial strategy with hands-on execution at the agency and advertiser level. The Emerging & Independent Agency business is a significant growth engine for Global Agency Development, with managed independents delivering 89% of the team's Search growth in FY26.

As an Agency Development Manager, you will be a core member of the North America Emerging & Independent Agency team, partnering closely with Agency Directors to translate strategic agency relationships into measurable advertiser growth. You will build trusted relationships with agency practitioners and leaders, develop a deep understanding of their client portfolios, and connect agency opportunities with the right Microsoft sales, product, technical, marketing, and learning resources.

You will help move our agency partnerships from strategy into execution. This includes analyzing agency and advertiser performance to identify growth opportunities, activating scaled and account-specific education programs, driving product adoption, supporting commercial and joint technical initiatives, and creating solid feedback loops between agencies and Microsoft account teams. You will help ensure that insights gathered at the agency level translate into actionable client opportunities and that Microsoft's agency investments drive measurable advertiser outcomes.

This opportunity will allow you to develop deep knowledge of the digital advertising ecosystem, strengthen your strategic selling and business acumen, and build expertise in orchestrating complex partnerships across sales, product, marketing, and technical teams. You will also gain experience connecting commercial agreements, technical innovation, agency enablement, and advertiser activation into an integrated growth strategy.

Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

Starting January 26, 2026, Microsoft AI (MAI) employees who live within a 50- mile commute of a designated Microsoft office in the U.S. or 25-mile commute of a non-U.S., country-specific location are expected to work from the office at least three days per week. This expectation is subject to local law and may vary by jurisdiction.

Responsibilities

• Drive agency path-to-growth planning: Partner with Agency Directors, Account Executives, Specialists, and sales teams to develop and execute agency-level growth plans that identify priority advertisers, growth and recovery opportunities, seasonal moments, product whitespace, and the actions required to accelerate revenue across the agency portfolio.
• Translate strategy into full-funnel activation: Serve as a Microsoft Advertising product and solutions expert, helping agencies understand and activate Microsoft's full-funnel value proposition across Search, Performance Max, Audience Ads, and incubation solutions. Translate global strategies into compelling, actionable narratives that can be delivered in market and tailored to agency and advertiser needs.
• Build for scale: Identify repeatable growth motions across agencies and advertiser portfolios, package winning strategies, insights, product plays, and best practices into scalable solutions, and equip Microsoft sales teams and agency practitioners to replicate them across similar clients. Think beyond one account or meeting to create programs that can drive impact across dozens of advertisers.
• Lead scaled education and agency programs: Develop and execute scaled agency enablement programs, workshops, roadshows, and learning experiences that move agencies from awareness to action. Partner across Sales, Marketing, Learning & Development, Product, and other cross-functional teams to identify priority audiences, deliver relevant content, and connect education to advertiser follow-up, product adoption, pipeline, and revenue opportunities. The Emerging & Independent team has already used this model to scale holiday education globally and connect agency sessions to account-level sales follow-up.
• Orchestrate sales teams around agency opportunity: Develop a deep understanding of agency client portfolios, business drivers, seasonality, and areas of opportunity, then connect those insights to Microsoft client teams. Create scalable approaches that help sales teams prioritize the right accounts, overcome common blockers, and accelerate adoption rather than solving the same challenge account by account.
• Drive disciplined commercial execution: Support Agency Directors in commercial deals, Joint Technical Plans, and strategic agency initiatives by translating agency commitments into account-level execution. Maintain solid pipeline and opportunity hygiene, monitor progress against growth plans, identify risks early, and establish clear accountability across Microsoft and agency teams.
• Turn insight into repeatable growth motions: Analyze agency and advertiser performance to identify patterns across growers, decliners, product adoption, and client segments. Use those insights to develop scalable interventions, including recovery plans, product adoption motions, seasonal plays, and advertiser activation strategies, and measure whether those programs are producing meaningful business outcomes.
• Operate cross-functionally with high ownership: Work across Agency Development, Sales, Product, Marketing, Technical, Measurement, and Learning teams to bring the right Microsoft resources to agency opportunities. Simplify complexity for agencies and sellers, maintain momentum across multiple workstreams, and build repeatable operating models that allow successful ideas to scale globally.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree in Sales, Marketing, or related field AND 4+ years relevant work experience (e.g., sales, advertising, or marketing with a focus on digital advertising)
• OR Bachelors Degree in Sales, Marketing, or related field AND 6+ years relevant work experience (e.g., sales, advertising, or marketing with a focus on digital advertising)
• OR 8+ years relevant work experience (e.g., sales, advertising, or marketing with a focus on digital advertising)
• OR equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree in Sales, Marketing, or related field AND 5+ years relevant work experience (e.g., sales, advertising, or marketing with a focus on digital advertising)

• OR Bachelors Degree in Sales, Marketing, or related field AND 7+ years relevant work experience (e.g., sales, advertising, or marketing with a focus on digital advertising)

• OR 10+ years relevant work experience (e.g., sales, advertising, or marketing with a focus on digital advertising) OR equivalent experience.

• 3+ years experience with planning, budgeting, and other project management activities.

#MicrosoftAI

Advertising Client Success IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $106,400 - $203,600 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 $137,600 - $222,600 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.