Business Planner

Overview

Cyber-attacks remain one of the most significant threats to organizations of all shapes and sizes, with the global impact of cybercrime estimated at more than $8T. Today, more than one million customers trust Microsoft Security products to protect their digital assets, and our guiding mission to empower every person on the planet by building a safer world has never been more critical.

Security is one of the fastest-growing segments in enterprise technology, and customers are increasingly looking for unified solutions that help them reduce risk, simplify operations, and demonstrate measurable outcomes. As digital estates grow more complex, the business decisions behind how we build, price, and bring these solutions to market matter more than ever.

We are looking for a Business Planner to help shape the business model, pricing and packaging, and growth strategy for a portfolio within Microsoft Security. In this role, you will partner with Engineering, Product Marketing, Finance, and the field to build the business cases that guide investment decisions, help define how we license and monetize our solutions, and translate market and telemetry insights into actionable recommendations. You will help answer the questions that determine how a business scales: what is the opportunity, how do we price it, how do we measure it, and where do we invest next.

This is a high-impact individual contributor role with broad visibility across one of Microsoft's most critical growth areas. You'll join a passionate, diverse team that values curiosity, clarity, and collaboration-and is committed to supporting each other's success. This role requires strategic thinking, business leadership & acumen, cross-group collaboration, analytical skills, and solid executive communication skills.

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.

Responsibilities

• Define business strategy, business model, pricing, packaging, licensing, discounting and compete strategies
• Orchestrate usage analysis, research and financial modelling to identify market growth opportunities and drive business case development
• Derive insights from telemetry, customer research, and market analysis, and turn them into clear, actionable recommendations for stakeholders
• Drive decision making with cross-functional stakeholders and orchestrate implementation and execution for launching new business models and offers
• Engage closely with engineering to inform product development and drive alignment between product and monetization strategy
• Partner with product marketing and sales teams on go to market strategies to land new offers in market, create promotions and enable compete strategies
• Support launch and licensing readiness by partnering with operations, commercial licensing, and field teams on execution details.
• Represent Business Planning in cross-company business planning forums, field, and partner events, etc.

Qualifications

Required/minimum qualifications

• Bachelors Degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Marketing, Computer Science or related field AND 2+ years business planning, business strategy, finance, consulting, or related experience
• OR equivalent experience.

Additional or preferred qualifications

• Bachelors Degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Marketing, Computer Science or related field AND 5+ years business planning, business strategy, finance, consulting, or related experience

• OR Masters Degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Marketing, Computer Science or related field AND 3+ years business planning, business strategy, finance, consulting, or related experience

• OR equivalent experience.

• 2+ years experience in security solutions and/or adjacent enterprise SaaS categories.

• Experience with pricing, packaging, licensing, or monetization strategy for software or cloud services.

• Analytical skills, with the ability to structure ambiguous problems and build data-driven business cases.

• Cross-group collaboration skills to work across functions and solution areas at Microsoft.

• Executive communication and storytelling skills, and the ability to translate complex analysis into simple, actionable recommendations.

Business Planning IC3 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $86,100 - $169,800 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 $113,300 - $187,400 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.