Partner Development Manager - Telco

Overview

At Small, Medium, Enterprise & Corporate (SME&C), we are leading a high growth, AI powered global sales team that is deeply connected to our partners and driven by customer success. By uniting our Small Medium Business, Corporate, Strategy, and Partner teams, we are unlocking the largest customer opportunity, backed by the industrys most significant investments. Leveraging the power of AI and our extensive partner ecosystem, we are redefining how businesses of all sizes adopt technology to drive growth and innovation.

SME&C is more than a sales organization. It is a culture of innovation, opportunity, and inclusivity. Here, you will be part of a diverse, high performing, and customer obsessed team where collaboration, connection, and continuous learning fuel everything we do. If you thrive in a fast paced, digital first environment and are eager to make a meaningful impact, explore how SME&C can be the next step in your career. Together, we are shaping the future of business.

The Americas Channel organization leads Microsofts channel partner strategy and execution across the United States, Canada, and Latin America, working through partner types including Distributors, Scale Solution Providers, Telcos, and SME&C Solution Integrators to accelerate customer adoption of Microsoft AI and Cloud. As the Americas Channel Telco Partner Type Lead, you own the Telco partner strategy for the region and sit at the leading front of partner performance for one of our most strategic and fastest transforming partner types.

Telcos are in the middle of a Telco to Techco transformation, moving beyond connectivity to become cloud, AI, and managed services providers for their customers. You will capture that market momentum by taking Microsoft communication, productivity, security, and cloud solutions to market through Telco partners, and by turning their scale and customer reach into predictable, growing Microsoft cloud consumption. You will bring a challenger mindset, deep technology industry knowledge, market insight, and understanding of the marketplace landscape, executive presence to grow a robust ecosystem of world class Telco partners.

You will define and deliver the Americas Telco sales strategy, sponsor executive connections with partner CxOs, drive business performance, and maximize partner investments across the region. You will institute a predictable rhythm of business with partners and internal stakeholders, and you will act as the bridge between Telco Partner Development Managers, the Americas Channel Leadership Team, and the broader Microsoft field. This opportunity will allow you to accelerate your career growth as you work deeply with highly complex partner organizations and build solid relationships in the C-Suite.

Responsibilities

Strategy and business performance

• Accountable for the overall strategy and execution of Telco partner type performance and sales results across the Americas (United States, Canada, and Latin America), in alignment with the Americas Channel business objectives and growth priorities.
• Deliver the Telco partner type FRA, including forecast integrity throughout the fiscal year. Evaluate quantitative and qualitative metrics and translate results into strategic priorities, plans, and corrective actions.
• Continuously assess customer TAM, and market intelligence, and use those insights to design proposals that address opportunities, challenges, and risks in the Telco segment.
• Co-develop and execute Telco solution plays that drive sales engagement and acceleration of the FY27 priority motions: Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption and NPSA execution, Azure consumption growth through AI and database migration, and Teams Phone and Operator Connect calling motions native to Telco partners.
• Drive CSP program utilization, incentive attainment, and compliance across the Telco partner base, ensuring partners are maximizing the investments available to them and that those investments translate into growth.

Partner executive engagement

• Engage CxO leaders and country managers across the Telco partner ecosystem to drive alignment on strategy, joint commitments, and priorities as documented in the Partner Business Plan, and run an overall rhythm of the business that ensures mutual commitment and delivery on Metrics that Matter, KPIs, and growth priorities.
• Synchronize the Telco partner go to market strategy with Microsoft sales leadership across SME&C, Enterprise, and industry teams so that partner and field goals are unified and growth is accelerated.
• Bridge the gap between Telco Partner Development Managers and the Microsoft field organization to build a rigorous co-sell culture and deliver win win outcomes for joint customers.

Operating model and ecosystem growth

• Define and govern the Americas Telco operating model, including territory and partner coverage plans, role clarity for Telco Partner Development Managers, team KPIs, and a predictable quarterly business review cadence with partners and internal stakeholders.
• Implement a collaborative operating model with the US, Canada, and Latin America Channel leaders and their teams, as well as shared services (Partner Technical team, Partner Marketing, Partner Solution Sales, and the worldwide Telco organization). Create a transparent engagement model between organizations so the business maximizes opportunity and insight across the region and role models One Microsoft behavior.
• Collaborate with Partner Technical leaders to accelerate Telco technical practice development, while actively recruiting and enabling partners to build scale, capacity, and consumption in the Telco segment.
• Build a consistent strategy, execution, and co-sell plan for locally managed Telco partners, leveraging Metrics that Matter and sharing best practices with partner type leads in other regions to make Telco sales execution repeatable, scalable, and investable.
• Connect Telco partners with Microsoft go to market teams to build a catalog of customer case studies and transformation success evidence that reinforces the value of partnering with Microsoft and accelerates adoption.
• Embody Microsoft culture and values, contributing to organizational health in the areas of trust, inclusion, and diversity, and delivering success through empowerment and accountability.

Qualifications

Required/minimum qualifications

• Bachelors Degree in Marketing, Business Operations, Computer Science or a related field AND 8+ years experience in partner management, sales, business development, or partner channel development in the technology industry or related experience
• OR equivalent experience.

Other Requirements: Microsoft is unable to sponsor a work visa for this role due to the nature of the roles job duties.

Additional or preferred qualifications

• Masters Degree in Business Administration, Business Science, or an advanced degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) or a related field AND 10+ years experience in partner management, sales, business development, or partner channel development in the technology industry or related experience

• OR equivalent experience.

• Significant experience in partner management, sales, business development, or partner channel development within the technology industry or a related field.

• Demonstrated ability to provide strategic leadership, influence senior stakeholders, drive partner growth initiatives, and lead complex go-to-market campaigns, with deep expertise in Microsoft solutions and evolving market trends.

• Demonstrated experience in Telco, service provider, or communications industry partner management, sales, business development, or channel development in the technology industry, or equivalent experience.

• Experience owning the overall strategy and execution of partner performance and sales results for a sales unit or partner type, with accountability for FRA, forecast integrity, and translating quantitative and qualitative insights into strategic priorities and plans.

• Proven ability to engage senior leaders in a partners organization to influence business outcomes and drive alignment on strategy, joint commitments, and priorities as captured in the Partner Business Plan, ensuring mutual accountability for Metrics that Matter, KPIs, and growth execution.

• Experience working across the United States, Canada, and Latin America. Spanish or Portuguese language skills are a plus.

Partner Development Management 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.