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With continued growth in digital data and the desire to leverage data to address problems that touch all aspects of our lives, Microsoft’s is growing to meet these challenges! The Azure Data & AI team is hiring experienced Azure Technical Specialist to join agile and diverse team in Data Platform (Azure SQL, Azure Data Lake Gen2, Databricks, Azure Synapse Analytics, Microsoft Fabric) and AI technologies (Azure OpenAI Services, Azure Cognitive Services, Azure Machine Learning)

The main goal of Azure Technology Specialist - Data & AI is to win the technical decision of customers to purchase and use Microsoft technology and cloud services, for both Relational and Non-Relational scenarios. This includes Azure SQL, Open-source databases, Azure Analytics platform including Azure Cosmos DB and Microsoft Fabric and the entire Azure AI Platform - Azure Machine Learning plus Azure OpenAI . The Technical Specialist is expected to help the customers' technical evaluators and decision makers to take the best decisions, as well as find new opportunities through their contacts and engagements for sales specialists to pursue. As a Technical Specialist, you work within a virtual team of technical, partner and consulting resources to help educate your customers at a technical level, demonstrate, and prove our solutions, and win the technical decision, allowing the team to achieve/exceed quarterly sales targets in your accounts. Being part of this team will allow you to maintain and develop your deep technical expertise across Microsoft and non-Microsoft cloud-based technologies. This opportunity will allow you to accelerate your career growth, honing your solution sales and collaboration skills, and deepening your cloud expertise. 

Responsibilities

• Proactively own technical discussions with customers leveraging processes and tools, demos, and programs using consultative sales methodology and technical expertise to influence the customer vision; establish rules of engagement (e.g., role boundaries, handoff strategies) for extended teams.
• Proactively build technical strategy: map the agreed customer vision into a strategy, resolve concerns, preventing and removing technical blockers and validating a strong business case for investment and translated technology complexity into business impact. Work with the customer, account team, and partners to orchestrate a roadmap for implementation guiding the customer to choose the best Microsoft Intelligent Data and Analytics platform and win the AI Design, inclusive of Microsoft AI, Application services, and Databases.
• Design the solution using your technical knowledge, architectural approach, consultancy skills and our methodology to win a customer’s technical decision and meet the customer’s needs; drive POCs/Pilots to create momentum for MVPs, infusing key AI technologies where appropriate and being technically proficient to do POC with hands-on-skills.
• Proactively enable cross collaboration across teams to drive AI Design Wins and support the customer AI transformation inclusive of AI Applications and data foundation. Support the creation of new pipeline in collaboration with the Specialist and account team by identify new opportunities within customer engagement and hand off to the Solution Specialist for pursuit. 
• Be the Trusted advisor and use proactive effort to find and understand customers’ pain points and work with partners to design and offer solutions (with business case) to technical leaders by being a Microsoft Intelligent Data and Analytics platform evangelist inclusive of new Data and Analytics projects, modernizing legacy Data Warehouse to the cloud, new Modern Data Warehousing deployments, real-time analytics, and end to end Data, Analytics and AI solutions.
• Be the Voice of Customer to share insights and best practices with Engineering, to remove key blockers and drive product improvements.
• Maintain and grow expertise in Database scenarios including Cosmos DB, SQL DB, PostgreSQL and in Analytics, Data warehousing, Data Engineering, Data Science including Intelligent Data and Analytics Platform (Azure SQL DW, Lakehouse architecture, Fabric, Azure Databricks, Power BI), and relevant AI technologies while keeping up to date with market trends and competitive insights; collaborate and share with the Data & AI technical community.

Qualifications

Required/Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology
• 5+ years technical pre-sales or technical consulting experience,  OR equivalent experience.
• Experience in Azure Databricks, PostgreSQL and Azure Data Factory or equivalent technologies. 

Additional or Preferred Qualifications

• Master's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology
• 6+ years technical pre-sales, technical consulting, or technology delivery, or related experience
• ML, AI project experience
• Certification in data relevant technologies or disciplines

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.