Marketing Communications Manager at Microsoft

Job number: 1177390
Profession: Marketing
Role type: Individual Contributor
Travel: 0 - 25%

Africa Transformation Office (ATO) Background 

• Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Africa is one of the best places on the planet to bring our mission to life. It is home to 1.3B people and 54 countries. The talent in Africa reflects a tremendously rich and diverse potential that can truly impact the world over the next few decades.
• Being the youngest continent in the world with a median age of just 19.5 years, Africa is contributing to +12M youth being added to the global labor force every year. By 2040, half of the world's young people will live in Africa. Africa's growth is propelled by being a mobile first continent which is fueling connectivity, innovation, and scalability.  
• Our aspiration is to transform Africa to a Cloud-first, Digital-first continent enabling a thriving digital economy across Africa while reinventing Microsoft's digital assets and capabilities to serve the young continent's transformation needs. With that in mind was the establishment of new team; the Africa Transformation Office (ATO), which will be established and chartered with the following:   
  • Build strategic, unconventional partnerships with key governments, institutions and enterprises to enable and accelerate digital economy across the African continent. 
  • Develop digital marketing engines to enable and accelerate Startups and SMBs. 
  • Plan and land infrastructure enablers and game changers in the continent. 
  • Enable Africa as a Foreign Direct Investment destination supported by expanding our technologies for MNCs across key industries. 
  • Manage the 4Afrika initiative and further integrate it to key company programs and engines to amplify its impact.  
  • Foster digital skilling and job creation to maximize the economic opportunity for the African youth and workforce. 

Role Summary 

• We are looking for a strong, pragmatic business thinker with seasoned field marketing experience to lead  marketing communications in the ATO.
• The ATO Marketing Manager will partner with our Central Marketing Organization (CMO) which is anchored around a shared purpose for Customer Centricity, Marketing Thought Leadership, and Marketing and Sales Alignment.
• The ATO Marketing Manager will support the ATO growth agenda through integrated marketing campaigns that delight our customers and partners and create Microsoft fans.
• The ATO Marketing Manager will leverage deep functional and business expertise to deliver superior customer experiences through connected customer journeys and data driven storytelling.
• The ATO Marketing Manager will build strategic partnerships across Corp HQ and the Area to drive a digitally transformed, connected go-to-market.
• As the  ATO Marketing Manager, you are responsible for driving growth, leading Marketing thought leadership, leading inclusive marketing, and ensuring marketing impact through execution excellence.
• With strong executive support, you lead and orchestrate a multi-dimensional & cross-functional marketing. Working in partnership with the MEA CMO team you will be responsible for implementing integrated marketing programs including those that drive demand generation through Global Demand Centers (GDCs) and Global Engagement Programs (GEPs).
• You lead the ATO to smartly maximize local marketing investments by fully exploiting global content, marketing services, and augmenting local work aligned to global strategies.
• The ideal candidate will be a strong business thinker with deep marketing understanding, a courageous leader skilled to lead & collaborate with field marketers and engender trust among sales leaders, and a rapid adopter, taking and sharing leading practices from peers around the world.
• The ATO Marketing Manager not only executes on global strategies but also champions effective local marketing integration and excellence in marketing operations to drive positive business outcomes.
• You must enjoy ongoing challenges in this multi-faceted, leadership role that combines strong agility, business thinking, marketing thought leadership, marketing operations excellence and masterfully leveraging global programs in your Area for the greater cause-all coming together to deliver the best solutions for our customers to achieve more.

Responsibilities

• Lead Marketing planning aligning with ATO business goals and support the ATO Strategic Pillars through execution of integrated marketing plans, leverage the Area CMO team and infrastructure to drive Microsoft Brand Awareness, using Global Demand Centers (GDCs) and Global Engagement Programs (GEPs) as well as local campaigns. (20%)
• Manage the ATO marketing budget and ensure integrated hybrid experiences for customers, leveraging global marketing strategies, policies, and assets.
• Model our Microsoft culture –authentic, transparent, inclusive -- and leadership values; build and grow diverse and inclusive teams. Implement a strong talent stewardship program and culture. Develop, attract and export top talent worldwide. (10%)

Compliance:

• Personally, commit to generate and protect Microsoft trust by modeling integrity every day and contributing to ethical sales and sustainable growth.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree (B.Sc. / B.A.) or equivalent work experience required; MBA degree preferred but not required.
• Positive and pragmatic business thinker with a minimum of 10 years of Marketing, Marketing Operations, and digital technology change management leadership experience in technology.
• Strong people management experience, leading teams to land global marketing strategies, leverage corporate content, and augment integrated regional efforts that amplify/extend/scale marketing and enable sales. Recognized talent attractor, developer and exporter.
• Solid understanding of and appreciation for integrated, digital marketing, marketing automation concepts, and marketing operations. Strong analytical capabilities to make smart data-driven, business tradeoffs.
• Proven experience managing strategic issues and challenges in a highly matrixed organization. Leads with unflappable agility and adeptly responds to changing business conditions, bringing marketers and sellers along on our transformational journey together. Experience working at a large global multinational is a plus.
• High degree of self-awareness and professional objectivity, executive maturity and presence, exceptional listening skills, broad world perspective and sense of humor.
• Excellent verbal and written communications and cross-organization collaboration skills.
• Exceptional skill in exerting influence and impact with executives and senior leaders in the company.