Functional Alliance Relationship Associate Director: Microsoft

EY has curated a dynamic ecosystem of Alliance and Ecosystem relationships which creates new forms of customer value to help our clients rapidly and digitally transform. Our ecosystem consists of more than 100 relationships which allow us to provide a wide range of collaborative opportunities and solutions to our clients. We help them tap into the latest technologies to achieve transformational outcomes and be more agile, innovative, resilient and better equipped to respond to disruptive change.  

The opportunity

Alliances are a critical aspect of the go-to market strategy for the firm.  To achieve our revenue targets, we have identified the priority go to market focus areas for each of the alliance.  The priority areas are the most strategic programs for the EY Strategic Alliances and are intended to drive revenue at scale. For Microsoft, the Global Functional Alliance Relationship Associate Director (ARD) will focus on EY’s Cyber strategy and solutions with Microsoft, working with EY global and regional leaders to define our Cyber strategy with Microsoft, enable execution of firm-wide sales campaigns and on-going program activation and collaboration with Microsoft sales and engineering teams to drive the joint go to market. Activities may include coaching on Cyber solutions, identification of target markets and addressable market, sales messaging, cadencing key EY and Microsoft leaders, escalating issues as appropriate and conducting business reviews with analytics/insights.

 
Your key responsibilities

Your role will sit within the Alliance and Ecosystem Relationship team that provides alliance management oversight for the top EY alliances. Specifically, the Microsoft Functional ARD will work closely with EY’s Alliances leadership, counterparts within the Alliance home practice and EY account and business development executives to coordinate and deliver upon of the objectives of the campaign.

Your primary responsibilities will include: 

• Design Microsoft Cyber GTM campaign strategy and campaign program elements 
• Collaborate with EY Cyber leadership and the Alliance team on alliance components of the campaign (relationship map, cadence, governance, contracts, resale, etc)
• Identify target account strategy in conjunction with Global and Region Go-To-Market Leaders, Alliance Relationship Directors, Sector and Solution Leader(s)
• Develop messaging and value proposition for campaign including securing alignment and buy-in from the Alliance
• Work with Brand, Marketing and Communication to develop sales collateral, marketing strategy, and other enablement materials as well as coordinate events as appropriate.
• Coordinate with Internal technology team, the Alliance Practice or Sector and/or the Alliance itself to track development of technical elements (demos and other tech assets)
• Activate each region with internal and external awareness sessions
• Engage with Region Microsoft Go to Market Leaders to secure region support and identify region leads from EY and Microsoft to own the sales motion and drive in-market sales efforts
• Incubate target accounts and land sales motion with Alliance Client Executives to expand
• Provide early-stage big deal pre-sales support
• Drive cadence with EY and Microsoft executives; drive visibility and preference to EY across regions, escalating issues as appropriate
• Oversee campaign governance and sales / pipeline discipline – stand-up of campaign through campaign execution (awareness, financial tracking, account cadence, relationship alignment) 

This role will be based in the US. You can anticipate a mix of virtual work along with regular coordination with other team members across Americas and Globally. The role will require some minimal travel.

Skills and attributes for success

• To qualify for the role you must have:
  • Able to juggle many activities and provide enablement services in the areas of: alliance partner management, business development, marketing, contract management, financial management, content management, governance oversight, operational support, strong relationship building skills and is highly organized
  • Understanding of Microsoft cyber solutions and business benefits of relevant Microsoft Cyber products and solutions 
  • Experience in business development and/or alliance management for technology or professional services company
  • Strong networking and influence management skills resulting in driving actions to outcomes and delivering results actions across organizational boundaries
  • Highly credible communicator with excellent organization and project management skills and proven track record delivering alliance sales and revenues

• Ideally, you’ll also have
  • Experience and evidence of success in building and nurturing win-win alliance relationships

What we look for

• We’re looking for a seasoned go to market or alliance professional who can build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders and bring creativity, and consistent quality to this critical part of the business for EY. 
• Comfortable working with others within EY with unique personalities, cultures and working styles and can adapt your approach to best interact
• Comfortable escalating complex issues with recommendations to leadership 
• Strong organizational skills and ability to multi-task in support of multiple projects at a time