The way work gets done is rapidly changing, driven by two forces in which Microsoft takes a position of leadership: Flexible Work and Generative AI. The opportunity for Microsoft is to inspire Italian businesses big and small to love, trust and use the world’s leading productivity tools; transforming how everyone works to create sustainable growth and innovation.

The Western Europe Sales Enablement & Operations (SE&O) team plays an essential role in translating Microsoft’s opportunity to a local execution plan and driving operational excellence to achieve the greatest results possible. Our team drives cross-Region, cross-Area and cross-Subsidiary insight and execution excellence, bringing strategy and priorities to life by accelerating the pace of transformation and enabling Microsoft to deliver business impact at scale.

As the AI at Work Business Group Lead for Italy, you will be the directly responsible for the business performance of the Modern Work and Copilot solution areas end-to-end. You will formulate a long-range view of the market growth opportunity, then translate this view into in-year “GTM” (go-to-market) execution plans that simply put, help sellers to sell and buyers to buy. You will also act as the spokesperson and thought leader for the Future of Work and the AI Transformation narratives in the Italian market and lead on a series of “RoB” (rhythm of the business) moments to bring stakeholders at all levels of the business together to unblock and drive growth. Your ability to track success criteria and performance metrics will be crucial in driving impactful outcomes.

To achieve this, you will lead a cross-functional v-team across Sales, Customer Success and Partners organizations for the Modern Work solution area aligned to customer segments. So your leadership is not limited to the immediate team, but also spans the subsidiary, so confidence in leading teams through complex, matrixed scenarios and decisions is critical.

This opportunity will allow you to learn, lots! It’s a broad role, that will enable you to look “left-to-right” across the Italian market and dip into a range of topics, from: customer (big and small) insights and engagement; partner programmes; financial forecasting; licensing and deal making; engaging with analysts and press; ideating on new innovative GTM programmes; connecting with BG Lead peers around the globe; leading on major news-cycles and product launches with our Corp Business Group leaders. This list goes on; no day is the same! If big challenges excite you, this job is for you.

The position supports a flexible work approach, with typically 50% of the time out with customers and partners or connecting with colleagues in Microsoft Italy office locations.

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

As a AI at Work Business Group Lead, you will play a pivotal role in driving growth and market success. Here are your key responsibilities:

• Partnership for GTM: Collaborate closely with various business areas to drive go-to-market (GTM) strategies for Modern Work solution plays. Your focus will be on identifying growth opportunities in the market and creating clear execution plans. You will influence and coach field teams, sales operations, and marketing plans. Your expertise will be crucial in converting strategic priorities into effective local execution and partner across Microsoft core teams to ensure that the voice of the field is integrated into strategy development and program design.
  
  
• You will land and champion solution plays, ensuring connected sales and marketing execution across all segments and collaborate closely with partner teams to develop local partner-led marketing strategies and demand generation initiatives that support solution play performance while championing Microsoft’s strategy and solution areas, building a strong industry presence.
  
  
• As a Product Leader, you will shape the success of our offerings and advocate as the voice of the Customer, Partners, and Field. Provide thought leadership on competitive landscape, solution area gaps, sales trends and your insights will drive improvements in our GTM plan as you grow organisational capability by providing true insights, learnings, and identifying blockers for leaders, managers, and sellers and implement standardized rhythms and tools that increase customer and partner-facing time for sellers by activating leaders and managers by optimizing investments and resources, leveraging data-driven analysis.
  
  
• As an exemplar of our values, culture, and leadership principles, you will create clarity, foster shared understanding and build clear courses of action as you pursue the right outcomes to achieve success without boundaries.
  
  
• You will model Microsoft Culture by living out our leadership principles, and build organisational capability by strengthening capabilities for employees, partners, and market opportunities. You will also become an active member of the extended Italian LT, supporting broader culture and team initiatives.
  
  
• You will contribute to Inclusive Teams by supporting effective and inclusive culture where people can thrive their best work.
  
  
• You will transform behaviours by Influencing and evangelising new ways of working, transforming behaviours across the organisation.

Qualifications

• Marketing strategy, business planning, sales enablement, business development, technical pre-sales, or related work experience OR equivalent experience
• Experience managing and expanding a product/solution portfolio and driving demand generation and pipeline acceleration within a complex (e.g., multinational or matrixed) organisation
• Cross-functional program and projects management experience in large complex organizations
• Knowledge of the Modern Work ecosystem of solutions/products, especially AI and Copilot solutions.

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.