Principal Customer Success Account Manager

Overview:

Join Microsoft’s U.S. Public Sector Industries Defense Industrial Base (DIB) team – where mission meets innovation.

The Defense Industrial Base (DIB) Operating Unit (OU) is a strategically critical organization with a bold mandate: to consolidate, simplify, and accelerate Microsoft’s presence across the DIB ecosystem. This ecosystem includes more than 100,000 organizations spanning aerospace, manufacturing, cybersecurity, mission systems, and advanced research – commercial enterprises that directly support U.S. Federal agencies, including the Department of Defense and other mission‑based intelligence and civilian organizations.

Our role is to help these customers modernize with confidence – securely adopting and scaling Microsoft technologies to meet mission outcomes, regulatory requirements, and long‑term operational resilience. We partner with customers from strategy through execution, enabling secure, scalable platforms that drive significant business value and trusted outcomes.

Within the DIB OU, the Customer Success Unit (CSU) is responsible for ensuring customers realize the full value of their Microsoft investments. The CSU works closely with sales, partners, and delivery teams to accelerate consumption, improve customer health, and deliver measurable outcomes across complex, regulated environments.

We are seeking a Customer Success Account Manager (CSAM) to lead customer success strategy and execution for some of Microsoft’s most complex and strategically important DIB customers. This is a senior individual contributor role with enterprise‑level scope, high autonomy, and significant impact.

By applying to this role, you may be considered for multiple positions at the same career stage within the DIB CSU.

Role Overview:

As a CSAM, you are the strategic owner of customer success for your assigned DIB accounts. You build deep, trusted relationships with customer executives, technical leaders, and internal stakeholders, aligning Microsoft solutions and services to customer business priorities and mission objectives.

You lead the planning, orchestration, and execution of customer success programs – driving adoption, accelerating consumption, improving operational health, and proactively mitigating risks and blockers. You operate as a trusted advisor, influencing customer strategy and internal execution without direct authority, while ensuring accountability to outcomes.

This is a non‑people‑manager (IC) role with enterprise‑level scope and responsibility, designed for senior professionals who thrive in high‑complexity, high‑trust environments.

Key Responsibilities:

Customer Relationship Management

• Build and coach engagement strategies across customer, partner, and internal stakeholder ecosystems.
• Develop and support executive level‑ relationships with customer technical, business, and mission leaders.
• Expand relationships beyond existing support engagements by leading outcome based‑ conversations aligned to customer priorities.
• Influence and challenge senior internal stakeholders to align resources and actions to customer needs.
• Partner with Account Teams to co-own‑ customer success plans and contribute to integrated account strategies.

Customer Success Leadership

• Lead the strategic execution of customer success planning, program governance, and customer facing‑ reviews.
• Orchestrate Microsoft delivery resources to drive adoption, accelerate value realization, and improve customer operational health.
• Proactively identify, monitor, and mitigate actual and potential blockers to consumption using data insights and customer feedback.
• Lead escalation management and communications for complex delivery challenges, ensuring clarity, accountability, and resolution.
• Hold accountability for consumption milestones, adoption outcomes, retention, and long term‑ customer health.

Technical Relevance and Solution Alignment

• Understand and align Microsoft solutions and technical capabilities (e.g., Azure, Modern Work, Dynamics) to customer needs and mission priorities.
• Identify complex customer scenarios (e.g., multi-cloud, ISV, partner‑ led‑, global subsidiaries) and collaborate with technical specialists to architect solutions.
• Leverage knowledge of customer platforms and Microsoft’s roadmap to enable secure digital transformation.
• Strengthen Microsoft’s competitive position by articulating platform value relative to point solutions.

Operational Excellence and Collaboration

• Drive disciplined execution through structured planning, prioritization, and predictable delivery.
• Partner across sales, engineering, support, and partners to ensure consistent customer experience and outcomes.
• Use data, telemetry, and feedback loops to inform decision‑making and continuous improvement.
• Model Microsoft’s culture and values while operating with integrity, accountability, and customer obsession.

Capabilities and Skills

Required Upon Hire and Critical/Important

• Accelerating Consumption, Usage, and Value Realization
• Driving Customer Health and Operational Excellence
• Executive Relationship Building and Influence
• Data Analysis and Insight Driven Decision Makin‑g
• Business Acumen and Financial Literacy
• Consultative Engagement and Stakeholder Orchestration
• Negotiation, Storytelling, and Executive Communication

Additional Strengths

• Change Leadership and Program Facilitation
• Multi Initiative‑ Program and Portfolio Management
• Cross functional‑ Team Leadership without Authority

Required Qualifications:

Master's Degree in Business, Sociology, Psychology, Computer Science, or related field AND 4+ years customer success, solution delivery, practice management, customer-facing consulting, or portfolio management experience OR Bachelor's Degree in Business, Sociology, Psychology, Computer Science or related field AND 6+ years customer success, solution delivery, practice management, customer-facing consulting, or portfolio management experience OR equivalent experience. 

Other Requirements: 

• Citizenship & Citizenship Verification: This position requires verification of U.S citizenship due to citizenship-based legal restrictions. Specifically, this position supports United States federal, state, and/or local United States government agency customers and is subject to certain citizenship-based restrictions where required or permitted by applicable law. To meet this legal requirement, citizenship will be verified via a valid passport.

• Citizenship & Citizenship Verification: This role will require access to information that is controlled for export under U.S. export control regulations, potentially under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations or the Export Administration Regulations.  As a condition of employment, the successful candidate will be required to provide proof of citizenship, for assessment of eligibility to access the export-controlled information.  To meet this legal requirement, citizenship will be verified via a valid passport. 

• Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.  

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's Degree in Business, Sociology, Psychology, Computer Science, or related field AND 10+ years customer success, solution delivery, practice management, customer-facing consulting, or portfolio management experience OR Bachelor's Degree in Business, Sociology, Psychology, Computer Science or related field AND 12+ years customer success, solution delivery, practice management, customer-facing consulting, or portfolio management experience OR equivalent experience.
• 5+ years relevant work experience within customer industry.
• Microsoft or competitor equivalent (e.g., AWS) certification in relevant technologies (e.g., Azure, 365).
• Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Foundation certification or equivalent service management certification.
• Project Management Institute (PMI) or equivalent Project Management certification.
• Prosci or equivalent certification.

• Ability and Willingness to acquire and maintain a US Government Clearance

Customer Success Account Mgmt IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $130,900 - $251,900 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 $165,600 - $272,300 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.