Retail Partner Marketing Manager

At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. In CSO, our consumer organization our purpose is to create value with our partners, to market and sell innovative consumer solutions powered by Windows, Office, Surface. We’re positioned right at the intersection of customers, hardware partners, and channel partners. Together, we win by delivering compelling at-home and on-the-go experiences combining intelligent edge devices and services that create Microsoft fans for life.

We are seeking a Retail Marketing Manager to manage retail partner across both the US and Canada, building full-funnel partner marketing plans and compelling customer experiences, leveraging worldwide guidance and proven omnichannel strategies across digital and physical environments. With the reach of 80,000 retail locations, 500+ partner websites and 139,000 retail sales professionals selling the Microsoft ecosystem, Partner Marketers have the responsibility of being the first, and sometimes only, impression of the Microsoft brand for our consumers. Partner Marketers have end-to-end responsibility for execution, including landing visual merchandising assets, digital and campaign execution as well as transformation on partner.com sites and demo platform sell-in. You will drive and facilitate strategic decisions about our marketing investment strategy, including marketing development funds management, and our marketing mix across key marketing disciplines. Your passion for our products and our partners will guide the team to execution excellence, a strong focus on ROI and accountability to sell-through.

You will act as a thought leader, a trusted advisor to drive strategic decisions about our marketing investment strategy and marketing mix across digital platforms, in-store presence, and retail activation teams. You’re an omnichannel expert, adept at inspiring partners to long-lead plan, accelerate their digital transformation and adopt, experiment and innovate with us. You’ll drive impact by leveraging data and insights in order to create more personalized experiences and maximize ROI. Your passion for our products and our partners will guide the team to execution excellence, a strong focus on ROI and accountability to brand advocacy and sell-through.

You will possess the creativity to lead the evolution of our strategy as well as the skills to create and sustain consistent operational excellence. 
You will also be someone who is passionate about inclusivity and are inspired by collaborating with high performing sales, category, and marketing teams.

Strategic Business Planning:  

• Create short and long-term full-funnel marketing plans for retail partners across online and in-store customer touchpoints tailored to partner strategies and consumer needs.
• Develop omnichannel marketing strategies and investment strategies focused on maximizing ROI, customer engagement, and business performance.
• Lead readiness planning and go-to-market strategies for seasonal priorities, product launches, and strategic business initiatives.

Partner Engagement and Management:

• Lead strategic business management and growth planning for assigned retail accounts by integrating marketing, sales, category, and partner priorities into comprehensive business plans that drive measurable revenue growth.
• Coordinate go-to-market readiness across multiple business groups to ensure successful execution of seasonal campaigns, product launches, and strategic initiatives.
• Collaborate and drive co-marketing campaigns that involve our ingredient partners and hardware/device partners
• Optimize the end-to-end customer journey through digital marketing excellence and integrated omnichannel experiences that drive customer engagement, conversion, and business growth.
• Build brand advocates among retail sellers by enabling partner training and readiness programs, while leveraging store audits, customer feedback, and field insights to optimize execution and customer experience.
• Oversee creative asset readiness, merchandising execution, digital storefront optimization, and retail activation plans to ensure consistent customer experiences.
• Build trusted relationships with retail partners, providing strategic guidance and thought leadership to advance seasonal priorities, product initiatives, and long-term business growth.
• Represent the voice of the customer and partner to influence global marketing strategies, creative development, and storytelling that drive local relevance and competitive differentiation.
• Drive strategic partner development by identifying growth opportunities, influencing new capabilities, and shaping innovative customer experiences that accelerate business outcomes.
• Monitor competitive activity, industry trends, and evolving retail capabilities to identify opportunities, mitigate risks, and shape partner growth strategies.
• Role model a culture of integrity and compliance, where trust and transparency are core to all decision

Execution Excellence: 

• Deliver against timelines, secure and optimize marketing investments, align cross-functional stakeholders on funding priorities, and deliver against KPI and budget objectives while advancing innovative growth opportunities.
• Partner across sales, category, and finance teams to identify growth opportunities, build business cases, and influence investment decisions that accelerate business outcomes.
• Oversee asset readiness, creative reviews, and campaign execution while maintaining brand integrity and deep understanding of customer, competitive, and market dynamics.

Analytics and Insights:

• Analyze business performance, partner capabilities, and customer insights to identify growth opportunities, inform competitive strategies, and develop data-driven marketing action plans.
• Drive executive-level business reviews, account update discussions, and partner planning sessions by developing data-driven recommendations and growth strategies.
• Create a culture of learning, encouraging tests and trials that constantly move our marketing execution forward

Other  

• Embody our culture and values. 

Required: 

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Marketing, Business Development, Business Management, Communications, or related field AND 5+ years sales, marketing, or business development experience OR equivalent experience

Preferred:

• 3+ years relevant experience in Retail/Channel Marketing/Marketing/Retail Sales
• Proven success at marketing and execution planning – particularly Retail Marketing with Consumer Technology products
• Adept at building integrated partner marketing plans and campaigns across multiple marketing disciplines
• Direct experience interfacing with partners and a proven track record delivering growth/performance metrics.
• Understand the digital and physical buying journey (omni channel), well-versed in sales channels, and commerce platforms. Expertise landing and coordinating cross-discipline marketing programs and sales programs.
• Track record of marketing execution excellence and ROI through planning, operations-savvy, creative execution, readiness and analytics/insights
• New product launch exerience
• Marketing budget management
• Experience managing ambiguity and rapid change – demonstrate agility and risk-taking

Partner Marketing IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $106,400 - $203,600 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 $137,600 - $222,600 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.