Business Insights and Planning Lead

Microsoft•Redmond, WA

16d

About The Position

Microsoft is on a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our culture is centered on embracing a growth mindset, inspiring excellence, and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. In doing so, we create life-changing innovations that impact billions of lives around the world. You can help us achieve our mission. The Marketing Signals Center of Excellence (MSCE) within the Global Marketing Engines & Experiences Group is driving the transformation of Microsoft’s commercial marketing. Our team is modernizing and integrating channels through advanced analytics, marketing automation, and digital marketing - enabling connected journeys and accelerating pipeline growth. We operate at enterprise scale, delivering millions of new contacts annually and nurturing them into leads and sales recommendations. MSCE supports digital sales connected to global marketing strategy, impacting performance and growth across regions and time zones. As the Business Insights & Planning Lead, you will own the strategic direction and execution of business optimization efforts across customer segments and product areas. You will serve as the principal architect connecting Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions (MCAPS), Small Medium Enterprise and Channel (SMEC), Digital Enterprise Sales (DES) Leadership, and analytics teams - driving methodology, prioritizing strategic initiatives, and enabling targeted campaign execution. Based in Redmond, Washington - you will operate as a trusted advisor and decision-maker for senior stakeholder leadership, ensuring requests are proactively scoped, tracked, and delivered with clarity and speed. You will transform complex data into actionable insights and compelling narratives that inform and influence business decisions at every level. 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. In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in Business, Operations, Finance, or related field AND 8+ years experience in program management, process management, or process improvement OR equivalent experience.
Ability to prioritize tasks, activities, and deliverables to ensure timely completion of objectives.
Effective strategic thinking and communication skills, with the ability to synthesize complex information into clear, actionable insights and program recommendations for leadership.
Sound and effective analytical skills to interpret data, evaluate alternatives, and make timely, high‑impact business decisions in dynamic, changing environments.
Established and comprehensive understanding of market dynamics and customer impact, with experience leading sales and marketing planning, execution, and operational excellence.
Demonstrated ability to build and manage trusted stakeholder relationships, align priorities, manage expectations, and drive support for key initiatives.

Nice To Haves

Master's Degree in Business, Operations, Finance, or related field AND 12+ years experience in program management, process management, or process improvement OR Bachelor's Degree in Business, Operations, Finance, or related field AND 15+ years experience in program management, process management, or process improvement OR equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Business Optimization:
Drive business optimization efforts across customer segments and product areas.
Set the vision for sales motions and support MCAPS definition of KPIs, developing actionable insights that shape strategic direction and fiscal year investments.
Establish best practices for long-term strategy, advocate business cases to senior leadership, and define KPIs to streamline business strategy.
Methodology Ownership & Strategic Intake:
Architect disciplined methodologies for MCAPS, SMEC, and DES strategic asks, ensuring requests are proactively scoped, tracked, and delivered.
Own centralized intake and triage for analytics and insights requests, guiding analysts and vendors on methodology adoption and process consistency.
Own Rhythm of Business Management :
Lead, develop, and execute business insights for MSCE’s broader rhythms.
Act as the triage lead for high-volume analytics requests, ensuring actionable insights reach Redmond-based leadership and stakeholders.
Synthesize insights from lead performance data and campaign analytics, providing real-time decision support to SMEC and DES leadership.
Targeting and Campaign Execution Enablement:
Shape targeting logic and campaign execution by connecting lead performance data to Precision Targeting flighting and broader orchestration.
Guide teams on targeting scenarios and campaign readiness.
Partner with strategy leads to align targeting with business priorities.
Lead Insight Pod & Resource Planning :
Proactively identify and address business concerns, evaluating data efficiency and ensuring alignment of logic and methodology across all reporting.
Lead the Business Intelligence (BI) Pod to deliver insights at the pace of the business, triaging needs and sharing learnings with sales leadership and product groups.
Stakeholder Management & Cross-Organizational Partnership:
Build strong, trusted relationships and ensure alignment with SMEC and DES Leadership on strategic initiatives.
Own alignment and delivery of data and insights for business rhythms.
Facilitate cross-functional collaboration and represent Redmond HQ in global forums.
Influence across peers, stakeholders, and Sales & Marketing leadership.
Other:
Embody our culture and values.