Business Planner - Change Management & Readiness

Microsoft•Redmond, WA

4d•$106,400 - $222,600

About The Position

The Business Planner – Change Management & Readiness is an individual contributor in Microsoft's Monetization Strategy & Licensing organization. The role coordinates execution and adoption of commercial and partner program changes across the Microsoft partner ecosystem and internal seller organizations, translating defined business priorities into integrated partner and field readiness plans. The position assesses impacts across partners, sellers, customer-facing roles, managers, support teams, and operations; maintains integrated workback plans; coordinates communications, role-based enablement, launch and landing activities, and feedback channels; tracks risks and dependencies; and drives issues to resolution with program, operations, support, marketing, field, and engineering stakeholders. It partners closely with GCPS Channel Programs Readiness, field readiness and landing organizations, and MSL program owners to support consistent execution across Enterprise, SME&C, and other impacted segments. Success is measured by consistent launch execution, partner and field preparedness, role clarity, adoption progress, reduced support and seller friction, and clear operational follow-through. The role also improves repeatability by standardizing readiness assessments, audience-impact templates, launch criteria, feedback mechanisms, and operating practices.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Business, Operations, Finance, Marketing, or a related field and 4 or more years of experience in business planning, program management, process management, change management, readiness, field enablement, sales operations, or a related area, or equivalent experience.
Experience translating business or program requirements into integrated partner and field execution plans, workback schedules, audience-specific actions, communications, training, manager enablement, seller guidance, and operational-readiness deliverables.
Knowledge of partner ecosystems, field and sales organizations, partner lifecycle management, indirect business models, and go-to-market execution.
Ability to coordinate complex cross-functional initiatives, manage dependencies, maintain execution discipline, and drive closure without direct authority.
Experience assessing impacts across partner and field roles, identifying readiness and behavior-change gaps, managing launch risks, and supporting adoption of commercial, policy, process, or program changes.
Experience developing role-based readiness approaches that clarify what sellers, managers, partner-facing teams, support organizations, and operational stakeholders need to know, do, and reinforce before and after launch.
Ability to use adoption metrics, enablement and engagement signals, support and escalation trends, and partner and field feedback to monitor outcomes and recommend corrective actions.
Written and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing status updates, decision materials, readiness plans, role-based guidance, and stakeholder communications for field, partner, business, and senior leadership audiences.
Experience building repeatable processes, governance rhythms, templates, launch criteria, feedback mechanisms, or change-management practices.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's degree in Business, Operations, Finance, Marketing, or a related field and 8 or more years of relevant experience, or a Master's degree in one of those fields and 6 or more years of relevant experience, or equivalent experience.
Familiarity with CSP, authorization frameworks, marketplaces, commercial partner programs, or segment-based field motions.
Familiarity with Prosci ADKAR or similar methodologies.

Responsibilities

Convert approved commercial and partner program changes into execution plans, documenting impacts across partners, distributors, resellers, sellers, managers, customer-facing roles, support teams, and operations.
Define audience-specific actions, deliverables, owners, milestones, dependencies, decision points, and launch criteria, and maintain integrated workback plans through launch, landing, and early adoption.
Coordinate end-to-end readiness for CSP launches and commercial program changes, including stakeholder alignment, communications, role-based training, manager enablement, seller guidance, operational procedures, support preparedness, feedback channels, and escalation paths.
Translate business requirements into guidance on what each audience needs to know, do, and reinforce.
Partner with GCPS Channel Programs Readiness, field readiness and landing organizations, and MSL program owners to support consistent partner- and field-facing execution across impacted segments.
Run operating rhythms that provide visibility into status, risks, dependencies, decisions, and audience readiness.
Track adoption indicators, training and engagement signals, support trends, escalations, seller and partner feedback, and in-market friction.
Identify readiness and behavior-change gaps, assign and follow up on corrective actions, and capture lessons learned.
Own assigned workstreams from planning through stabilization, clarifying responsibilities, timelines, risks, decisions, and next steps.
Build alignment across MSL, GCPS, MCAPS field and landing teams, business operations, marketing, support, and engineering.
Incorporate partner and field perspectives into launch planning, escalate decisions with concise options and recommendations, and communicate progress to program leaders and senior stakeholders.
Improve execution by standardizing readiness assessments, audience-impact templates, launch criteria, feedback mechanisms, and reusable operating practices.