Director, External Evidence & Influence

Microsoft•Redmond, WA

About The Position

Microsoft Frontier Company is a customer outcome-driven organization that brings together industry expertise, strategic partnerships, and engineering to help customers co-design, deploy, and continuously improve AI systems. The Director, External Evidence & Influence will lead external validation of Frontier Company strategy and customer success by building strategic engagement programs with customers, industry analysts, and universities. The role will generate credible feedback, strengthen industry endorsement, and ensure insights and best practices inform leaders and teams across Frontier Company. The position develops and manages an external validation strategy aligned with business priorities, customer outcomes, market credibility, and key moments throughout the fiscal year. It owns the operating model for a new customer advisory board, oversees agency and university engagement programs, and partners with Analyst Relations on industry analyst engagement. The director also manages portfolio budgets, partners, timelines, stakeholder reviews, risks, and success measures, while translating external feedback into actionable business insights and opportunities for customers to share their stories publicly.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Business, Business Administration, Marketing, Communications, Finance, or a related field and 6+ years of communications, marketing operations, field operations, program management, project management, or related experience, or equivalent experience.
7+ years of experience in strategic marketing, customer engagement, executive programs, analyst relations, industry relations, partnerships, or a related field in enterprise technology.
Experience developing and executing engagement strategies with senior executives and external stakeholders in complex, fast-paced, and often ambiguous environments.
Demonstrated success building and managing high-impact programs through cross-functional teams and agency partners, with clear outcomes and strong stakeholder alignment.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, executive presence, sound judgment, curiosity, and ability to influence across diverse internal and external stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Finance, or a related field and 8+ years of communications, marketing operations, field operations, program management, project management, or related experience, or equivalent experience.
Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Finance, or a related field and 12+ years of communications, marketing operations, field operations, program management, project management, or related experience, or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

Develop and manage an external validation strategy aligned to Frontier Company priorities, customer outcomes, market credibility, and key moments throughout the fiscal year.
Own the strategy and operating model for a new customer advisory board, including its charter, engagement plan, membership approach, governance, and annual rhythm, in partnership with an agency.
Identify and invite appropriate customer participants, collaborating with sales, customer success, industry, engineering, and executive teams to build a representative and engaged advisory community.
Plan and execute advisory board engagements, including agendas, executive preparation, content, facilitation, logistics, follow-up, and participant experience.
Synthesize customer feedback, best practices, and emerging themes, and establish mechanisms to ensure Frontier Company leaders understand and act on insights.
Identify opportunities for customers to share their stories publicly and inspire other customers to advance AI transformation with Frontier Company.
Partner with Analyst Relations to develop and execute engagement, education, and endorsement plans for key industry analysts, supported by narratives, evidence, briefings, and relationship management.
Lead an agency in creating a university engagement program, including research partnerships, participation in existing work, and development of new ideas and initiatives.
Manage agency partners, budgets, timelines, stakeholder reviews, risks, and success measures across the portfolio, and improve programs using feedback and results.
Translate Frontier Company priorities into external engagement programs that advance customer trust, market understanding, and business goals.
Design executive-level advisory experiences that provide value to participants and generate candid, actionable input for the business.
Build programs with external stakeholders, including enterprise customers, industry analysts, academic institutions, or comparable communities.
Influence and collaborate across sales, engineering, customer success, marketing, communications, Analyst Relations, executives, agencies, and external partners.
Move between strategy and execution, manage multiple workstreams and partners, and maintain a high quality bar in a dynamic organization.
Use sound judgment, executive presence, curiosity, and strong written and verbal communication, and surface difficult feedback constructively and turn insights into action.
Embody Microsoft's culture and values.