Security Partner Strategy Lead

Security has never been more critical to organizations worldwide. As customers accelerate AI adoption while navigating an increasingly complex threat landscape, Microsoft Security is uniquely positioned to help organizations secure their future and realize value from their Microsoft Security investments.

The Microsoft Security Enablement & Partner Strategy organization is seeking a highly strategic, data-driven, and customer-obsessed leader to serve as the Security Partner Strategy Lead. In this role, you will define, execute, and continuously evolve Microsoft's global Security partner strategy focused on accelerating customer adoption, consumption, deployment success, and value realization through Microsoft's partner ecosystem.

You will work at the intersection of business strategy, customer success, partner strategy, cybersecurity, AI, analytics, and organizational transformation. Leveraging partner insights, customer signals, field intelligence, engineering telemetry, marketplace data, and business performance metrics, you will identify and scale the partner motions that most effectively drive customer outcomes and business growth.

The ideal candidate combines strategic thinking, analytical rigor, executive influence, and a passion for building scalable systems that create measurable impact. You are energized by ambiguity, thrive in highly cross-functional environments, and are excited by the opportunity to help shape how Microsoft Security partners contribute to customer success at global scale.

This role offers a unique opportunity to influence how Microsoft Security drives adoption, accelerates usage, scales customer value realization, and grows business impact through one of the world's largest and most sophisticated partner ecosystems.

Candidates who live within 50 miles of Microsoft's Redmond campus will be required to work in the office 3 days per week.

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.

•    Serve as a trusted strategic advisor and relationship builder: Develop executive-level partnerships across Microsoft, provide expertise that influences business decisions, and leverage deep market, product, and industry knowledge to guide strategy and priorities.

•    Drive strategic insights through research, communication, and market analysis: Lead competitive, customer, partner, and market assessments; evaluate strategic alternatives such as build/buy/partner decisions; and communicate recommendations to senior executives through compelling narratives and presentations.

•    Lead complex strategy projects and business decision-making: Synthesize insights across multiple initiatives, create frameworks for solving complex problems, influence company strategy, identify growth opportunities, and independently manage strategic projects with cross-functional collaboration.

•    Develop organizational capability and strategic talent: Mentor and develop team members, support recruiting and onboarding, contribute to team culture, and enhance the organization's strategic thinking and execution capabilities through coaching and knowledge sharing.

Define and Execute Global Security Partner Strategy

•    Lead the development, execution, and continuous evolution of Microsoft's global Security partner strategy, focused on accelerating customer usage, consumption, deployment success, and value realization through partner-led motions.

•    Identify strategic opportunities where partner engagement can improve customer outcomes, increase adoption of Microsoft Security solutions, and drive measurable business impact.

•    Develop scalable frameworks that connect partner investments and partner execution to Microsoft's strategic Security priorities.

•    Translate business objectives into actionable partner-led strategies that can be executed consistently across geographies, segments, and solution areas.

Drive Partner-Led Consumption and Customer Value Realization

•    Design and scale partner-led initiatives that accelerate customer adoption and usage across Microsoft's Security portfolio.

•    Partner with internal and external stakeholders to identify opportunities to improve customer activation, deployment velocity, operationalization, and long-term solution adoption.

•    Develop strategies that help customers realize greater value from their Microsoft Security investments through partner-delivered services, guidance, and expertise.

•    Champion a partner-first approach to accelerating security modernization and secure AI transformation at scale.

Generate Strategic Insights Through Data and Analytics

•    Leverage partner performance data, customer signals, consumption metrics, engineering telemetry, marketplace insights, and field intelligence to evaluate ecosystem effectiveness and identify opportunities for improvement.

•    Develop analytical frameworks that connect partner activities to business outcomes, customer adoption, and usage growth.

•    Create evidence-based recommendations that influence investment decisions, strategic priorities, partner programs, and future ecosystem development.

•    Establish reporting mechanisms and insights engines that continuously monitor strategy execution and business impact.

Drive Operational Excellence and Program Governance

•    Own the rhythm of business for Security Partner Strategy, including strategic planning, initiative tracking, milestone management, performance reviews, and leadership reporting.

•    Establish governance frameworks that ensure partner-led initiatives are scalable, measurable, repeatable, and aligned to business objectives.

•    Develop and operationalize the tooling, reporting, and data infrastructure required to measure partner impact and inform strategic decision making.

•    Continuously improve operational processes to increase organizational effectiveness and ecosystem performance.
Accelerate Partner Capability and Readiness

•    Identify capability gaps across Microsoft's Security partner ecosystem and develop strategies that improve partner effectiveness.

•    Partner with Global Partner Solutions, Product, Engineering, Sales, Customer Success, and Enablement stakeholders to align readiness investments to strategic priorities.

•    Support the development of scalable partner readiness motions that enable partners to successfully deliver customer outcomes and accelerate adoption.

•    Ensure partner capability development aligns to Microsoft's evolving Security and AI strategy.

Serve as the Voice of the Partner

•    Develop deep understanding of partner opportunities, barriers, business models, and customer engagement challenges.

•    Bring partner insights into Microsoft's planning, investment, and engineering discussions.

•    Partner with engineering and product organizations to communicate partner feedback and identify opportunities to improve partner experience and customer outcomes.

•    Foster strong relationships across Microsoft's Security, Sales, Product, Engineering, Customer Success, and Partner organizations to align around shared objectives.

Measure Impact and Drive Continuous Improvement

•    Define success metrics and performance indicators that connect partner investments to customer adoption, consumption growth, deployment outcomes, and business impact.

•    Monitor ecosystem performance, identify lessons learned, and continuously optimize partner strategies based on measurable results.

•    Foster a culture of experimentation, learning, innovation, and evidence-based decision making across the Security Enablement & Partner Strategy organization.

•    Develop scalable approaches that allow Microsoft Security to continuously improve customer success outcomes through partners.

Required Qualifications

• Master's Degree in Business Administration or related field AND 3+ years marketing, strategy, business planning, consulting, banking, finance, economics, and/or partner organization experience
  • OR Bachelor's Degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Liberal Arts, Computer Science, or related field AND 4+ years marketing, strategy, business planning, consulting, banking, finance, economics, and/or partner organization experience
  • OR equivalent experience. 

Preferred Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience working with enterprise software, cloud technologies, cybersecurity solutions, partner ecosystems, consulting organizations, or customer-facing field organizations.
• Experience working with partner ecosystems including global systems integrators, managed service providers, managed security service providers, advisory firms, or strategic partners.
• Experience leveraging AI, automation, Power Platform, or advanced analytics to drive business outcomes.
• Experience presenting strategic recommendations to senior leaders.

Business Strategy 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.