Data Platform Solution Engineer

We enable customer transformation by leading the global sales strategy, enabling technical sales, driving sales motion innovation and revenue execution for the Data & AI Commercial Solution Area.

As a Global Black Belt (GBB) for Data Platform – Databases, you will operate as the “tip of the spear” for Microsoft’s most strategic, complex, and competitive database opportunities—incubating early wins, removing blockers, and scaling repeatable patterns across the field. You will combine deep database technical depth, business acumen, and thought leadership to help customers modernize their data estates and accelerate Azure consumption, while feeding actionable insights back into product and GTM loops.

This role sits in the Data Platform GBB model designed to bring database + analytics together as one cohesive platform narrative, partnering deeply with field teams and leadership to deliver consistent execution and measurable impact

Role Purpose

You will lead high-impact customer engagements—from executive strategy and technical decision orchestration through POC/MVP acceleration and production landing—for database modernization scenarios spanning relational (e.g., Azure SQL) and NoSQL (e.g., Cosmos DB) and hybrid data platform motions. You will also help create and scale repeatable IP (accelerators, reference architectures, battlecards, workshops) and ensure the field is enabled to replicate success.

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 line with our Flexible Work approach, for roles at Microsoft Germany, we recommend spending at least two days per week in the office or at the customer site. 

1) Strategic Deal Acceleration & Sales Execution

• Drive and unblock strategic, complex, and competitive data platform opportunities by partnering with account teams to identify, qualify, and accelerate high-priority pipeline and consumption outcomes.
• Lead customer-facing workshops (1:1 and 1:many) that land technical + business value and drive commitment for POC/MVP and production adoption in database modernization scenarios.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior customer stakeholders, shaping strategy and building confidence in Microsoft’s database platform direction.

2) Technical Leadership (Databases)

• Provide deep technical leadership across database modernization and migration scenarios, including architecture design, performance/scale patterns, HA/DR considerations, hybrid approaches, and modernization pathways that customers can operationalize.
• Translate customer requirements into referenceable technical patterns and ensure alignment with the broader Data Platform story (databases + analytics) where relevant.

3) Incubation, Repeatable IP, and Field Enablement

• Capture learnings from strategic wins and create repeatable IP (reference architectures, solution accelerators, workshop decks, competitive plays) to scale impact across the field
• Enable Solution Engineers and sellers via community calls, targeted enablement, and play execution guidance—building durable capability, not capacity.

4) Voice of Customer / Product & GTM Feedback Loop

• Deliver precise customer and opportunity insights into Microsoft’s “loop” with Engineering/GTM/Marketing to remove blockers and influence product and sales-motion evolution.
• Contribute to organized execution rhythms to improve accountability, prioritization, and speed of execution across the Data Platform.

5) Operational Discipline & Reporting (Lightweight, High Signal)

• Attach to strategic opportunities as a deal-team contributor and maintain concise, high-signal updates so leadership and field can measure impact and coordinate execution.

Success Measures

• Accelerated progress on prioritized strategic database opportunities (e.g., stage progression, technical win, POC/MVP → production
• Creation and adoption of reusable database modernization IP and enablement assets across the field.
• Clear “voice of customer” feedback that influences engineering/GTM priorities and removes deployment blockers.

Required Capabilities and Skills

• Competitive Analysis: The ability to identify competitors and evaluate their respective strengths and weaknesses in terms of products, services, marketing, and other areas. This includes an ability to gather intelligence and interpret it for the purposes of business decisions.
• Consultative Selling: The ability to understand customer needs through dialogue before recommending products/services.
• Technical Communication: The ability to adapt communications around different technologies, products, and services to the audience's level of understanding.
• Technical Sales: The ability to explain Microsoft's products and services to customers and identify opportunities for customers to grow their business.
• Technology Industry Knowledge: Knowledge of trends, direction, new products, and changes in the technology as it applies to a particular area of focus, as well as specific knowledge about hardware, software, and services.

• Strong understanding of data strategy and data modernization processes within organizations and functional stakeholders (CTO, Application owners, Development Leads)
• Strong understanding of a typical development lifecycle and associated operations for sustainable enterprise tier installations of cloud architecture
• Familiarity with core NoSQL DB scenarios, technologies (Document, wide column, table, graph, key/value, time series), relevant vendors and hyperscalers
• Common understanding of industry or functional scenarios

Build Strategy

• Builds competitive knowledge, documents compete patterns, and shares within the community to drive change and escalations for competitive selling strategies. Acts as a subject matter expert on a particular competition. Delivers competitive knowledge back to product and engineering teams.
• Works with local account and marketing teams to shape strategic win and customer success plans and tailors to audience for the local markets using knowledge of Microsoft offerings, their context in the competitive landscape, and broader market trends. Where applicable, builds consumption plans with moderately complex requirements in coordination with Partner and Industry Solutions Delivery teams after customer sign-off.
• Proactively develops strategic cross-workload/subsidiary and account level responses to specific market threats by identifying market patterns and delivering feedback to business group on trends and needs.

Education

• Builds readiness plans for peers and proactively identifies gaps and new opportunities for learning. Provides insight onto Corporate, business and product groups, sales strategy, and business reviews for impact.
• Acts as a technical thought leader by sharing best practices (e.g., architectures, materials) and regularly delivering content at Microsoft events (e.g., TechReady). Provides insight into how to identify opportunities to increase solutions/portfolio understanding.
• Monitors, responds to, and acts as a thought leader on internal tech community posts, establishes and leads vibrant tech communities including community calls, sessions, hackathons, etc., and acts as a mentor to the community.

Leverage Partner Ecosystem

• Scales wins through partner in a sell-with environment by promoting the partner within the Microsoft ecosystem (e.g., account teams) and developing deep partner relationships.
• Supports partner technical capacity by monitoring and analyzing resources through interactions, communicating with managers, and identifying new partnership opportunities to build subsidiary strategy.

Scale Customer Engagements

• Leverages knowledge of resources (e.g., roles, Microsoft Technology Center [MTC], demo sites, virtual sites, Value Based Delivery [VBD], Customer Success Unit [CSU) and proactively engages product teams (e.g., engineering) to remediate escalated technical blockers by conveying impact and anticipating and addressing future potential blockers based on needs.
• Leads and ensures complex technical wins (e.g., cross-workload, cross-team, cross-geo, subsidiary-level impact) by establishing rules of engagement (e.g., role boundaries, handoff strategies), coaching others (e.g., technical sellers, account teams), leveraging knowledge of processes (e.g., Managed Service Provider [MSP], Managed Certified Professional [MCP]), tools, and programs (e.g., FastTrack, End Customer Investment Funds [ECIFs]). Ensures alignment of Microsoft technologies with future sector standards and requirements by working with industry boards and driving customer case studies and references.
• Proactively identifies and engages with key customer technical decision makers and influencers while engaging sales team and helping lead sales strategy.
• Uses knowledge of customer context, and deep technical, domain, and industry knowledge to build credibility with customers.

Solution Design and Proof

• Demonstrates and oversees demonstrations (e.g., architectural design sessions, and proof of concept [POC] sessions, pilots, hackathons) of solutions based on multiple products and position solutions against competitors. Leverages partner/customer teams as needed to prove capabilities and programmatic framework for re-use by the business.
• Adapts and extends architecture patterns to accommodate complex customer requirements and drive integration solutions for industry flavor. Delivers assets that can be leveraged by others in the business.
• Applies advanced sales methodologies (e.g., challenger sales) to guide customers through digital transformation solutions and uses innovation to challenge solutions against changing technology (e.g., Power Apps).

• 8+ years technical pre-sales, technical consulting, or technology delivery, or related experience OR equivalent experience.
• 6+ years experience with cloud and hybrid, or on premises infrastructures, architecture designs, migrations, industry standards, and/or technology management.
• Certification in relevant technologies or disciplines (e.g., Azure databases  like Cosmos DB, PostgreSQL, SQL Server,  Azure Architect and Development exams, Cloud Platform Technologies, Information Security, Architecture).

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.