Surface Category Manager – ANZ in Sydney, Australia

In Consumer Sales Organization (CSO) our purpose is to earn fans and drive growth by building emotional connections to delight and empower everyone. We engage with consumers globally throughout their shopping journeys, navigating both physical storefronts and digital visits across Direct and Partner Channels in Gaming, Windows, M365 and Surface. Together with our ecosystem partners, we strategize and implement plans for customer engagement and economic growth.

As a member of our team, you’ll be part of growing a multi-billion-dollar business, charting new areas of innovation, and impacting billions of lives around the world. You also will be a part of a culture centered on embracing a growth mindset, a theme of inspiring excellence, and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. If that appeals to you, it’s an exciting time to be here in CSO.

We are seeking a Surface Category Manager – ANZ (Australia & New Zealand) .

Surface represents the Best of Microsoft and is responsible for evolving existing and creating new categories across Consumer Devices. Surface’s mission is to build products that create complete magical experiences to empower every person and organization to achieve more. The role of Surface is to be the leading innovator in the Windows ecosystem, raising the bar for customer expectations of what PCs can be, setting the standard for product design of computing devices, and inspiring Microsoft’s Windows ecosystem partners to new heights.

In Surface, our business goal is clear: Profitably Grow Surface Volume & Share. We accomplish this goal in two ways:

• Selling TO our retail partners: Use consumer insights, market data, store level analysis, and device sales information to evaluate our business performance and develop seasonal, launch & sustain plans to improve our partners business, win share, sell units, and drive revenue/ GM.

• Selling THRU our retail partners: Plan and execute thoughtful and impactful promotions and full-funnel-marketing plans, focused on driving purchase intent, conversion & post purchase advocacy & consumer lifetime value for Surface devices & accessories.

This role is flexible in that you can work up to 50% from home.

#CSO

Role baseed in Sydney

Responsibilities

Business Steward

• Manages business operations within Surface across Australia and New Zealand, serving as a subject matter expert. Manages category priorities and strategies in line with the One Microsoft approach within the region. Partners with sales to represent category strategy and drive outcomes with external partners. Reports data-driven insights from partners (e.g., voice of the customer [VOC] data) to the Category Management Lead, or directly to the Worldwide Category team, to support maximizing revenue.

• Manages reporting and fiscal forecasting for top-line and bottom-line profit and loss. Manages budget and the reporting of budget, investments, allocation, and funds to key stakeholders and finance teams. Oversees supply forecast and inventory management as required. Ensures alignment with financial compliance requirements.

Business Operations

• In collaboration with internal partners (e.g., Finance, Marketing, Supply Chain, Business Sales & Operations, Sales), defines what key performance indicators (KPIs) should be used to measure the success of the business. Demonstrates an advanced understanding of the qualitative and quantitative research methodologies used. Analyzes defined KPIs and scorecard metrics for a product or service area, and fosters alignment of investments and monitoring of growth opportunities across partners. Hypothesizes rationale for observed trends, and takes a deeper look to better understand the data. Identifies and leverages insights to actively impact marketing and business planning decision-making. Examines monthly performance, making insights based on data and recommendations for corrective actions and optimization.

• In partnership with key stakeholders (e.g., Sales, Marketing, Finance, Business Sales & Operations), defines product-specific channel execution plans. May partner with business operations, legal, and finance to develop incentive programs as needed. Leverages consistent engagement rhythm to support internal alignment (e.g., communications and knowledge-sharing). Produces a regular cadence of reports and rhythms as required to track overall performance and identify trends. Begins to leverage feedback (e.g., voice of the customer [VOC] insights) to develop plans that maximize local performance.

• Leverages financial performance data and models to assess alignment with expected outcomes and recommend adjustments as needed. Collaborates and may lead cross-functional teams and optimizes energy/growth of team members to pursue optimal outcomes. Contributes to engagements with the Worldwide Category team to support program and promotion execution (e.g., approvals). Leverages and disseminates global best practices as cascaded from the Worldwide Category team.

Growth Opportunity Development

• Contributes to category performance through identifying areas to increase audience size or value obtained from the audience. Leverages performance data (e.g., first-party, third-party, market trends) and voice of the customer [VOC] information to support creation and integration of new strategies within the line of business/product category, and recommends short/near-term growth opportunities. Supports the partner planning process by sharing knowledge of category plans.

Qualifications

Required/minimum qualifications

• 4+ years category management, product management, marketing strategy, business planning, product planning, or related work experience AND Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Economics, Public Relations, Engineering, or related field OR equivalent experience.

Additional or preferred qualifications

• 4+ years experience managing and expanding a category and attaining sales and profitability targets within a complex (e.g., multinational or matrixed) organization OR equivalent experience. 6+ years category management, product management, marketing strategy, business planning, product planning, or related work experience AND Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Economics, Public Relations, Engineering, or related field OR equivalent experience.

Role baseed in Sydney

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. Consistent with applicable law, 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 and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations (https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/accessibility.html) .