Business Development Manager

Business Development Manager

The Business Development and Ventures organization at Microsoft is responsible for driving growth across all Microsoft products by setting corporate strategy and identifying and executing high impact strategic partnerships, corporate venture investments, and acquisitions. The Microsoft 365 Copilot Ecosystem team leads strategic partnerships, identifies new opportunities, and drives growth across Microsoft's AI Business Solutions, with a focus on Microsoft 365 and Microsoft 365 Copilot. We are seeking a Business Development Manager to join the team and drive major partnerships and initiatives focused on Microsoft 365 and Microsoft 365 Copilot to transform the way organizations work with AI. In this role, you will :

Develop and execute ecosystem strategies to accelerate product value and deliver deeply integrated and intelligent experiences to market. This will involve close collaboration with internal product, engineering, and marketing teams.

Lead and develop strategic partnerships across the Microsoft 365 Copilot platform. Build a robust, better-together ecosystem that meets diverse customer and technology needs by working with enterprise SaaS providers, professional services firms, and system integrators.

Stay current on emerging trends in enterprise software and AI, maintaining subject matter expertise and a systematic approach to market analysis to identify new opportunities.

Serve as a trusted advisor to executive leadership across product, engineering, marketing, and legal, demonstrating Microsoft's values of teamwork, curiosity, integrity, and allyship.

Partnership Strategy

Ecosystem & Partnership Development : Build and lead relationships with high-priority Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) across Microsoft 365 Copilot's extensibility areas (such as agents, connectors, and APIs). Manage the entire partnership lifecycle, from initial outreach and qualification to negotiation and governance, ensuring third-party solutions align with Copilot platform standards and strategic objectives to accelerate platform value and innovation.

Market Analysis & Disruptor Scouting : Identify and evaluate emerging AI-native disruptors (startups and innovative companies) across key functional domains and industry verticals that are relevant to Microsoft 365 Copilot. Conduct systematic market scans and map these disruptors to opportunity categories for Copilot integration. Regularly communicate insights and recommendations to internal teams and develop a pipeline of high-potential new partners to expand the Copilot ecosystem.

System Integrator (SI) Ecosystem Strategy : Develop and execute a strategy to enable a rich SI partner ecosystem on the Copilot platform. Identify pilot opportunities and negotiate deals with forward-thinking SI partners willing to experiment and innovate with Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Leadership & Strategic Influence : Maintain a high level of visibility within Microsoft and act as a strategic liaison between external partners and internal leadership. Support and guide stakeholders by providing timely updates, ecosystem insights, and recommendations. Champion an inclusive, collaborative approach and uphold Microsoft's values in all dealings, establishing yourself as a trusted advisor to executives and contributing to the broader Modern Work strategy.

Deal Management / Governance

Assist with execution and deal management by communicating and reporting with Microsoft stakeholders. Track blocking issues and work with deal stakeholders to drive resolutions.

Develop post-deal governance and execution plans and develop Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to demonstrate achieved business value. Ensure design, communication, and alignment in the creation of governance. Troubleshoot simple issues.

Microsoft Strategy Alignment (Product Insights and Innovative Projects / Pilots)

Collaborate with team to help create practices that enable partners to influence the product and platform roadmap. Progress product improvement with engineering by collecting partner feedback that identifies potential gaps and areas of opportunity.

Begin to improve operations of existing programs by applying industry methodology and innovation, defining program issues, assessing various scenarios, and selecting the optimal scenario to resolve issues. Identify internal opportunities to develop new programs and improve current ones, with some oversight and guidance, learn about methods for identifying process improvement areas.

Collaborate with others to identify root problems, define the program strategy, gather program requirements, identify resource needs, create the project plan and targets, and work across teams to align on the plan of record.

Microsoft Strategy Alignment (Stakeholder Engagement and Deal Diligence)

Collaborate with internal teams and business units to cultivate strategic relationships and leverage internal resources. Manage and cultivate relationships with leaders of internal teams and build executive relationships (e.g., Sr. Directors) and support other team members in building stakeholder engagement.

Identify repeatable opportunities to share signals on Microsoft products and services to benefit internal stakeholders. Contribute new ideas as a member of the deal team and assess opportunity to engage with Microsoft during investment diligence process and contribute to the creation and maintenance of existing thesis areas over time, learning to build relationships with stakeholders.

Partner & Customer Focus

Develop internal and external relationships to establish a network of business and technical decision makers for assigned accounts.

Gain insight into customers' and partners' business, strategy, and industry trends by using research reports, attending conferences, seeking expert advice, leveraging internal resources, communicating with partners, and consulting third-party sources. Clearly communicate Microsoft's perspective and product roadmap in relation to significant industry trends and their implications for customers and partners.

Negotiation

Identify actions to lead deal opportunities across deal stages to closure. Identify negotiation scenarios and escalate as appropriate. Close opportunities using predefined program frameworks or templates, as appropriate.

Qualifications

Required / minimum qualifications :

Bachelors Degree in Business, Liberal Arts, Sciences, or related field AND 3+ years relevant work experience (e.g., investment banking, consulting, finance, marketing, corporate strategy, venture capital, legal, business development, product management, software development, or related field) + OR equivalent experience.

Experience in structuring and negotiating strategic alliances, partnerships, mergers or acquisitions.

Additional or preferred qualifications :

Bachelors Degree in Business, Liberal Arts, Sciences, or related field AND 5+ years relevant work experience (e.g., investment banking, consulting, finance, marketing, corporate strategy, venture capital, legal, business development, product management, software development, or related field) + OR Masters / Advanced Degree in Business, Sciences, or related field AND 2+ years relevant work experience (e.g., investment banking, consulting, finance, marketing, corporate strategy, venture capital, legal, business development, product management, software development, or related field) + OR equivalent experience.

4+ years experience in the technology industry OR in a technical role (e.g., IT, Engineering).