Position Overview:
The Practice Director, Microsoft is a leadership role accountable for the strategy, operational performance, commercial alignment, and long-term health of the Microsoft practice. The position exists to bring focus, predictability, and credibility to a practice that has historically been asked to deliver a broad range of work, including complex Entra ID migrations, application migrations, domain consolidations, and large enterprise engagements, while operating with a largely legacy skill base and limited constraints on what Sales can sell.
In line with industry expectations for Microsoft practice leadership roles in systems integrators and VARs, the Practice Director will function as the general manager of the practice. This includes defining a clear and enforceable service catalog, establishing rigorous opportunity qualification, elevating delivery quality and governance, developing team capability, and building and sustaining the confidence of a large, highly motivated sales organization. The individual will serve as the primary executive escalation point, act as a trusted best-practice advisor to customers, and ensure that engagements outside core capabilities are handled through structured partner delivery models rather than over-extending the internal team.
Responsibilities:
Practice Strategy & Service Portfolio
- Own a focused Microsoft service catalog built on our proven strengths - identity/Entra ID, Azure, security, migrations, and modern workloads.
- Set clear qualification criteria and decision rights so the practice only takes on work it can deliver flawlessly, in-house or through vetted partners.
- Drive the multi-year capability roadmap, keeping the portfolio sharp, differentiated, and aligned to Microsoft's direction and customer demand.
- Stand up governed partner delivery models for non-core or overflow work we can't turn away.
Commercial Partnership & Sales Enablement
- Embed with a high-performing sales team to shape pipeline, qualify opportunities, and win strategic deals.
- Call the line on every deal: what's in-catalog vs. what needs a third-party partner.
- Arm Sales with sharp, outcome-driven propositions, scope boundaries, and risk frameworks - so they sell with confidence.
- Own deal structure, pricing discipline, and SOW rigor; redirect or decline anything outside the catalog.
- Make sure every SOW hits the mark for the customer and the P&L.
- Be the practice leader Sales trusts to walk into any room.
Delivery Excellence, Governance & Escalations
- Set the bar: delivery standards, quality gates, estimation rigor, and governance that kill surprises before they start.
- Own escalations - the calm, decisive voice when engagements go sideways.
- Drive every accepted SOW to a profitable, customer-satisfying finish line.
- Move the needle on on-time delivery, CSAT, margin, and utilization - and show the numbers.
Team Leadership & Capability Development
- Lead and grow the Microsoft delivery team, including the Technical Lead - set the bar, coach hard, hold the line on outcomes.
- Build the team's skills roadmap, closing gaps in modern Microsoft tech without missing a beat on delivery.
- Build a culture of advisors, not order-takers.
Stakeholder & Ecosystem Engagement
- Represent the practice with executive presence - internally and with key customers.
- Stay plugged into the Microsoft partner ecosystem to fuel co-sell, specializations, and solution alignment.
Qualifications:
Required Qualifications and Experience
- 10+ years in Microsoft professional services, including 5+ years leading a practice inside a VAR or systems integrator.
- Proven track record turning around delivery orgs - service catalog, capability building, pipeline discipline, all of it.
- Sharp commercial instincts: you partner with Sales, shape qualification, and draw the scope/risk lines that keep deals healthy.
- Executive presence that lands - you walk into a room as the trusted advisor, not just another vendor.
- Battle-tested as the escalation point who gets troubled projects back on track.
- Strong technical grounding across Azure, Entra ID/identity, security, app migrations, domain consolidations, and hybrid endpoint management.
- Experience running or steering partner delivery models for anything outside core capabilities.
Required or Highly Preferred Certifications
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (or current equivalent)
- SC-300 (Identity and Access Administrator) or AZ-500 (Azure Security Engineer)
- Bonus points for additional security/identity/M365 certs - Cybersecurity Architect Expert, M365 Enterprise Administrator Expert, etc.
Preferred Attributes
- You've modernized a team stuck in legacy skills or unconstrained sales habits - and made it stick.
- You build Sales's confidence through clear offerings, reliable delivery, and advisory chops that show up every time.
- Strong negotiator who thrives in matrixed org politics.
- Comfortable leading strategy while staying ~25% hands-on in delivery.
- Plugged into Microsoft partner programs, specializations, and co-sell motions.
