Account Executive, Startups & AI/Digital Natives (AI & Cloud)

Overview

Microsoft believes AI/Digital Natives are building the next wave of innovation—and the next $100B business. From e-commerce and fintech to gaming and AI, startups are redefining how we live and work. With the Microsoft Cloud, our mission is to empower every Startup and Unicorn to innovate, scale, and thrive through our ecosystem of customers, developers, partners, and investors.

As a member of the AI/Digital Natives Startups Team, you will discover, connect, and grow sales relationships with the most promising software startups across the unmanaged Small, Medium Business space in Japan and across the Asia Pacific region. You’ll help founders and leaders as they build products, achieve product-market fit, and accelerate growth on the Microsoft Cloud and AI platform. The role converts prioritized signals into executive relationships, qualified Azure AI pipeline, early consumption, Marketplace/co-sell readiness, and graduation-ready Digital Native accounts.

In this role, you will:

• Lead and coordinate the One Microsoft team to drive Software Development Company startup success and adoption of Azure and AI across the unmanaged SMB unmanaged account space.
• Build trusted relationships with a strategic portfolio of high-potential startups, serving as their main point of contact.
• Orchestrate technical, business, and partner resources across Microsoft—from Engineering and Marketing to Finance and Legal—to deliver customer outcomes.
• Execute deals that unlock visibility, competitive growth, and revenue for both the startup and Microsoft.

We’re looking for an inclusive, customer-obsessed, and entrepreneurial leader who thrives in dynamic environments. This is a unique chance to join one of Microsoft’s fastest-growing businesses, operating with startup agility and high-performance ambition, backed by senior leadership commitment and investment.

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 alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

Responsibilities

• Growth & Transformation Business Leader and Startup Advocate:
  • Proactively engage with the start-ups to accelerate revenue growth, drive business outcomes, while the goal of helping startups realize their full potential.
• Trusted Adviser:
  • Earn and maintain trust with startup founders by understanding their needs and addressing them with the right Microsoft solutions; operating with high empathy for founders to build mutually winning scenarios for startups as well as Microsoft.
• Deal Negotiator and Closer:
  • Lead negotiation with existing startups in mid to long-term planning to form a strategically constructed deal. Engage and negotiate internally with key stakeholders (e.g., product, engineering, finance, legal, sales, marketing) to move opportunities forward with.
  • Coordinate with all necessary internal stakeholders in the deal to assure that the deal is closed successfully and in a compliant manner.
• Stakeholder Management:
  • Ensure high potential startups have access to the right resources across Customer Architects, Engineering and Product Groups.
• Sales Leader:
  • Ensure each startup has a valuable and strategic relationship with Microsoft; driving business growth and transformation through strategic thinking, sales execution, and influence.
• Strategic Thinker and Market Experience:
  • Accountable for identifying growth opportunities with high potential startups leveraging deep domain/industry knowledge to develop creative and innovative solutions for startups to improve optimization and workflow. Proactively demonstrates thought leadership, opportunities for improvement, best practices, and learnings internally and externally as appropriate.
• Other
  • Embody our Culture & Values

Qualifications

Required/minimum qualifications

• Master's degree in business administration AND 4+ years' experience working in an industry (e.g., financial services, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, energy, government, education) and/or driving digital transformation

• OR bachelor's degree in business, Technology, or related field AND 6+ years' experience working in a relevant industry (e.g., financial services, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, energy, government, education) and/or driving digital transformation

• OR equivalent experience.

• 2+ years of experience successfully selling to startups and early-stage software development companies, demonstrating an understanding of their unique business needs and growth dynamics.
• 2+ years of experience in cloud platform sales, solution selling, or consulting, including Azure, AWS, GCP, or similar cloud technologies.

• Must be fluent in Japanese and English as role will encompass the entire Asia Pacific Region and Japan. (English resume required)

Additional or preferred qualifications

• Master's Degree in Business Administration AND 5+ years experience working in an industry (e.g., financial services, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, energy, government, education), driving digital transformation, or other relevant work experience (e.g., consulting, technology)
  • OR Bachelor's Degree in Business, Technology, or related field AND 8+ years experience working in an industry (e.g., financial services, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, energy, government, education), driving digital transformation, or other relevant work experience (e.g., consulting, technology)
  • OR equivalent experience.
• 3+ years account management experience
  • OR equivalent.
• Preferred experience in Cloud Platforms - Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Preferred experience in a startup, founding member, Cloud Infrastructure solutions sales leadership
  • Sales results-oriented with extreme attention to detail and organizational skills
  • Certification in Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google Cloud Platform (GCP) or Cloud Infrastructure Offerings.
• Experience working in a rapidly-scaling environment with multiple variables in play.

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.