Senior Director, Xbox Communications

Responsibilities

People Management

• Managers deliver success through empowerment and accountability by modeling, coaching, and caring.
• Model - Live our culture; Embody our values; Practice our leadership principles.
• Coach - Define team objectives and outcomes; Enable success across boundaries; Help the team adapt and learn.
• Care - Attract and retain great people; Know each individual’s capabilities and aspirations; Invest in the growth of others.

Orchestration and Agency Management

• Supports team to collaborate with others on the development and production of communications materials and deployment of communications tactics. Proactively includes relevant others to inform content and messaging. Partners with internal and external stakeholders to meet objectives. Leads and directs agency teams as needed. Oversees team's decision making in determining need for agency partnership, choosing an agency and managing agency relationships. Guides team in leveraging technical knowledge of successful campaigns in managing work. Ensures adherence to Microsoft standards.

Communication Strategy Setting and Planning

• Leads the team to demonstrate thought leadership that strengthens Microsoft's position as a trusted partner. Develops innovative campaigns while generating momentum for Microsoft’s offerings. Mentors others in the execution of tactics to support overall strategy, ensuring consistency of voice across messages and channels. Participates in business planning discussions as appropriate. Manages team that translates value proposition into effective communications strategies and storytelling that resonates with target audience(s). Guides team to understand, segment, and target audience needs and adapt communications strategies accordingly. Ensures that the team scales messages appropriately for a given effort, including the levers to use to achieve scale and planning for scale from the outset. Embeds diversity and inclusion (D&I) throughout strategy and execution. Demonstrates thought leadership and mentors others around mechanisms to achieve brand perception change.

Storytelling and Messaging

• Leads teams to develop and drive stories in fresh ways that generate positive perceptions towards Microsoft. Provides direction on the determination of the format of stories. Leverages knowledge to determine what format is most appropriate and meaningful for a story and target audience(s). Ensures team attends to cadence of storytelling (e.g., duration, evolution), including content development and curation to land a story. Ensures confluence of content and audience across stories. Guides team to create narratives based on messaging frameworks that drive content development and deployment.

Execution of Communication Strategy

• Manages a team and encourages an inclusive environment for the creation of ideas for and development of collateral materials (e.g., decks, posts, talking points) for use in a range of communications initiatives and events. Ensures content is consistent across the channels with which Microsoft is connected to a given audience. Ensures appropriateness of formats (e.g., Webinars, podcasts, posts, core materials for field) for one-to-one (1:1) and one-to-many (1:many) engagements. Leads the development of frameworks and commensurate collateral. Solicits feedback and iterates as appropriate. Guides team to modify narratives in real time based on reaction/response. Tests effectiveness of messaging. Understands and advises others on available channels, which channels to leverage, and what to advocate for in terms of messaging. Ensures work is complementary and not duplicative or conflicting with others' efforts. Understands standardized tools and templates available and guides team to use them appropriately.

Stakeholder Management

• Supports teams to conceptualize and develop content to educate, guide, and advise internal stakeholders, customers, or partners on communications strategy and tactics. Mentors others on best practices in guiding and advising stakeholders. Guides team to develop and utilize knowledge in stakeholder groups and individuals in execution of tasks. Solicits understanding of perspective, goals, and desired outcomes of stakeholders. Leads team to establish, refine, and manage expectations and priorities. Establishes decision making criteria and principles at outset to drive priorities and expectations. Clarifies roles and responsibilities with other teams to prevent gaps in delivery. Ensures alignment on strategic intent as foundation for execution of tactics. Ensures rhythm of business (e.g., cadence, intent, content to keep stakeholders informed and up to date) is established. Manages escalations appropriately. Recognizes and takes action to be broadly inclusive of perspectives and styles in a manner that suits stakeholders.

Reputation Management

• Leads team to address potential reputation risk issues. Guides the development of content to mitigate those risks. Identifies opportunities to enhance reputation and perception and develops content accordingly, including correcting inaccuracies when they occur. Acts as a leader and trusted advisor within Microsoft by advancing and protecting the corporate image and reputation. Provides direction to team to anticipate, understand, and leverage factors that impact reputation (e.g., privacy, data). Guides teams to determine what is appropriate to withhold, share, continue, or stop based on relevant internal and external factors. Manages team to conduct research on people, platforms, and forums to determine appropriateness, impact, risk, vulnerabilities, and alignment of values. Recommends and implements course of action accordingly.

Specialty Responsibilities

• Leads teams to develop, review, and edit content for internal and external communications, including briefing materials, scripting/messaging for briefing materials, scripting/messaging for internal keynotes, presentations, media engagements, social media, and events. Drives the use of current and relevant templates and materials and the improvement of same; builds on effectiveness of previously used materials. Drives interactive engagement where appropriate.*
• Manages team to develop strategy for responding to a given situation; develops materials, identifies issues and gaps in communication, and leads courses of action to address urgent and emergent situations in a comprehensive and timely manner. Mentors others in how to approach and navigate urgent and emergent situations. Leads team to maintain global and holistic organizational perspective. Manages team to proactively identify and include relevant parties to ensure issues are addressed comprehensively across stakeholder groups. Creates space for visibility for issues; anticipates potential scale of impact and takes strategic action accordingly. Follows up to ensure effectiveness of efforts and course correct where necessary.*

Other

• Embody our culture and values

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Finance, or related field AND 8+ years Communications, Marketing Operations, Field Operations, Program Management, Project Management, or related experience
  • OR equivalent experience.
• 3+ years people management experience.

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Finance, or related field AND 10+ years Communications, Marketing Operations, Field Operations, Program Management, Project Management, or related experience
  • OR Master's Degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Finance, or related field AND 8+ years Communications, Marketing Operations, Field Operations, Program Management, Project Management, or related experience
  • OR equivalent experience.
• 5+ years people management experience.

Communications M6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $152,300 - $266,800 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $194,800 - $292,200 per year.