Deployment Strategist in Manchester

• Deployment Strategist
• About HSO

HSO is a global Business Transformation Partner with deep industry expertise and a long standing strategic relationship with Microsoft.

We help organisations unlock the full potential of Microsoft Dynamics 365, Azure, Data and AI technologies to modernise operations, accelerate innovation and deliver meaningful business outcomes.

In 2026, HSO achieved Microsoft Frontier Partner status, recognising our advanced capabilities across Microsoft Cloud and AI and our ability to help customers move beyond AI experimentation into secure, governed, enterprise scale production.

With operations across Europe, North America and Asia, we combine industry knowledge, technical excellence and a practical, people first approach to transformation.

As we continue to expand our AI capabilities, we’re building a new generation of customer facing talent to help organisations identify where AI can create genuine business value and turn that potential into measurable outcomes.

About the Role

AI is creating significant opportunities for organisations, but identifying where it can genuinely transform a business is often harder than building the technology itself.

That is where the Deployment Strategist comes in.

Deployment Strategists combine elements of management consulting, product management, business analysis and technology strategy.

Their primary responsibility is to understand a customer’s business deeply enough to identify where the greatest value can be created, where the most important problems exist, and where AI and agentic technologies can realistically help solve them.

You’ll work closely with senior customer stakeholders to understand strategic priorities, operating models, processes and performance challenges before translating them into focused opportunities that can be delivered and measured.

You will also need a strong understanding of the Microsoft technology platform and its evolving AI stack.

This is not a hands on engineering role, but you should understand how capabilities across Microsoft Azure, Data, AI, Microsoft Fabric, Copilot, Copilot Studio, Power Platform and Dynamics 365 can be applied to business problems and how those technologies fit together.

This technical understanding will allow you to identify realistic opportunities, challenge assumptions, work credibly with technical teams and help customers make informed choices about where Microsoft technologies can create the greatest value.

Deployment Strategists work side by side with Forward Deployed Engineers.

The Deployment Strategist owns the why and the what, identifying the opportunity, defining the desired outcome and establishing how success will be measured.

The FDE owns the how, designing and building the production solution.

Together, you will take opportunities from discovery through to production and demonstrate the value they create.

A critical part of the role is proving impact.

You’ll establish clear baselines and success measures at the outset, remain closely connected to customer stakeholders throughout delivery, and demonstrate how the solution is affecting KPIs, operational performance or other measurable business outcomes.

The role does not end at first deployment.

Deployment Strategists drive an ongoing cycle of identify, build, prove and expand, using each successful outcome to uncover the next opportunity and deepen the value HSO delivers to the customer.

• What You’ll Do
• Understand the Customer and Identify Value
• Build a deep understanding of how a customer’s business operates, including its strategy, operating model, processes, systems, performance drivers and constraints.
• Work with senior executives and business leaders to identify where the greatest opportunities for improvement or transformation exist.
• Assess where AI, agents, automation, data and Microsoft platform capabilities can realistically create meaningful business value rather than applying technology for its own sake.
• Understand the customer’s existing Microsoft technology landscape and identify where capabilities across Azure, Data, AI, Fabric, Dynamics 365, Power Platform and Copilot can support transformation.
• Identify opportunities across the organisation and sequence them according to strategic importance, potential value, feasibility and risk.
• Develop a clear view of where HSO can create sustained value for the customer over time.
• Define Outcomes and Prioritise Opportunities
• Translate complex or ambiguous business problems into clear hypotheses, outcomes and measurable success criteria.
• Shape opportunities into focused initiatives that can be delivered and proven quickly.
• Define the smallest valuable solution that will demonstrate whether an opportunity is worth scaling.
• Build robust business cases and value models that establish expected benefits, investment and measures of success.
• Own the business scope before engineering begins, ensuring everyone understands what is being built, why it matters and how its impact will be measured.
• Prioritise opportunities and product backlogs according to customer value rather than technical novelty.
• Build Trusted Executive Relationships
• Develop trusted relationships with senior business, technology and operational stakeholders.
• Facilitate strategic conversations with C suite executives and, where appropriate, board level stakeholders.
• Present opportunities, recommendations and results clearly and credibly to senior audiences.
• Challenge assumptions constructively and help customers make informed decisions where priorities or requirements are unclear.
• Explain Microsoft platform and AI capabilities in clear business terms, helping senior stakeholders understand what is realistically possible without requiring them to navigate the technical detail.
• Remain accountable for ensuring the engagement stays focused on the intended business outcomes.
• Partner with Forward Deployed Engineers
• Work closely with FDEs and platform engineers to translate customer outcomes into practical solutions.
• Provide the business context, priorities and decision making framework engineering teams need to deliver effectively.
• Apply a strong understanding of the Microsoft platform to help shape credible solution options and ensure proposed approaches align with available capabilities.
• Continuously prioritise scope and backlog according to customer value, learning and emerging evidence.
• Stress test how people, processes and technology will work together once the solution is deployed.
• Ensure adoption, operating model change, training and feedback loops are considered alongside the technical build.
• Make effective use of existing HSO and Microsoft assets and accelerators wherever they can reduce time to value.
• Measure and Prove Value
• Establish clear baselines, KPIs and value measures at the beginning of an engagement.
• Track performance throughout delivery and after deployment to understand whether the intended outcomes are being achieved.
• Translate technical delivery into a clear account of business impact for executive sponsors and operational stakeholders.
• Communicate transparently where expected outcomes have not yet been achieved and help identify what needs to change.
• Build a continuous, evidence base view of the value HSO is creating for the customer.
• Use proven outcomes to identify and shape the next high value opportunity.
• Build Reusable HSO Capability
• Turn lessons from customer engagements into reusable frameworks, methodologies, value models and delivery playbooks.
• Share practical learnings across HSO regions, practices and industry teams.
• Contribute to the development of HSO’s AI, Frontier and Forward Deployed capabilities.
• Help develop future Deployment Strategists and strengthen the discipline as the practice grows.
• What We’re Looking For

We’re looking for people who combine strong commercial and strategic judgement with a strong understanding of the Microsoft platform and modern AI technologies.

You’ll ideally bring

• Significant experience in management consulting, product management, business analysis, technology strategy, solution architecture or senior client facing delivery.
• A track record of leading complex discovery, transformation or value based engagements with large organisations.
• Strong commercial judgement and the ability to identify where technology can materially improve business performance.
• Experience translating strategic or ambiguous business challenges into clearly defined initiatives and measurable outcomes.
• Strong product instincts, including defining MVPs, shaping requirements and prioritising according to business value.
• Experience developing business cases, ROI models, benefits cases or other value frameworks.
• Strong knowledge of the Microsoft technology platform, including Azure, Microsoft Fabric, Dynamics 365, Power Platform and the Microsoft AI ecosystem.
• Strong understanding of Microsoft’s AI stack, including capabilities such as Azure AI, Copilot, Copilot Studio, agents, automation and workflow orchestration.
• The ability to understand how Microsoft technologies fit together and where they can realistically be applied to customer business problems.
• Enough technical understanding to work credibly with engineers, challenge assumptions and understand architectural or delivery trade offs.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to translate confidently between business and technical audiences.
• Strong facilitation and stakeholder management skills, including experience working with senior executives.
• Comfort operating in environments where requirements are incomplete, priorities move quickly and the answer is not obvious.
• Intellectual curiosity and the willingness to challenge surface level assumptions to understand what is really driving a business problem.

Deep hands on engineering expertise is not required.

You will not be expected to build or configure solutions yourself.

More important is a strong understanding of the Microsoft platform and AI stack, what the technology can realistically achieve, and the ability to work effectively with engineers to turn that potential into measurable business value.

• Nice to Have
• Previous experience in a Deployment Strategist, product strategy, technology strategy or similar role within an AI, technology or enterprise software business.
• Background in management consulting, particularly operating model design, digital transformation or technology enabled change.
• Experience working within the Microsoft ecosystem or with Microsoft Azure, Data, AI, Dynamics 365 or Power Platform solutions.
• Deep industry experience in Manufacturing, Retail, Financial Services, Public Sector or Professional Services.
• Experience working as a Product Owner or alongside engineering teams in an agile environment.
• Experience delivering AI, automation or data led transformation programmes.
• An established network of senior relationships within one or more of HSO’s target industries.
• Experience turning successful customer engagements into repeatable propositions, methodologies or commercial opportunities.

Why Join HSO?

Many organisations understand that AI could transform their business.

Far fewer know where to start, which opportunities genuinely matter or how to prove that an AI investment has created value.

As a Deployment Strategist at HSO, you’ll help answer those questions.

You’ll sit at the centre of strategic customer engagements, understanding how businesses operate, identifying where AI can make the greatest difference, applying your understanding of the Microsoft platform to shape viable opportunities, partnering with Forward Deployed Engineers to turn those opportunities into production solutions and demonstrating the results back to the customer.

You’ll have the opportunity to

• Work directly with senior leaders on some of their most important business challenges.
• Shape AI initiatives from the original business problem rather than inheriting predefined technical requirements.
• Apply Microsoft’s evolving AI, Data and Cloud capabilities to real business transformation challenges.
• See ideas move rapidly from strategy into working production solutions.
• Work at the forefront of Microsoft’s evolving AI ecosystem as part of a Microsoft Frontier Partner.
• Build propositions around measurable business outcomes rather than technology adoption alone.
• Help shape a new consulting and delivery discipline within HSO as it develops globally.
• Turn successful engagements into repeatable approaches that can create value across multiple customers.

You’ll join a senior, practical and customer focused team that values curiosity, commercial judgement, ownership, speed and measurable impact.

Compensation and Benefits

We offer a competitive base salary alongside HSO’s standard employee benefits.

The role will also include a performance related element designed to recognise both individual contribution and the value created through successful customer engagements.

Further details on the compensation structure and performance measures will be discussed during the recruitment process.