Network Acquisition Manager in London

Overview

Cloud Ops and Innovation (CO+I) is the engine that powers Microsoft’s cloud services. The team is responsible for designing, building and operating our unified global datacenters; managing the demand planning and capacity utilization of our unified infrastructure; and for operating the physical infrastructure (including supply chain, hardware, power, security, and workflow teams). We focus on smart growth with an emphasis on automation, data driven engineering, cost-effectiveness, and environmental sustainability. We deliver the core infrastructure and foundational technologies for Microsoft’s over 200 online businesses including Azure, Bing, MSN, Office 365, Xbox Live, Skype, and OneDrive. Our infrastructure is comprised of a large global portfolio of more than 100 datacenters and 1 million servers. Our portfolio is built and managed by a team of subject matter experts working 24x7x365 to support services for more than 1 billion customers and 20 million businesses in over 90 countries worldwide.

The Cloud Interconnection and Acquisitions team is responsible for acquisition of Fiber, Edge, Egress and Peering solutions supporting all of Microsoft’s online services infrastructure. We work with the various engineering, capacity and long-range planning teams on a collaborative basis to ensure the Microsoft network has the highest quality and availability globally.

Responsibilities

• Support, influence and deliver network capacity in a fast-paced production environment.
• Lead project initiatives for cloud infrastructure network in EMEA including metro, long haul, subsea and network colocation.
• Own and drive commercial and contractual negotiations with vendors providing wavelength, dark fiber, subsea and colocation services.
• Support our colocation efforts within the region to ensure resiliency, diversity and quality uptime of our network services portfolio.
• Collaborate with internal teams to identify and define strategic initiatives to meet expansion and cost reduction needs.
• Region and market topology expertise/SME to determine specific routes and deals that meet Microsoft network requirements.
• Build strategic relationships with vendors and industry experts.
• Communicate progress internally and collaborate with network deployment teams.
• Collaborate with internal business and networking technical teams to identify and define strategic initiatives necessary to meet Microsoft’s ongoing needs for both expansion and cost reduction.
• Partner and ensure contracting compliance with service suppliers, legal team and physical security teams.
• Solid understanding of network strategy, topology planning and cost vectors.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts degree OR relevant work experience.
• Experience in networking technologies.
• Strategic negotiations and/or business development obtaining services from high-technology providers in data center and Internet technologies.
• Strong experiences with contractual/MSA negotiations.
• Solid understanding of domestic and global carrier networks.
• Working knowledge of the fundamentals of optical networking: Fiber optics and DWDM technologies.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, including financial analytics.
• Demonstrated experience and knowledge of regional regulatory environments.
• Excellent communication and leadership skills.
• Organizational and time-management skills.
• Decision-making skills.
• Willing to travel between 25% and 50% of the time.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.