Seeking the best of the best: Job on the Web Platform and Tools Product Management team

I have an open head count on my team that I’m looking to fill with the best of the best. The job description below describes the job in detail, but this is the opportunity of a life time. If you or someone you know might be a good fit, let me know at bgold@microsoft.com – Knowledge of ASP.NET/VS2005 is a requirement and knowledge of other Web development technologies (Ruby/PHP/ColdFusion/Java) etc. or the ability to learn quickly is big bonus points. You don’t need to be a formal marketer to be successful in this role, but amazing soft skills are required.

If you are passionate about Web technologies and solving challenging marketing problems in a competitive market, then this is the opportunity for you. The Web Platforms and Tools Marketing team is looking for a technical product manager to help us launch the next generation Web application platform and tools with ASP.NET and Visual Web Developer while building increasing momentum Visual Studio 2005 and ASP.NET 2.0. This position will be responsible for marketing strategy and planning and execution of creative programs to grow market-share and adoption of the Web platform and tools, focusing on the mass shared hosting market, community building, and our starter kit/shared source initiatives. We need a passionate leader capable of driving cross-organizational efforts to evangelize and integrate their marketing plans with partners and internal teams.

As the Breadth Community and Hosting Product Manager you will be responsible for:

· Defining and articulating our value proposition across multiple audiences including Web developers, IT Pros, TDM’s, BDM’s, and hobbyists

· Working with the Communication Sector and WW Hosting Evangelists to drive value and economics into the hosting market

· Product planning for our broader application services story and workflow

· Overall community presence

· Driving day-to-day marketing execution including creation of competitive evidence, training material, case studies, web content, and presentations

· Executing marketing programs to build community, excitement, and grass roots support and adoption of ASP.NET and Visual Web Developer

· Integrating with Program Management teams to align product priorities, market needs and opportunities

· Gathering and driving quantitative and qualitative research to track performance and identify market opportunities

· Managing and building relationships with internal and external partners

· Competitive analysis and competitive marketing execution

· Defining the needs of the community and application gaps and driving programs to influence those

Additionally, you will be directly responsible for integrating into broader Server & Tools Marketing initiatives including product marketing efforts, Go-To-Market activities, field and partner programs, broad-reach advertising, PR/AR, events and broad developer and IT Pro audience communications and activities. This role will require you to regularly engage with a wide variety of Microsoft Business Groups, customers and influencers in order to drive and assess success. The right candidate will have the ability to speak effectively and professionally with customers as well as to sell your ideas to internal groups and executives.

Qualifications include a minimum of 3 years experience marketing commercial software to developers and IT Professionals. Additional qualifications include: strong knowledge of the Web marketplace; solid understanding of Web platform and tools technologies and competitive solutions – specifically ASP.NET, ASP, PHP, JSP, Dreamweaver, Flash, ColdFuson, Flex, Eclipse, MySQL, Linux; superb analytical and data driven decision-making skills; the ability to think strategically about business issues and develop marketing programs; strong facilitation, communication, and presentation skills; the ability to work across groups and across disciplines. Applicants need to have a flexible can-do attitude, be self-sufficient, and be able to create solid working relationships across other business and technical teams. Deep technical skill sets with ASP.NET and Visual Studio is a plus. Deep technical skill sets with other Web related technology a big plus. BA/BS degree required.