Marketing positions in Virtual Earth
Technical Evangelist
Location, location, location. 70% of all content on the Internet can be associated with a location on the earth’s surface. We are creating a new V.1 MSN social networking community that is based on location we call Virtual Earth.
With Virtual Earth we will extend current mapping experiences into real world search, navigation and discovery of information across all available devices and experiences. Virtual Earth also connects users to a vibrant, dynamic, publishing community. We will light up the mapping experience with rich navigation features, aerial and satellite images, 3D/2.5D perspective views, 3D fly-through, real-time location, traffic, speech interfaces, new small map styles, synchronization and much more.
As the Virtual Earth Technical Evangelist - Marketing (TEM), you are Microsoft and MapPoint Business Unit’s representative to Partners, ISV’s, government, academia and the user community helping to win the hearts and minds of those who want to embed mapping in to their applications and/or publish and share content through an MSN online community and social network based on location.
The TEM is a technical role with the mission of engaging with the broad community of developers and mapping enthusiasts to drive the production of high quality content (we call layers and collections) and create a vibrant applications ecosystem that will enhance and expand the community and utility of Virtual Earth in the everyday lives of users.
This position is a great opportunity to help create and promote a new paradigm to publish, search and use information on the web through depth engagement beyond traditional development community to the daily users of Virtual Earth.
The successful candidate…
We are looking for a person who is enthusiastic about location based services, internet mapping, social networking and online communities. We are looking for a person who has the credentials and ability to recommend strategic direction and also provide technical thought leadership while engaging the development community. The TEM must be able to talk about technology intelligently and enthusiastically to all levels of the development community and enthusiast. Passion, curiosity, technical depth and exceptional communication and presentation skills are required. The successful candidate must be able demonstrate previous experience in successfully communicate new value propositions to developers, content providers as well as the end user of Virtual Earth. Also he/she must be able to demonstrate previous experience in establishing partner and content priorities that will maximize the end user experience and drive demand generation for Virtual Earth.
Qualifications:
a) Passion for technology and Microsoft, a keen eye for unobvious opportunities
b) 4 year degree in engineering or computer science. Graduate degree preferred.
c) Current programming knowledge of software developer tools on .NET (CLR and C++) and internet developer tools
d) 4 years related experience in both the IT Industry and previous evangelism and mapping experience a plus.
e) Demonstrated ability to develop technical strategy materials and technology thought leadership.
f) Flexibility in regards to work schedule and up to 25% travel required.
g) Excellent communication and presentation skills.
Consumer Marketing Manager
Are you looking for an exciting opportunity to manage and drive several elements of the marketing mix? Are you entrepreneurial, highly motivated and interested in driving new revenue streams for Microsoft and working on a new V1 product? If so, you may be interested in joining the MapPoint marketing team as a Consumer Marketing Manager to help drive product and market success for a new mapping platform called Virtual Earth.
With Virtual Earth we will extend current mapping experiences into real world search, navigation and discovery of information across all available devices and experiences. Virtual Earth also connects users to a vibrant, dynamic, publishing community. We will light up the mapping experience with rich navigation features, aerial and satellite images, 3D/2.5D perspective views, traffic, speech interfaces, new small map styles, synchronization and much more.
Specific areas of responsibility:
a) Consumer market analysis - own the investigation and analysis of Virtual Earth consumer segmentation, competitive analysis and market positioning.
b) Demand Generation - own the go-to-market planning and execution for product releases. Define programs, events, competitions and marketing campaigns to generate and sustain consumer interest and traffic to Virtual Earth. Collaborate on marketing and communication strategies with MSN product teams, marketing and public relations.
c) Communications - own the Virtual Earth communications strategy and execution through online assets such as www.microsoft.com < https://www.microsoft.com>, MSN sales, MSDN and Partner sites and traditional offline assets including publications, white papers, marketing collateral.
d) Future Feature and Product development - Work with the Usability Team to define Virtual Earth personas and consumer profiles. Communicate consumer and media response and expectations on Virtual Earth releases to PM’s, planners and senior management.
Qualifications:
You must have the ability to think strategically and creatively about Internet and web-based products and services, marketing, and consumer marketing issues. You’ll need leadership and experience to create, drive and manage multiple consumer marketing initiatives and relationships - working across multiple internal groups and external partners and customers. You are an excellent writer, communicator and work best in a fast paced dynamic environment. The ideal candidate will be a hard-driving, results-oriented self-starter with 3-5 years of experience in consumer marketing and PR in Internet and web-based products. A deep knowledge of marketing MSN or large internet portals is required. Marketing experience in Internet mapping products is a plus. Some domestic and international travel is required. MBA Preferred.
Public Relations Manager
Location Location Location. Now more than ever before, location is becoming a fundamental component of mission-critical business solutions and consumer services. The products and services built by the Microsoft MapPoint Business Unit are fueling many of the exciting location-based solutions today and paving the way for the innovative solutions of tomorrow. Here's your opportunity to join an exciting and entrepreneurial marketing team and be part of a hot and growing business unit seeking to capture a significant part of the estimated $8B that will be spent on location-based services by the year 2008.
Specifically, the MapPoint Business Unit is looking for an experienced Product Manager to develop and drive an effective communication strategy that drive awareness, interest and demand for its wide range of business and consumer-focused products and services. for its products and services. , with focus on and marketing initiatives targeting influential press and analysts. Key responsibilities in this role include owning the strategy and managing the relationships with influential business and consumer press and analysts. They will also include developing key strategic relationships with other PR/AR professionals in the Mobile and Embedded Devices division, MSN, Information Worker, Microsoft corporate and other key stakeholders as well as owning the relationship and budget for the Business Unit’s PR agency. Key activities in this role include developing key messages for press and analysts, driving all product and initiative launch activities and managing internal communication about the group’s PR/AR activities.
Requirements include: strong communication, writing, and presentation skills; ability to drive cross-team projects; ability to build effective relationships with analysts; ability to work with senior management and executives as spokespeople and channel for key messages. The candidate should have 2-3 years of communications experience (PR or AR) and 2-3 years of product management experience.
Marketing Director
Location, Location, Location.
Now more than ever before, location is influencing software scenarios for both home and business users. The products and services built by the Microsoft MapPoint Team are driving these great experiences today and leading the way toward the innovative experiences of tomorrow. Here's your opportunity to join the team and direct our marketing efforts in a senior leadership role. The MapPoint group is actively seeking a Director of Marketing to lead a 15 person team tasked with the marketing of both our consumer focused applications (Streets & Trips and AutoRoute); our IW applications (MapPoint) and our business-to-business services and servers (MapPoint Web Service and MapPoint Location Server). It will also be responsible for bringing to market our exciting new online immersive local search offering called Virtual Earth. This job is a great opportunity to own a portfolio of mapping and location products and services and play a major role in helping MapPoint exceed $100M in FY06 and great heights beyond. For information on our current product lineup please visit www.microsoft.com/mappoint < https://www.microsoft.com/mappoint\>.
Job responsibilities span the breadth of marketing fundamentals including strategy, pricing, channel development, PR, sales support, product planning, research, and evangelism. Leadership of a 15 person team with multiple managers spanning North America and Wester Europe and active participation with the other senior MapPoint leads are important elements of the position. Success is measured in terms of revenue achievement, the ability to get MapPoint tightly integrated with broader Microsoft horizontal and vertical go-to-market initiatives and the ability to play a strong leadership role with sales, business development, planning and engineering across the MapPoint Business Unit. Given the range of products and services, geographies and channels that are spanned by MapPoint offerings, it is important that this candidate have considerable experience with both business and consumer focused product management, the ability to be drive and execute strategies with deep b2b marketing initiatives and broader consumer marketing experiences. The position also requires innovative approaches to licensing, including being at the forefront of subscription-based licensing models for Microsoft applications and services. A strategic voice into the planning and positioning of new classes of location-based applications is expected.
The successful candidate will have 8-10 years of demonstrated experience in one or more of the relevant disciplines of product management, product planning, and/or marketing management. A passion for cool, new technology centered on location based services is also required. MBA preferred.
MWS Product Manager
Location, Location, Location. Now more than ever before, location is becoming a fundamental component of mission-critical business solutions. The products and services built by the Microsoft MapPoint Team are fueling many of the exciting business solutions today and paving the way for the innovative solutions of tomorrow.
Here's your opportunity to join an exciting and entrepreneurial marketing team and be part of a hot and growing business unit seeking to capture a significant part of the estimated $8B that will be spent on location-based services by the year 2008.
Specifically, the MapPoint group is actively seeking a Product Manager to drive the business strategy and execution for the MapPoint Web Service, the mapping and location solution that powers solutions for hundreds of high-profile companies including Starbucks, Marriott, Verizon and Expedia to name a few. Job responsibilities will span a broad range of functions including competitive analysis, business value, product positioning and messaging, sales tools and product launches. It will also give the candidate a great opportunity to work closely with the sales team to co-own a major competitive initiative designed to grow the business by more than 25% in FY06 and to own a team of external vendors to develop case studies and other tools to showcase the value that the MapPoint Web Service offers customers over competitive offerings. Other key responsibilities will include being a spokesperson for the MapPoint Web Service with influential press and analysts and working closely with the vertical industry teams to find ways to incorporate the Web Service into key vertical sales and marketing initiatives.
The successful candidate will have 5-7 years of product management or product marketing experience with a focus on products and services targeting the enterprise and/or mid-market customer segments. They will also have demonstrated experience in how to evaluate, create, measure and articulate compelling business value propositions for relevant products, industries, and/or services. They will need to be a self-starter who likes to work in a fast-paced environment and thrives on working with customers, partners and range of internal Microsoft teams from product engineering to business development and sales. Great communication skills and a passion for cool, new technology centered on location based services is also required. MBA preferred.
Product Planner
We are seeking a highly motivated product planner to help define our vision and implement our business strategy for mapping and location based products and services. These include existing products and services like the MapPoint Web Service, MSN Maps & Directions, Streets & Trips, AutoRoute, Pocket Streets, MapPoint desktop and an exciting new project called “Virtual Earth”.
Virtual Earth extends the current mapping experiences to integrate real world search, navigation and the discovery of information across different devices. Virtual Earth connects people to a dynamic publishing community. Work with us on an immersive mapping experience that includes rich navigation features, aerial and satellite images, 3D/2.5D perspective views, 3D fly-through, real-time location, traffic, speech interfaces, new small map styles, synchronization and much more.
Primary responsibilities of the role will include:
· Making product and service recommendations based on thorough analyses of key customer needs and trends, as well as business and environment factors such as emerging market trends, risks and competitors;
· Developing effective plans to address key market opportunities, communicating them to the product team and management, and gaining broad consensus and approval;
· Working closely with the product marketing and development organization to ensure the best possible implementation of recommendations;
· Analyzing product/service usage and other metrics to develop business intelligence in order to further guide product planning;
· Securing necessary partnerships inside and outside of Microsoft through design of appropriate business structures, and by providing guidance to Business Development in negotiation of contractual agreements and ongoing relationship management; and;
· Defining go-to-market strategy including product positioning, licensing model, pricing, etc., as applicable.
Qualifications should include:
· Strong interest in consumer and business products and services;
· Experience working in a software product development environment;
· Relevant experience (greater than 2 years) in a product planning role;
· Experience conducting and analyzing both qualitative and quantitative research; and
· Strong analytical, critical thinking and communications skills. MBA preferred.
********Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer and supports workplace diversity.
Feel free to forward your info to me directly (heathham@microsoft.com) if you are interested in any of these positions!