Senior Manager Government Affairs

Do you have the passion and the competence to drive change and make an impact in Germany, while benefitting from your extensive experience in politics and/or governmental affairs? We are looking for a creative and driven Senior Government Affairs manager with excellent networking skills to join our German Government Affairs team that is a part of the Microsoft Corporate, External and Legal Affairs (CELA) team in Europe with employees from numerous nationalities and backgrounds.

Microsoft is on a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our culture is centered on embracing a growth mindset, a theme of inspiring excellence, and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. In doing so, we create life-changing innovations that impact billions of lives around the world. You can help us achieve our mission.

The Government Affairs team is contributing to this by helping our customers succeed through digital transformation, strengthening Microsoft as a globally trusted provider of technology to everyone and contributing to local opportunities and economic growth.

The position is part of the Corporate, External and Legal Affairs (CELA) department. Government Affairs represents Microsoft's interests vis-à-vis government, parliaments, state authorities and other political stakeholders. Our German Government Affairs team serves as the point of contact for politicians and civil society on all aspects of digital policy in Germany.

This position is based in Berlin. This role does require you to be in the office at least 3 days per week.

Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

Responsibilities

Strategy/Program Management

• Contributes to, and develops, Microsoft's policy agenda and/or advocacy strategies and campaigns for top priorities.
• Takes ownership of legislative and political dossiers and related projects and campaigns. Facilitates the cooperation between Government Affairs and the responsible product counsels. Organizes meetings and events and develops internal strategy and communication.
• Works closely with Microsoft's EU Government Affairs team to support our EU wide advocacy campaigns and to provide insights on EU policy proposals from a German perspective.
• Responds to key strategic issues and recommends well thought-out actions by prioritizing, ensuring alignment with stakeholder positions, leveraging specialists, or escalating matters.

Subject Matter Expertise and Influence

• Develops strategies for multiple regulatory and/or legislative initiatives by serving as a subject matter expert to assess their impact on Microsoft goals and objectives; delivers materials (e.g., strategy recommendations, impact assessments, policy briefings, other documentation) to internal stakeholders.
• Develops and establishes an intelligence network, and shares internal and external intelligence findings in support of Microsoft's and customers' business objectives.
• Provides counseling on public policy and/or geo-political or cultural topics to business units related to specific product development or business plans.

Representing Microsoft

• Represents Microsoft externally on conferences, panel discussions and similar formats.
• Participates and represents Microsoft in trade association working groups and actively contributes to positioning processes of the relevant organizations on the basis of comprehensive matter expertise.
• Directs political strategies, provides strategic vision, and develops communication framework and/or messaging in partnership with Communications team for Microsoft by implementing strategies across diverse stakeholders.

External Relationships

• Strong, intrinsic focus on external impact.
• Develops and implements strategies for leveraging partnerships with external partners and key influencers to advance Microsoft's public policy agenda in several key areas.
• Builds and maintains a strong, ongoing network with governmental and non-governmental stakeholders to align interests to significantly advance Microsoft's objectives in key priority areas;
• Builds strategic relationships that position Microsoft as a key trusted advisor to targeted political leadership and/or trade/think tank organizations in the region.
• Establishes partnerships with industry and NGO thought leaders that can advocate and advance Microsoft's policy, political, and business priorities.
• Partners with Microsoft ́s communications team to craft messages that enhance the company's reputation and communicate corporate positions and objectives to enhance coordination with strategic government and industry partners.
• Serves as a strategic partner to the Public Sector and other key business leads by supporting sales and market opportunities, building Microsoft's reputation as a globally trusted provider of technology, and assisting in navigating, minimizing, or removing roadblocks to drive business results.

Internal Collaboration

• Acts as a subject matter expert for large, critical projects, and provides direction to teammates and cross-functional project teams, or act as a project lead across country and team lines.
• Resolves complex, cross-group priority conflicts and gains alignment across teams to enable the achievement of shared business objectives; facilitates and coordinates internal business operations within region to raise awareness and facilitate communication and coordination of effort.
• Collaborates with Microsoft ́s Legal commercial team on matters at the intersection of policy and regulation.
• Participates in internal events, and supports executive engagement and participation in international and local events.
• Supports Microsoft Berlin ́s external event strategy and contributes to specific events via strategic advice and execution support.

Qualifications

• Extensive proven professional experience in politics, public administration, government affairs function or similar corporate affairs functions
• Master's degree, state exam or comparable degree in political science, economics or law, preferably with international experience.
• Proven work experience in digital regulatory and/or policy matters, including interaction with policy makers, regulatory agencies, and other political stakeholders.
• Proven ability to develop and implement political strategies and campaigns. Proven experience to build coalitions on policy matters, liase proactively with external organizations.
• Expert level knowledge of the relevant German and EU legislative and regulatory frameworks and processes.
• Excellent organizational skills and project management and campaign execution capabilities, proven in complex multi-stakeholder proceedings.
• High affinity for technology and business topics.
• Proven ability to efficiently communicate complex technical and/or legal issues in a political context.
• Proven ability to speak and write in German and English fluently, including public speaking at conferences, political hearings, and other external facing formats in both languages.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. Consistent with applicable law, all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations ) .