Squad Industry SME – Retail

Avanade is looking for a Retail Industry SME to help accelerate growth across the SME-C segment through Catalyst Squad activation. This role is focused on translating retail industry strategy into practical, scalable, Microsoft-aligned solutions, sales plays, and go-to-market motions for mid-market and channel-led customers. You will act as the retail industry anchor within the Catalyst Squad, partnering with sales, marketing, practices, Microsoft, and channel teams to create qualified pipeline, support priority deals, and enable repeatable retail solution execution. The role is highly execution-focused, with emphasis on scalability, measurable growth impact, and practical industry relevance. This is an opportunity to shape how Avanade brings retail transformation to market across areas such as unified commerce, customer experience, store operations, supply chain resilience, data, AI, Copilot-enabled productivity, and Microsoft co-sell motions.

Activate retail solutions for SME-C

• Translate global retail strategy into SME-C-ready plays, offers, and repeatable Catalyst Solutions.

• Shape solution packaging, pricing logic, value messaging, and sales assets for mid-market retail customers.

• Tailor retail propositions across unified commerce, customer loyalty, merchandising, store operations, supply chain, data, AI, and workforce productivity.

Accelerate pipeline and deal execution 

• Partner with sales teams to create, qualify, and progress retail pipeline across priority SME-C markets. 

• Support priority retail deals with industry expertise, differentiated positioning, and business-value messaging. 

• Enable sales teams with retail narratives, use cases, objection handling, and repeatable go-to-market assets. 

Align with Microsoft and partner channels

• Align retail motions with Microsoft priorities, Digital Sales hubs, co-sell programs, and channel-led opportunities.

• Act as the retail industry interface for joint pipeline creation, solution alignment, and co-sell execution.

• Support partner-led scaling of retail Catalyst Solutions across Microsoft-aligned markets.

Bring retail market insight

• Bring pragmatic retail insight into solution development, market activation, and deal shaping.

• Identify gaps in current retail offers or go-to-market motions and feed insights into global and market teams.

• Build retail industry confidence across Avanade sales and delivery teams. What success looks like

• Qualified retail pipeline created, progressed, and converted through SME-C and Catalyst Squad motions.

• Adoption of repeatable retail plays, offers, and go-to-market assets across priority markets.

• Measurable contribution to retail Catalyst Solutions wins, conversion improvement, and revenue impact.

• Strong Microsoft retail co-sell alignment, joint pipeline creation, and Digital Sales hub engagement.

• Clear impact across retail use cases such as unified commerce, customer personalization, supply chain visibility, store productivity, and AI-enabled operations.

.

Skills and experience

• Strong retail industry understanding, with the ability to translate market trends and customer challenges into practical sales and delivery motions.

• Experience commercializing retail solutions for mid-market, SME, or channel-led segments.

• Strong capability in solution packaging, standardization, repeatability, sales enablement, and deal shaping.

• Knowledge of retail transformation priorities, including unified commerce, customer data, loyalty, merchandising, supply chain, store operations, workforce productivity, and AI-enabled transformation.

• Experience working across Microsoft, partner, and ecosystem teams to create and progress joint opportunities.

• Ability to use pipeline, market demand, conversion, and performance data to prioritize high-impact opportunities.

Microsoft and technology focus

• Working knowledge of Microsoft retail solution areas, including Microsoft Cloud for Retail, Dynamics 365 Commerce, Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, Dynamics 365 Customer Insights, Azure, Microsoft Fabric, Power Platform, and Copilot-enabled scenarios.

• Ability to connect retailer needs, margin pressures, commercial models, operating challenges, and Avanade capabilities into compelling value propositions. Strong communication, stakeholder management, and relationship-building skills across global, market, Microsoft, and partner teams.

About you

• Education and/or equivalent experience in retail, business, technology, commerce, supply chain, customer experience, or a related commercial field.

• Typically brings 12+ years of relevant retail industry experience, including solution sales, solution creation, delivery, business management, or go-to-market execution.

• Expert understanding of retail at strategic and technical levels, including market trends, customer buying behaviors, operating models, channel economics, and transformation priorities.

• Experience translating retail strategy into scalable offers, repeatable solutions, sales plays, and enablement assets.

• Experience with Microsoft retail technologies and ecosystem engagement; existing Microsoft relationships are strongly preferred.

• Comfortable working in matrixed, global organizations and influencing senior stakeholders across sales, marketing, practices, Microsoft, channel partners, and retail clients.

.