GDS Microsoft Co-Innovation Marketplace Certification Manager - Associate Director - India
EY · Gurugram
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Role Title: GDS Microsoft Alliance Marketplace Certification Manager / Strategist
The opportunity
Microsoft is one of EY’s most strategic ecosystem relationships, enabling clients to accelerate transformation through cloud, data, AI, automation and emerging technologies. Within this alliance, the Co-Innovation team brings together EY’s industry experience and Microsoft’s technology capabilities to shape scalable, market-relevant solutions that support client transformation, marketplace readiness and growth across global priority markets.
We are looking for a highly collaborative, commercially minded and execution-oriented Marketplace Certification Manager / Strategist to support the Microsoft Alliance Co-Innovation team globally. This role will help lead and build the marketplace solution readiness, certification and publication lifecycle, strengthen submission governance, guide readiness across priority solutions and enable disciplined execution across the global co-innovation portfolio.
The role is designed for a senior professional who can connect solution development, certification strategy and commercialization readiness. You will work closely with global alliance leadership, Microsoft stakeholders, regional teams, solution owners, architects, engineering teams, sales, marketing and GDS teams to ensure co-innovation solutions are certification-ready, marketplace-aligned and positioned for scalable activation across markets.
This is an exciting opportunity for someone who enjoys working at the intersection of Microsoft marketplace operations, certification governance, AI-enabled innovation, solution commercialization, stakeholder management and go-to-market execution.
Your key responsibilities
Shape global marketplace certification strategy, governance and operating rhythm
- Lead and build the structured solution intake, certification and publication lifecycle process for the global Co-Innovation portfolio, providing senior-level visibility into readiness, submissions, review status, risks, dependencies, decisions and publication outcomes.
- Shape certification review meetings, leadership updates, business reviews and marketplace readiness forums with clear, consistent and decision-oriented materials.
- Maintain a structured view of marketplace certification activities across solution stages, submission status, ownership, evidence requirements, remediation actions and publication milestones.
- Drive execution discipline by helping stakeholders track actions, owners, timelines, dependencies and follow-through against agreed certification priorities.
- Identify and advance opportunities to use AI-enabled workflows, automation, reusable templates and structured data capture to accelerate intake, evidence development, certification readiness, publication preparation and reporting.
- Ensure certification decisions and updates are supported by accurate data, clear documentation and well-aligned next steps.
Define Microsoft marketplace readiness and certification focus
- Provide strategic guidance on certification readiness for Microsoft-powered solutions across Azure, Copilot, AI Business Solutions, Cloud & AI Platforms, Security, data, automation and emerging technology priorities.
- Partner with solution owners, architects and technology stakeholders to capture certification requirements, readiness gaps, technical evidence, client applicability and commercialization considerations.
- Build senior-level visibility into marketplace-ready solution assets, including offer narratives, demos, supporting documentation, solution artifacts, client-zero examples and go-to-market readiness materials.
- Promote responsible AI adoption by ensuring marketplace submissions appropriately consider value, risk, governance, data requirements, privacy, security and adoption needs.
- Translate Microsoft marketplace, certification and technology requirements into business-friendly narratives for global leadership, regional teams, sales and stakeholder groups.
Strengthen certification compliance, submission quality and technical assurance
- Lead marketplace certification reviews, submission walkthroughs and operational checkpoints across prioritized global co-innovation initiatives.
- Assess certification readiness across offer positioning, solution scope, technical documentation, security considerations, data flows, implementation approach, support model and customer-facing content.
- Coordinate with alliance, technology, solution, delivery, marketing and commercial teams to maintain visibility across certification decisions, dependencies and required remediation actions.
- Help assess whether solutions are progressing toward intended outcomes, including certification readiness, publication readiness, activation potential, adoption feasibility and global market relevance.
- Prepare concise leadership summaries covering certification status, marketplace risks, remediation needs, required publication decisions and recommended actions.
Influence global stakeholder alignment and collaboration
- Serve as a senior connector across global alliance leadership, Microsoft marketplace stakeholders, regional teams, solution owners, architects, engineering teams, service line leaders, sector stakeholders, sales, marketing and GDS support teams.
- Support alignment across business, technology, delivery, marketing and go-to-market stakeholders so global priorities are translated into executable marketplace certification actions.
- Coordinate certification readiness workshops, marketplace forums and leadership check-ins to ensure progress is visible and decision points are clear.
- Proactively identify stakeholder gaps, ownership ambiguities and cross-team dependencies that could affect certification readiness, publication timelines or market activation across regions.
- Build trusted relationships across a matrixed global and regional stakeholder network.
Shape marketplace reporting, insights and readiness tracking
- Develop and maintain certification trackers, publication readiness summaries and executive views that provide clear visibility into global co-innovation certification health and progress.
- Monitor key indicators related to certification stage, readiness gaps, submission quality, remediation status, publication progress, asset completeness, activation readiness and business outcomes.
- Analyze trends across certification activities and provide practical recommendations to improve submission quality, governance and go-to-market impact.
- Prepare materials for leadership reviews, monthly business reviews, quarterly business reviews and other global governance forums.
- Use data and stakeholder input to tell a clear story on where certification activity is progressing well, where support is required and where leadership decisions are needed.
Advance global marketplace activation readiness and market outcomes
- Work with sales, marketing, regional and solution teams to support activation planning for certified and marketplace ready co-innovation solutions.
- Track readiness of marketplace and solution assets, including offer descriptions, demos, architecture diagrams, credentials, case studies, sales collateral, enablement materials, marketplace content and client-facing narratives.
- Help identify opportunities to scale successful marketplace-certified Microsoft-powered solutions across priority accounts, sectors, service lines and regions.
- Support coordination of global and region-specific enablement activities so client-facing teams understand the marketplace offer, value proposition, certification status and activation pathway.
- Ensure certification insights and lessons learned are fed back to solution teams to strengthen commercialization, adoption and governance discipline.
Skills and attributes for success
We are looking for someone who brings a strong balance of strategic marketplace judgment, governance discipline, structured execution, stakeholder influence and commercialization mindset. The successful candidate will be comfortable engaging senior stakeholders, interpreting evolving Microsoft marketplace requirements and guiding multiple global solution initiatives while maintaining a practical focus on certification readiness, submission quality and measurable outcomes.
- Strong experience in marketplace certification strategy, operational governance, reporting and execution management.
- Ability to translate global business priorities and solution requirements into structured certification strategy and marketplace readiness actions.
- Comfort working with AI, cloud, data, automation, Microsoft solution areas and emerging technology themes at a business level.
- Strong communication skills, including the ability to simplify complex certification, marketplace and technical requirements for leadership audiences.
- Ability to influence without authority and build alignment across matrixed alliance, technology, delivery, regional, marketing and commercial teams.
- Strong analytical capability, including experience developing certification trackers, readiness dashboards, marketplace narratives, status summaries and decision papers.
- Practical curiosity about AI-enabled operating models, including how automation, agents, workflow tools and structured knowledge repositories can improve solution intake, certification tracking, evidence management, publication readiness and lifecycle reporting.
- High attention to detail, strong follow-through and a continuous improvement mindset.
- Curiosity, adaptability and a genuine interest in marketplace-led innovation and Microsoft ecosystem growth.
To qualify for the role, you must have
- 15+ years of relevant professional experience in marketplace strategy, certification governance, program leadership, alliance operations, technology commercialization, product operations, consulting or strategic operations.
- Experience leading complex cross-functional marketplace, certification or technology commercialization initiatives across regional or global stakeholder groups.
- Experience with governance models, submission tracking, evidence management, certification processes, marketplace readiness reviews and performance management.
- Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, including experience preparing executive-ready materials and structured status updates.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities, proactively identify certification risks and drive structured follow-through in a fast-paced environment.
- Experience working with technology-enabled transformation, cloud, AI, automation, data or digital solution portfolios.
Ideally, you’ll also have
- Experience supporting global, multi-region or cross-market business priorities.
- Exposure to Microsoft ecosystem programs, including Azure Marketplace, Microsoft AppSource, Azure, Copilot, AI Business Solutions, Cloud & AI Platforms, Security or related solution areas.
- Experience in alliance management, co-sell motions, co-innovation programs, marketplace certification, marketplace offerings or technology partner ecosystems.
- Experience in a Big Four, professional services, consulting or technology-led environment.
- Understanding of solution commercialization, go-to-market activation, marketplace operations, certification governance and innovation lifecycle management.
What we offer
EY Global Delivery Services (GDS) is a dynamic global delivery network that plays a vital role in advancing EY’s growth strategy. Working across locations including Argentina, China, India, the Philippines, Poland and the UK, GDS teams collaborate with EY service lines, geographies and sectors to deliver high-quality work for clients around the world. In GDS, you will have the opportunity to work on meaningful projects, collaborate with diverse teams and build capabilities across an expanding ecosystem of people, learning, technology and insights that will support your career growth.
- Continuous learning: Develop the mindset, skills and confidence to adapt, grow and navigate what comes next.
- Success, as defined by you: Access the tools, flexibility and support to make a meaningful impact in the way that works best for you.
- Transformative leadership: Gain insights, coaching and experiences that help you grow into the leader the world needs.
- Diverse and inclusive culture: Be valued for who you are and empowered to use your voice to help others find theirs.
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