Technical Advisor - SQL Server Hybrid at Microsoft

Technical Advisors are responsible for ensuring the development of Support Engineers (SE) technical capabilities. The TA is an expert at coaching and mentoring on case management standards which enable engineers to improve throughput and handle ever-more complex cases. TAs deliver unique value by utilizing their technical knowledge to ensure ramp-up and readiness of the Support Engineering staff to assist customers with issues while maintaining a high-quality bar.

An Engineer TA is a service delivery focused subject matter expert. You will own incident metrics such as Speed of Resolution, Solution, etc. as well as quality of the support experience. The primary responsibility is to the engineers in a regional team, focusing on the higher volume services and engaging through technical mentorship, readiness. Your primary activities are targeted towards support incidents and individual mentoring to unblock customer technical issues directly with support engineers. You will also manage collaboration across teams and escalations.

A Service TA is focused on the success of one or more services and of the overall pod or team. You will own service metrics such as Speed of Resolution, Solution, etc. and deflection rates. Responsibility is spread across various stakeholders like team managers, Engineer TAs, Supportability PMs and PG. Your primary activities are targeted towards supportability (of the product or service) and overall pod, team effectiveness, in partnership with Serviceability. Primary focus is making sure that service delivery has tools, processes, and documentation to resolve incidents

Responsibilities

TA Responsibilities

• Identify and analyze skill-gaps in team or Pod; contribute to the creation of readiness plans and content
• Own Case management duties (technical review, triage, incoming inspection for SIE (Service Interruption Event), case progression, impact to customer wellness, reduced time to... measures)
• Enable swarming and collaboration activities, including advanced troubleshooting
• Approve and review escalations (regardless of destination - to Escalation Engineer or Engineering Group)
• Improve existing and develop new troubleshooting workflows and troubleshooting guides (TSG)
• Ensure landing of new feature onboarding
• Own cases, as business demands
• Provide ramp activities for junior engineers, knowledge sharing, technical coaching and mentoring
• Drive technical collaboration and engagement outside of CSS (Product Engineering teams, Services, Support, Regions)
• Lead or participate in building communities with peer delivery roles; may be workload or specialty specific

Optional Responsibilities

• Technical interviews for new hires
• Assist acting team manager or POD lead
• Interface with CSAM to maintain good customer relations (Premier-focused LOBs)
• Process improvement feedback to appropriate DP and MSFT stakeholders
• PG Collaboration including triages
• Approval of escalations to product group (known as ICMs, Bugs or similar – varies by SBU)
• Direct customer contact (to support frontline engineers, periodic case ownership to maintain technical expertise)
• Influence behaviors to derive desired outcomes replaced Provide Metrics Oversight
• Lead or participate in building communities with peer delivery roles (SEE, EE, EEE, TA); may be workload or specialty specific.
• Release management and deployment (ensure it happens, do not own directly)
• Trends, forecast for LOB
• Responsible for oversight of Speak Up! items (Consumer)

Core Responsibilities

• Coach and mentor Front Line engineers to deliver exceptional customer service.
• Act internally as a customer advocate. 
• Guide peer team and internal teams to ensure are Empowering, Helping and Advising customers
• Focus on readiness and technical triage/training creation and delivery.
• Collaborate on cross-team and cross-product technical issues by working with resources from other groups as needed to resolve customer issues. Collaborates with other Technical Advisors and escalation resources when appropriate.
• Responsible for managing a relationship with customers including thoroughly documenting case work, driving the quickest resolution possible to the customer’s issues.
• Solve highly complex level of escalated problems, involving broad, in-depth product knowledge or in-depth product specialty; may include support of additional product line.
• Maintain a proactive approach to customer happiness, identifying customer satisfaction concerns and managing customer expectations with your front line engineers.

Qualifications

Language Qualification

Portuguese OR Spanish Language: fluent in reading, writing and speaking. English Language: confident in reading, writing and speaking.

Required

• Excellent understanding of Database concepts and deployments
• Experience supporting or maintaining complex mission critical database solutions, RDMS technologies, and, or SQL language
• Strong problem solving and troubleshooting skills, an ability to use various data collection tools and methodologies to analyze problems, determine root cause and develop solutions
• Excellent Communication Skills - verbal, listening, and written (including technical writing).
• Passion for technology, lifelong learning and professional development.

Experience in one or more of these areas desirable

• Experience supporting Azure or other cloud-based solutions
• Microsoft certifications in data platform or Azure technologies
• Experience troubleshooting distributed solutions
• Experience troubleshooting Open Source Databases like MySQL, Postgre SQL, etc.,
• Basic Networking, Storage and Platform troubleshooting skills

Required

• Experience in a customer facing role, and 5+ years’ experiencing with SQL Server or an equivalent database product.
• Flexibility to support the team on a weekend day as needed
• B.S. degree in Computer Science or equivalent.
• Experience working in a complex troubleshooting and problem-solving role
• Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings: Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

Preferred

• Strong knowledge of Windows or other operating systems
• Experience working in a corporate team environment