James Arnold Email & Phone Number

Belfast, Gb

Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Directly managing a team of Launch Readiness Managers across the US & Ireland, supporting the execution of robust readiness strategies for hundreds of Microsoft’s strategic launches.■ Strategic leadership | Demonstrated commitment to strategic team management, organizational design and performance evaluation by actively engaging in weekly management reviews and taking ownership of key RoB items. Effectively represented the team in talent reviews, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and priorities. ■ Cross-group collaboration | Fostered strong partnerships with internal functional teams to achieve excellence in delivery and high customer satisfaction across launch and readiness initiatives, ensuring alignment with organizational objectives. ■ Leading through difficult change | Managed the transition of direct reports affected by company reductions, successfully transitioning ongoing work with zero controllable escalations. Provided comprehensive support to ensure a smooth transition process. ■ Process optimisation | Sustained high-quality work associated with Launch Readiness while aligning efforts with company priorities to reduce costs and enhance operational efficiency, ensuring a strategic approach to resource allocation and process optimization. ■ Team growth through coaching | Enhanced team effectiveness and collaboration by coaching the team through opportunities for process improvements and personal development.■ Change management | Led the design, implementation, and expansion of innovative Readiness approaches for multiple launch portfolios across FY23 & FY24. Demonstrated end-to-end ownership, including comprehensive change management, with a strategic focus on personnel and cost efficiencies post-reductions. ■ Team planning | Managed the end-to-end intake of new work, conducted capacity planning, and continuously assessed existing tasks, ensuring efficient resource allocation and optimized task management.

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Led the delivery of readiness plans for launches across Microsoft's purchasing motions, notably focusing on the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program and New Commerce Experience (NCE), through close collaboration with diverse internal stakeholder groups and utilizing active listening techniques. ■ Change manager | Implemented robust change management practices to ensure timely dissemination of crucial information tailored to each audience's business needs, effectively guiding them through the stages of change and ensuring smooth adoption.■ Project management | Facilitated cross-team collaboration among stakeholders from marketing, engineering, finance, business planning, and support teams to develop and adhere to cohesive plans and timelines.■ Managing complex projects | Successfully executed readiness for high-complexity, high-velocity launches impacting diverse internal and external audiences, ensuring seamless readiness amid sensitive information handling and synchronised disclosures. ■ Effective communications management | Developed and distributed communications and content to tens of thousands of partners, employing a variety of communication tools and strategies. Empowered Microsoft's partner ecosystem and internal audiences to seamlessly embrace changes in products, programs, offers, or capabilities.

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Responsible for managing several Microsoft Dynamics programs. In this role my focus was ensuring program compliance and delivering order, billing & content enhancements to support the ‘run’ business of each program.

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Supported the business functions of the Contract, Revenue and Management Team, Microsoft Business Operations.