Lead Technical Architect – Microsoft Platform

Position Title

Lead Technical Architect

Function/Group

Digital & Technology

Location

Mumbai, India

Shift Timing

Regular / 2nd shift

Role Reports to

Manager, Microsoft 365

Remote/Hybrid/in-Office

Hybrid

ABOUT GENERAL MILLS

We make food the world loves: 100 brands. In 100 countries. Across six continents. With iconic brands like Cheerios, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Nature Valley, and Häagen-Dazs, we've been serving up food the world loves for 155 years (and counting). Each of our brands has a unique story to tell.

How we make our food is as important as the food we make. Our values are baked into our legacy and continue to accelerate

us into the future as an innovative force for good. General Mills was founded in 1866 when Cadwallader Washburn boldly bought the largest flour mill west of the Mississippi. That pioneering spirit lives on today through our leadership team who upholds a vision of relentless innovation while being a force for good. For more details check out

General Mills India Center (GIC) is our global capability center in Mumbai that works as an extension of our global organization delivering business value, service excellence and growth, while standing for good for our planet and people.

With our team of 1800+ professionals, we deliver superior value across the areas of Supply chain (SC) , Digital & Technology (D&T)  Innovation, Technology & Quality (ITQ), Consumer and Market Intelligence (CMI), Sales Strategy & Intelligence (SSI) , Global Shared Services (GSS) , Finance Shared Services (FSS) and Human Resources Shared Services (HRSS).For more details check out

We advocate for advancing equity and inclusion to create more equitable workplaces and a better tomorrow.

JOB OVERVIEW

Function Overview

The Digital and Technology team at General Mills stands as the largest and foremost unit, dedicated to exploring the latest trends and innovations in technology while leading the adoption of cutting-edge technologies across the organization. Collaborating closely with global business teams, the focus is on understanding business models and identifying opportunities to leverage technology for increased efficiency and disruption. The team's expertise spans a wide range of areas, including AI/ML, Data Science, IoT, NLP, Cloud, Infrastructure, RPA and Automation, Digital Transformation, Cyber Security, Blockchain, SAP S4 HANA and Enterprise Architecture. The MillsWorks initiative embodies an delivery model, where business and technology teams operate cohesively in pods with a unified mission to deliver value for the company. Employees working on significant technology projects are recognized as Digital Transformation change agents. 

The team places a strong emphasis on service partnerships and employee engagement with a commitment to advancing equity and supporting communities. In fostering an inclusive culture, the team values individuals passionate about learning and growing with technology, exemplified by the "Work with Heart" philosophy, emphasizing results over facetime. Those intrigued by the prospect of contributing to the digital transformation journey of a Fortune 500 company are encouraged to explore more details about the function through a provided Link

Purpose of the role

The Microsoft 365 Lead Architect will be responsible for the strategic design and implementation of Microsoft 365 (Exchange, SharePoint(SPO) and Teams), define the global vision and strategy and develop a future roadmap in alignment with the General Mills & D&T objectives.

Working in consultation with key business stakeholders, globally managing the end-to-end lifecycle of the Microsoft Office 365 suites of collaboration products including.

Serve as champion for Digital Workplace productivity tools in a transformational and geographically diverse corporate environment. Encourage and help facilitate adoption of Office 365 tools, integration with Teams & SharePoint custom solutions.

As a trusted advisor of the business, Lead Architect works closely with the manager and other members of the delivery team. Create technical roadmaps, best practices, new trends and how that could be applied to business.

He/she should have Strong understanding & experience on Azure Cloud platform, Security and Compliance, along with thorough understanding in system administration & management.

He/she will be the standard bearer for existing and emerging technologies facilitating the unification of physical and virtual platforms within the overall enterprise architecture.

This person will interface with multiple teams such as Infrastructure, Cyber Security and Application Development to design cutting-edge productivity platforms for end-users.

Candidate must have good business sense to analyze business objectives & strategies to plan and implement IT Solutions. The candidate should have strong customer service skills, articulating policies and procedures confidently, attention to detail, excellent communication and troubleshooting skills, ability to work under tight timelines and willingness to challenge/question with courage.

The Digital and Technology team of General Mills India Centre is looking for a passionate and enthusiastic individual to contribute to the Global Digital Transformation initiative at General Mills in capacity of a Lead Technical Architect. Individual will be a highly motivated thinker, collaborator to influence stakeholders in transforming the Microsoft O365 processes and best practices.

The role also requires working as individual contributor to

·       Coaching team members, influencing senior stakeholders, managing time & priorities, conflict management, commercial / bid awareness, excellent presentation delivery and technical writing.

·       Ambitious individual who can work under their own direction towards agreed targets/goals and with a creative approach to work

·       Proven interpersonal skills while contributing to team effort by accomplishing related results as needed

·       Presentation skills with a high degree of comfort with both large and small audiences.

·       Strong business-to-technology translation skills are essential for identifying ways to apply solutions to help business to improve & increase value.

·       Strong project management skills with strong attention to detail, working experience with US business partners to gather project requirements

·       The aptitude to innovate—to integrate new and better technologies and methods into our products

·       Analytical, methodical, logical approach to problem solving, employing innovative approaches to business and technical challenges

·       Agile methodology exposure and experience, communicates with Impact: Presents information and ideas in a thoughtful and compelling manner.

·       Holds self & other accountable for getting the job done with excellence

·       Encourage his/her group to continuously expand their knowledge base

  KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

·       Extensive experience in designing & implementing IT strategy, leading teams for successful project implementation while ensuring high-quality customer experience, elevating customer satisfaction in line with SLAs and work processes. Problem solver with a passion for technology; skilled in grasping the big picture, conceptualizing & implementing solutions and partnering closely with leaders & stakeholders

·       Envision and strategize the technology roadmap for specific technology / product

·       Keep abreast of developments within the IT Industry and help organization be in line with defined or emerging industry standards

·       Provide the highest level of escalation support, investigate and resolve complex user issues / escalations

·       Delivering robust solutions as standalone products or as combination of Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint Online, Yammer, Power platform and Office Suite as a part of Microsoft 365 suite.

·       Provide customized solutions based on business requirements within the scope of the product design, planning of Technical Designs and RACI

·       Help organization in accelerating strategy and drive adoption of Microsoft Office 365 and Modern Workplace technologies

·       Collaborate cross-functional team that analyses, designs, and implements Office 365 architecture to meet solution needs

·       Responsible for Managing M365, Azure/M365 Security. Working closely with vendors to ensure smooth operations

·       Develop, implement and review operational policies and procedures.

·       Design and Plan Office 365 Merger, acquisition, divestiture & integration including Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint Online, and MS Teams

·       Architect, Design and Evaluate blueprint for Microsoft Exchange, SPO and Teams

·       Design and plan for Identity Management (ADFS, Azure, Other) and Directory Sync supporting O365 workloads

·       Discussions with business and stakeholders that drive decisions and implementation of 3rd party tools and Microsoft products  

·       Participates in compliance and security reviews as necessary including working closely with internal teams to build security, reliability, and scalability into the collaboration workspace

·       Identifying new process improvements & automation opportunities, requirement gathering from stakeholders

• O365 ATP (Anti-phishing protection, anti-spoofing, anti-spam protection, Safe-Attachments, Safe Links, anti-malware solution, and tests using Attack Simulator)
• Secure data within O365, Office 365 collaboration workloads, and B2B sharing for external users
• Designing complex O365 solutions, leading work-streams on transformational programs and ensuring conformance to agreed design standards, methods and tools, including prototyping new tools and applications where appropriate
• Support DLP, manage sensitive information types and O365 classification and labeling
• O365 Governance and Compliance, Security reporting (Windows Analytics, Office Telemetry, Office 365 secure score, Azure Log Analytics integration, and alert policies
• Retention policies, data governance reports and dashboards, Information holds, import data in the Security and Compliance Center, manage inactive mailboxes
• Microsoft licensing model and building policy guidelines for optimization of M365 license and M365 license management 
• Working experience in agile methodology, scrum to drive & deliver the projects in sprints, documentation of work or process & compliance 
• Build teamwork, trust-based relationships and collaboration with a global team and customers
• Mentoring and coaching the team through community-led collaboration, Grow network and exposure internally and externally
• Leverage appropriate learning opportunities for technical and professional growth

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• 15 to 20 years of SharePoint, Exchange and Teams working experience
• Merger, Acquisition and divestiture working experience
• Exchange/ emails Security & Compliance tools exposure & experience  
• Exchange hybrid and SPO storage management experience
• Power Platform management & best practices working knowledge   
• Automation and Scripting: Advanced proficiency in PowerShell (Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Azure AD, Microsoft Graph) for automation, reporting, and advanced configuration.

Microsoft Graph API: Unders