Subject Matter Expert (SME) Team Lead / Principal

Sherweb; West Midlands; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Sherweb is seeking an SME Team Lead in the West Midlands to hybrid-lead a technical-business SME group focused on Microsoft solutions. You will shape structure, set performance targets, and drive revenue through partner enablement and managed services.

The role combines leadership with hands-on technical guidance, GTM content orchestration, and expanding vendor-to-vendor networks to grow recurring revenue.

Qualifications

• Leadership experience managing technical specialists or presales engineers.
• Broad technical depth across modern cloud ecosystems (Azure, Security, AI/Co-pilot, 365).
• Commercial mindset with ability to manage team targets and growth.
• Strong presentation, workshop delivery, and technical storytelling.

Responsibilities

• Lead the SME team, transitioning to a high-performing, quota-carrying unit.
• Own governance, performance targets, and workload allocation across the team.
• Coordinate with Partner Success and cross-functional groups for seamless execution.
• Drive partner enablement, GTM content, and joint success plans with P2P networks.
• Manage vendor relationships and align with local Microsoft representatives.

Skills

Leadership

Cloud computing

Microsoft Azure

Go-to-Market (GTM)

Partner enablement

Job description

Role Summary

The SME Team Lead is a hybrid leadership and technical-business role designed to transition our Subject Matter Expert (SME) team from an informal specialist group into a high-performing, quota-carrying Business Development and Enablement engine. The fundamental mandate of the SME team is to drive revenue by enabling partners, both technically and commercially, to build, sell, deliver and grow sustainable managed service provider (MSP) businesses, primarily centred on Microsoft solutions, products and services. You will establish operational structure, enforce team accountability, and drive accountability across individual workload targets (including cloud solutions like Azure, security, and Copilot offerings).

In addition to direct team management, you will act as a "player-coach" in maintaining broad generalist expertise across our technology portfolio, leading partner enablement, orchestrating go-to-market (GTM) content, and expanding key third-party vendor relationships and strategic partner-to-partner (P2P) networks. The role combines broad technical expertise with practical commercial guidance, helping partners translate Microsoft capabilities into compelling value propositions, packaged managed services, successful delivery and sustainable recurring revenue.

Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Operational Governance

• Establish Structure & Performance Standards: Set clear operational expectations, benchmarks, and individual performance targets for the SME team.
• Quota & Business Development Management: Drive the team to treat their workloads as active business development portfolios, carrying individual targets aligned with overall revenue goals.
• Cross-Functional Cohesion: Build strong alignment with the Partner Success (Account Management) team to ensure clear coordination, shared priorities, and seamless execution.
• Resource Management: Balance workload distribution among SMEs to ensure full coverage across core solutions pillars.

Partner Enablement & Training Delivery

• Partners technical and business expertise enablement: Leading structured, regular monthly enablement sessions for partners both 1:many and 1:1 running joint success plans with our PSM team.
• Certification Planning: Drive partner certification goals (e.g., maintaining target certified partner counts, etc.
• Enablement Ownership: Own the delivery metrics and structured learning pathways through internal learning platforms and partner-facing hubs.

Go-to-Market (GTM) Content & Event Execution

• Content Authority: Lead the technical content strategy for marketing initiatives, campaigns, and event series (e.g., Security Series).
• Program ownership and deliver: Own our key partner engagement programs, evolve these as required and work with the specialists on your team to develop new partner facing programs to continue growth with our parners.

Vendor Management & Partner-to-Partner (P2P) Ecosystem

• Third-Party Vendor Ownership: Take direct ownership of a limited number strategic vendor relationships alongside our product team.
• Microsoft Alignment: Maintain tactical collaboration and strategic alignment with local technical vendor representatives.
• P2P Network Facilitation: Active broker and facilitator for partner-to-partner relationships, connecting specialised partners to expand ecosystem capacity.

Qualifications & Key Requirements

• Leadership Experience: Proven track record leading or managing technical specialists or presales engineers.
• Broad Technical Depth (Generalist): Strong understanding of modern cloud ecosystems (e.g., Microsoft Azure, Security, AI/Co-pilot, 365) without needing to be a single domain specialist.
• Commercial & Quota Mindset: Comfortable managing team metrics, performance targets, and business growth objectives.
• Presentation & Facilitation: Outstanding public speaking, workshop delivery, and technical presentation skills.
• Relationship Brokerage: Ability to build strong executive-level relationships across vendor partners and channel partners.