Went through the Microsoft AE / account executive interview process last spring for a mid-market role on the Azure team. Wanted to write this up because there is almost nothing specific online and I spent way too long guessing what to prep.
The process had five stages for me: Initial screen with a recruiter (30 min, mostly territory and quota history) Phone screen with the hiring manager (45 min, almost entirely behavioral) A written exercise emailed 48 hours before the onsite. They asked me to build a territory plan for a hypothetical set of accounts with provided data. One page max. Onsite loop: four 45-min interviews. Two behavioral rounds, one territory plan debrief, one role-play where you sell Azure to a skeptical VP of engineering persona (interviewer plays the buyer). Reference check then offer.
The behavioral rounds were heavy on impact quantification. How much pipeline did you build. What was your quota attainment last two years. Specific examples of displacing a competitor. They really want you to know your numbers cold. Not like, memorized impressively, but genuinely know your business the way you'd know it if you lived it.
The role-play surprised me. The interviewer played a pretty adversarial buyer who had concerns about vendor lock-in. I treated it exactly like a real discovery call: reframe, ask questions, don't pitch until I understood their actual objection. Seemed to land well.
What I think mattered most: the territory plan exercise weeded out people who treat sales as art vs. science. If you can't segment accounts, prioritize by revenue potential, and explain your logic in one page, you're probably out after that round.
Total timeline was about six weeks start to finish. Offer came in at base around $95k with variable bringing OTE to roughly $160k for mid-market in Seattle. Not top of market but not terrible given the Microsoft brand and stability.
Happy to answer questions on the role-play or the territory plan format specifically.