Case Study: Rebuilding Marketing & Sales Tech Stacks During the Microsoft Acquisition at LinkedIn

Leading LinkedIn’s sales funnel reporting rebuild during the Microsoft acquisition? No sweat! In the midst of shifting from Salesforce to Dynamics and navigating GDPR, I managed to whip up a new reporting system, trained 10 junior analysts, and crafted a custom lead routing solution. Oh, and I wrote a marketing attribution spec so simple even I could follow it. The result? LinkedIn’s toughest engineering challenge to date (and we didn’t even break a sweat).

Background
When LinkedIn was acquired by Microsoft, things got... interesting. The company was juggling not one, but two massive transitions: moving from Salesforce to Dynamics and implementing GDPR compliance. Oh, and let’s not forget—this was happening while they were rebuilding the entire sales funnel reporting system. With multiple regions, business lines, and go-to-market teams in the mix, it was the perfect storm of chaos. A challenge so big, it was labeled LinkedIn’s toughest engineering feat ever. Naturally, I signed up.

Objectives
As the fearless tech lead (OK, maybe just the slightly nervous one), my mission was clear:

• Rebuild the sales funnel reporting system to provide unified insights across the company—because what’s a good funnel without data?

• Train 10 junior analysts to not only support the project but also integrate seamlessly with the broader teams—no pressure.

• Consult with the marketing tech team to develop a custom lead routing solution—goodbye, Salesforce; hello, Dynamics.

• Simplify marketing attribution tracking and create a spec so easy that even my dog could understand it.

• Build a centralized repository for campaign data—because who doesn’t love a good, organized file system?

Deliverables

• Sales Funnel Reporting Revamp:
  Designed and implemented a new system that unified sales funnel data across regions, business lines, and GTM functions—because the only thing worse than bad data is no data.

• Team Leadership & Training:
  Took 10 junior analysts under my wing, trained them up, and integrated them into teams across the board—turning them into data superheroes (OK, maybe just analysts with better skills).

• Lead Routing & Marketing Attribution Design:
  Collaborated with the marketing tech team to transition to Dynamics, creating a custom lead routing solution that actually worked. I also wrote a spec for marketing attribution that consolidated tracking parameters and made campaign performance more accurate than ever.

• Centralized Campaign Repository:
  Developed a centralized hub where everyone could access campaign data—finally putting an end to the “Where did I put that report?” panic.

Outcomes

• Operational Transformation:
  We rebuilt the sales funnel reporting system to provide real-time insights that helped decision-makers across the company. You could almost hear the angelic choir as the data started flowing smoothly.

• Enhanced Data Transparency & Collaboration:
  The centralized repository and simplified attribution spec brought clarity and accuracy to campaign tracking. No more “wait, which number are we talking about again?”

• Leadership Impact:
  The 10 junior analysts I trained are now ready to take on the world (or at least the next big project). We built a stronger data team, even as LinkedIn was going through one of its biggest transitions.

• Enduring Influence:
  While the project was still ongoing when I left, it became known as one of LinkedIn’s most challenging—and transformative—engineering efforts. It was gratifying to know that my contributions played a key role in making it all possible