Director, Global Customer Escalations and Resolution

THE ROLE

1. Customer Engagement: you are someone who thrives on problem solving complex business problems ranging from technical to contractual and all points in between. You excel at developing success plans in conjunction with the customer and internal FinancialForce teams to ultimately find a path forward for the customer. You will have direct oversight of Executive Escalations with FinancialForce’s strategic enterprise customers. 
2. Leadership: you are a seasoned people manager and have experience with personal and professional development of direct reports. You exhibit servant leadership and a lead from the front mentality. You are focused on the success of the team through data, Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).
3. Program: The success of the Escalation Program relies heavily upon your leadership and ability to revise, change course and improve the program over time. This includes the strategic and tactical elements, along with cross-functional pieces that are required for it to be a success company wide.

WHAT YOU WILL DO IN THIS ROLE

• Manage and lead a team of global Escalation Managers ensuring individual and team success through OKRs, Personal and Professional development, and aligning the team to the overall company objectives and corporate values
• Manage new hires and other direct report functions including performance evaluations, recruitment of new hires and other performance related activities
• Oversee and mature the Customer Escalation programs for at-risk customers requiring a prescriptive care plan to overcome complex issues
• Embody creative problem-solving skills in concert with the development of get-well strategies for a wide range of business problem scenarios ranging from unsatisfactory progress of delivery or support to product issues
• Build effective and reliable communication channels and protocols with the customer and internal stakeholders and executive staff. 
• Cultivate strong relationships across the business in order to collaborate on action plans cross-functionally through to a successful solutioning and conclusion
• Develop get-well strategies and ensure all accountable parties execute on success plan activity and that all stakeholders receive updates pertinent to their level of involvement
• Convey a deep understanding of the issues, obstacles and resolution path while advocating for that customer internally to identify a path forward
• Accountable to develop customized customer get well plans that clearly articulate action items, success criteria and Gantt views and review plan on a regular basis with customer and internal stakeholders
• Evaluate escalation trends by varied segments (i.e. product, customer, escalation requestor) and drive process improvements based on this analysis
• Develop a repeatable and scalable Root Cause Analysis process in the spirit of continual service improvement and preventing recurring issues
• Develop and deliver a layered reporting framework encompassing tactical updates, weekly high-level status, and ongoing trend analysis on customer escalations and health
• Ensures all accountable parties execute on success plan activity and that all stakeholders receive updates pertinent to their level of involvement
• Facilitate regular status meetings and touch points with the customer and internal stakeholders, providing documented key discussion items, action items, risks and opportunities for improvement 

WHAT YOU NEED TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN THIS ROLE

• Exceptional leadership who builds a team that trusts one another, is accountable individually and as a team, and who is committed to excellence and customer obsession.
• Exhibit strong executive presence, including ability to partner with and effectively influence internal and external stakeholder including, VPs and Executive Team, including the CEO and CCO
• Demonstrate sense of urgency, emotional intelligence, active listening, humility, and empathy
• Ability to set expectations and communicate clearly, verbally and written, with customers
• 15 years of experience in strategic account management, consultation, project management, escalation management and/or technical support experience 
• Bachelors’ Degree (or equivalent) or relevant commercial experience
• Experience with SaaS delivery models, churn prevention techniques and customer renewal and retention strategies. Experience with Salesforce is a plus