Escalations manager job description

The goal of the IFS Customer Escalation Management Practise is effective identification and management of escalated situations, or situations having the potential to become escalated. A key function in this is an elite team of Customer Escalation Managers that own, plan and execute the de-escalation of escalated customer situations that are having a negative impact on Customer or IFS business where routine processes are considered insufficient to return the customer situation to normal in a timely manner.

As a Customer Escalation Manager, you will use your extensive project management and interpersonal skills to quickly establish trust and leadership. You will expediently and objectively analyse the escalated situation to understand requirements, engage required SME's and then plan and lead de-escalation activity.

This is a demanding and rewarding role, leading and working as part of a small team of experts to turn around challenging customer situations.
Primary responsibilities of the role are:

• Participate in the evaluation of escalation requests to decide if an escalation is appropriate based on the business impact and preceding actions taken to manage the situation;
• Take immediate ownership of an approved and assigned escalation;
• Organize and manage onsite or remote assessment of the customer situation;
• Assist in identifying required members of the de-escalation team and engage necessary IFS subject matter experts;
• Align the escalation scope and the escalation success criteria with Customer's and IFS stakeholders, including c-level management;
• Work with the de-escalation team and the Customer to create a de-escalation action plan, aligning activities with key internal and external stakeholders;
• Orchestrate de-escalation by leading the de-escalation team and driving the action plan's execution;
• Manage expectations of all key internal and external stakeholders involved in the escalation;
• Act as the primary IFS point of contact for all issues within the escalation scope;
• Provide internal and external senior management escalation status reporting (one source of the truth).

Join us as we pursue our disruptive new vision to make machine data accessible, usable and valuable to everyone. We are a company filled with people who are passionate about our product and seek to deliver the best experience for our customers. At Splunk, we're committed to our work, customers, having fun and most importantly to each other's success. Learn more about Splunk careers and how you can become a part of our journey!
Role: Escalation Manager


The Escalation Manager is a member of the Incident Management Team at Splunk, which leads and handles escalations resulting from product, services, account management, customer experience, adoption and renewal related topics. This team brings strategy, structure, executive attention, and additional internal resources to customer challenges that would otherwise result in a high level of customer dissatisfaction. The Escalation Manager will be responsible for managing and driving to resolution high profile customer critical issues, analyzing escalation trends and reporting back to leadership on the drivers of customer dissatisfaction. This is a senior role at Splunk requiring an individual who can take charge in high stress situations and give direction to both customer personnel and to Splunk engineers to drive expeditious resolution of incidents.


Responsibilities:



Independently drive and monitor complex escalations from initiation through resolution by developing a success-driven plan while leading a cross-functional team with customer and internal key stakeholders. Report and escalate efforts to resolve complex customer experience problems Lead support response both with the customer and internally to key stakeholders and senior leadership. Advise Senior Leadership of any developments and action plans. Sets customer expectations and provides updates regarding troubleshooting and resolution action plan in external communications. Provide process improvement recommendations for improving customer experience Analyze escalation trends and produce strategic recommendations to proactively address systemic issues Review and refine Escalation Management process, protocols, dashboards and run-books Restore the customers confidence in Splunk and Splunk products



Required Qualifications:



5+ years account management, consultation, project management, escalation management and/or technical support experience Ability to communicate complex ideas effectively verbally and in writing with both customers and internally at Splunk Strong customer service with the ability to make good judgments and quick decisions Ability to effectively prioritize and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment Ability to build relationships and influence Senior Leadership Ability to have difficult conversations with multiple levels within the organization Ability to collaborate with peers and work cross-function as needed with Product and/ or Engineering teams Proven knowledge of ITIL frameworks (Incident, Escalation, Problem primarily) Negotiation, mediation and conflict management skills Rotating on-call weekend work as the business requires as well as holiday coverage Expected to travel to customer sites as needed. Up to 30% travel expected Critical thinking, decision-making ability Strong data analytics and report management skills Ability to manage multiple customer escalations at varying levels including case documentation Understanding of a wide array of software, SAAS platform technologies Salesforce, Jira, Confluence, Google suite experience are a plus



Nice to have:



Experience with specific tools (SFDC, Jira, Confluence) Knowledge of software development lifecycle Critical thinking, decision-making abilities Fundamental understanding/overview of Splunk or similar data collection software

#LI-Remote

We value diversity at our company. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or any other applicable legally protected characteristics in the location in which the candidate is applying. For job positions in San Francisco, CA, and other locations where required, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

(Colorado only*) Minimum base salary of $90,000.00. You may also be eligible for incentive pay + equity + benefits.*Note: Disclosure per sb19-085 (8-5-201 et seq).

Thank you for your interest in Splunk!

• $70,000-$90,000
• Medical Insurance
• 401K - company match
• Free onsite gym

Location:
Houston, TX

Type of Position:
Direct Hire


Responsibilities:

• Lead the company wide Customer Resolution Department responsible for customer complaint resolution and service recovery, listening to and resolving issues for company policyholders.
• Responsible for the daily review of all escalated cases and keep this list within an acceptable number.
• Strategize resolution on highly sensitive matters in partnership with appropriate business partners.
• Serve on a cross functional leader to help mitigate reputational risk; deploy team to handle difficult customer contacts to resolve complex situations urgently and with a high degree of professionalism.
• Lead team to leverage insights to identify root causes of and trends in customer and agent complaints and share those with functional business partners so they can take action to prevent future complaints, where possible.
• Build relationships with business partners and support teams to develop and prioritize initiatives that drive positive material change in member satisfaction, and ultimately in customer loyalty and retention.
• Possess a strategic understanding of legal insurance companies, call centers, and best-in-class customer service companies to proactively identify leading trends, issues, opportunities and solutions.
• Provide coaching and mentoring on a variety of topics including coaching of team managers and management principle and practices. Support and reinforce a continuous learning environment.
• Coordinate and conduct member case audits and ensure corrective actions and follow up reports are tracked and completed.
• Keep management team abreast of significant issues or developments identified during quality assurance activities and actions being taken to improve the situation.
• Promote a culture of quality among all colleagues by increasing awareness of the company commitment to excellent customer service and quality processes and providing training to managers in maintaining quality assurance standards.
• Ensure that the member has a clear and correct understanding of benefits and process before ending the call.
• Communicate effectively and in a timely fashion with customers, teammates, and management.
• Manage all reported issues, concerns, complaints, and potential problems with Members and/or Providers.
• Assist with Member Services Department Training.
• Assist with coaching the Member Services Department to reduce case re-submissions.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s Degree (or higher) in Communication, Hospitality, Business or related field
• Minimum five (5) years customer service, hospitality, quality assurance, account management experience
• Minimum three (3) years leadership (with direct reports) experience
• Must demonstrate strong customer service skills, displaying sound judgement and decision-making
• Must manage customer expectations by resolving issues in a timely manner
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
• Must maintain the highest level of professionalism
• Microsoft Office proficiency

Due to the high volume of applications we typically receive, we regret that we are not able to personally respond to all applications. However, if you are invited to take the next step in the process, you will typically be contacted within one week of submitting your application.