Escalation Manager - Critical Incident Center

Sev1 Escalation Manager

The Escalation Manager role acts as individual contributor incident commander to manage critical customer issues by engaging the required resources in a timely manner. The manager handles the issues in a hands-on capacity by balancing authoritative and collaborative operational modes based on the situation.

The Escalation Manager will build strong relationships with customers, Support teams across all cloud products, Engineering teams (Site Reliability, Customer-Centric Engineering, Technology Communications, and Readiness), CSIRT, Sales, Consulting, QA, Program Management, and Product Management.

The successful candidate will have a proven track record of interacting with customers, working with executives, responding to issues and incidents, working hands-on with the team, and handling stress and ambiguity.

This role brings an operational focus on prevention, including learning from cases and incidents, and partnering with other teams on initiatives that will reduce or eliminate impact to our customers.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the resolution and ownership of all critical customer issues.
• Act as the hands-on critical issue manager for all clouds and Sev1 cases, ensuring appropriate team engagement and providing direct assistance.
• Represent Salesforce on customer bridge calls.
• Manage incidents to achieve key business targets (CSAT, ESAT, SLAs, resolution time, and project deadlines).
• Partner with customers to drive operational excellence.
• Collaborate with GEO and weekend escalation managers for seamless warm handoffs.
• Consistently drive high internal and external customer satisfaction.
• Serve as a trusted cross-functional partner (e.g., Infrastructure, Technical Support, Cloud Success, Sales Leadership) to ensure company-wide alignment.
• Continuously drive excellence in customer service delivery.
• Lead retrospective meetings to identify and action process improvement opportunities.

Experience / Skills Required

• A Bachelor's Degree or equivalent relevant experience is required. Experience will be evaluated based on the role's Values and Behaviors (e.g., extracurricular leadership roles, military experience, volunteer roles, work experience, etc.).
• 8+ years of proven experience in a technical support environment, handling highly complex issues.
• Experience in Critical Issue Management and Incident Response in a high-growth software or hardware technology organization is preferred.
• Highly collaborative and respectful; curious, patient, and able to develop strong working relationships across matrixed teams.
• Exceptional C-level written and verbal communication skills.
• Deep expertise in leading complex critical incidents and customer escalation management.
• Strong team player with a customer-centric demeanor, focused on enhancing the customer and partner experience.
• Focused on quality of service and process development with continuous improvement.
• Preemptive problem-solver, engaged both strategically and tactically.
• Strong experience with cloud and infrastructure technology and delivery.
• An understanding of Salesforce product offerings is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated operational rigor and effective project management skills; able to lead cross-functional collaboration to achieve results.
• Strong customer-facing experience, bridge call management, and Incident Command expertise.
• Self-motivated, takes initiative, assumes ownership, and manages programs with minimal direction.
• Proven ability to collaborate cross-functionally with diverse regional teams to successfully lead and implement process improvement initiatives that measurably enhance operational efficiency.
• Ability to deliver operational reports that provide qualitative and quantitative analysis of business performance.
• Familiarity with incident management frameworks (ITIL, etc.).

What We're Looking For

The strongest candidates will bring a balance of strategic thinking and operational execution. We're looking for someone who:

• Thrives under pressure and navigates conflict with confidence — you maintain composure in demanding, fast-paced environments, de-escalate tension with customers and stakeholders, and lead with clarity and authority even in the most high-stakes and emotionally charged situations.
• Communicates at every level — from a frontline support engineer to a C-suite executive, you adapt your message, set clear expectations, and drive alignment.
• Think about root causes, not just fixes — you're not satisfied with closing an escalation; you want to understand why it happened and prevent the next one.
• Designs bespoke solutions for non-standard situations — you don't rely on a playbook when the situation calls for something different; you apply creative problem-solving to design tailored approaches for unique customer situations while preserving trust and relationships throughout.
• Delivers superior customer service and builds trust in tough moments — you set clear expectations, communicate with confidence and empathy, and ensure every customer interaction — regardless of the situation — reflects professionalism, consistency, and respect, even when things get hard.
• Operates with urgency and autonomy — you assess the situation quickly, make decisions with minimal lead time, commit organizational resources when needed, and move with relentless focus on resolution even when faced with ambiguity and dynamic, shifting demands.
• Owns it end to end — you take personal accountability for outcomes, manage competing priorities with sound judgment, and proactively communicate status and escalate obstacles — never letting things fall through the cracks.