This role serves as the operational leader for critical issues affecting customers, ensuring that escalations are triaged effectively, routed to the appropriate teams, communicated consistently, and driven to resolution. The Senior Escalation Manager will also own post-incident governance, including Root Cause Analysis (RCA) tracking, corrective action management, and escalation program reporting.
The successful candidate combines a strong technical support background with exceptional program management, communication, and stakeholder management skills. They understand how enterprise customers experience problems, can effectively partner with engineering teams during high-pressure situations, and drive accountability across organizations to achieve customer outcomes.
This role is ideal for someone who has grown through Technical Support, Escalation Management, Technical Account Management, or Incident Management and wants to influence product and engineering execution at scale.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
Own the Escalation Lifecycle
Act as the central coordinator for all escalations entering the Product & Engineering organization.
Evaluate incoming escalation requests and ensure proper severity classification.
Route issues to the appropriate Product, Engineering, Cloud Operations, Security, or Platform teams.
Establish and maintain ownership, accountability, and visibility throughout the escalation lifecycle.
Monitor escalation progress and proactively remove blockers.
Drive Cross-Functional Resolution
Lead cross-functional meetings focused on critical customer issues.
Coordinate activities across Support, Customer Success, Product Management, Engineering, SRE, Operations, and Leadership.
Drive alignment on mitigation plans, customer commitments, and resolution strategies.
Escalate unresolved blockers to leadership when needed.
Manage Executive and Customer Escalations
Provide structured executive updates for high-priority issues.
Ensure field teams have timely and accurate information to communicate with customers.
Partner with Customer Success and Support leadership to manage high-visibility customer situations.
Represent Product & Engineering interests while maintaining customer advocacy.
Own RCA and Corrective Action Governance
Manage the Root Cause Analysis program for escalated incidents.
Ensure RCA timelines, reviews, approvals, and customer commitments are met.
Track corrective and preventative actions through completion.
Identify recurring issue patterns and systemic risks.
Partner with engineering leaders to drive long-term improvements and prevent recurrence.
Build Operational Excellence
Develop escalation metrics, dashboards, and executive reporting.
Measure escalation trends, aging, response times, SLA adherence, RCA completion, and corrective action closure.
Establish consistent escalation processes, standards, and governance.
Drive continuous improvement initiatives that improve customer experience and operational efficiency.
YOUR TOOLKIT
Required
7+ years of experience in one or more of the following
Technical Support
Escalation Management
Technical Account Management
Incident Management
Customer Success Engineering
Technical Program Management
Experience managing enterprise customer escalations.
Strong understanding of SaaS products, cloud platforms, and enterprise software environments.
Proven ability to coordinate work across multiple technical organizations.
Experience leading cross-functional initiatives without direct authority.
Exceptional communication and executive presentation skills.
Experience driving Root Cause Analysis programs and post-incident reviews.
Strong organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
Ability to thrive in fast-paced, ambiguous, and high-pressure situations.
Preferred
Previous experience as
Escalation Manager
Major Incident Manager
Support Manager
Senior Support Engineer
Technical Account Manager
Customer Success Engineer
Experience working directly with Product Management and Engineering organizations.
Knowledge of incident management frameworks, ITIL, SRE, or operational excellence practices.
Experience with Jira, Salesforce, ServiceNow, PagerDuty, Zendesk, or similar systems.
Experience supporting enterprise cybersecurity, cloud, infrastructure, or SaaS products.
SUCCESS METRICS
The Senior Escalation Manager will be measured on
Escalation acknowledgment and response SLA attainment.
Escalation aging and time-to-resolution.
RCA completion within defined timelines.
Corrective and preventative action closure rates.
Reduction in repeat incidents and recurring escalations.
Executive and stakeholder satisfaction.
Customer satisfaction during and following escalations.
Visibility and predictability of Product & Engineering commitments.
WHAT GREAT LOOKS LIKE
A successful Escalation Manager acts as the "Product Manager of the Problem."
They bring clarity to chaotic situations, align multiple teams around customer outcomes, maintain executive visibility, drive ownership across organizations, and ensure every escalation results in meaningful learning and systemic improvement.
They are equally comfortable speaking with
A Support Engineer investigating a case.
A Director of Engineering managing resources.
A VP reviewing customer impact.
A strategic customer expecting answers and accountability.
Above all, they ensure that customer-impacting issues receive the focus, urgency, and operational rigor necessary to protect customer trust and accelerate resolution.
This position involves access to software/technology that is subject to U.S. export controls. Any job offer made will be contingent upon the applicant’s capacity to serve in compliance with U.S. export controls
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Our Commitment
Illumio believes that an environment of unique backgrounds, experiences, viewpoints, and individual contributions creates a culture of belonging, drives our future, and makes us stronger together in support of our customers and their success.
All official job offers from our company are extended directly by our recruitment team and will be sent through an official E-Signature document for your review and signature. Please be aware that we do not ask for any personal information in the process of extending offers of employment, such as financial details or social security numbers. Upon acceptance of any offer, we will request such information as part of the onboarding process prior to or on your first day of employment, and only after completing a background check through an authorized third-party vendor. If you receive any communication asking for personal details outside of these processes, please contact us immediately to verify the authenticity of the request. Your security is important to us, and we are committed to a safe and transparent hiring experience.
For roles in San Francisco and Los Angeles: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, Illumio will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
