Escalation Manager

Introduction
At IBM, work is more than a job – it’s a calling: To build. To design. To code. To consult. To think along with clients and sell. To make markets. To invent. To collaborate. Not just to do something better, but to attempt things you’ve never thought possible. Are you ready to lead in this new era of technology and solve some of the world’s most challenging problems? If so, let's talk.

Your Role and Responsibilities

IBM Support for webMethods and Streamsets is responsible for improving the overall customer experience, and includes functions such as Support, New Product Introduction, and Critical Customer Escalation Management. One important aspect of customer experience is handling critical customer situations. These situations are normally a combination of challenges in different dimensions: project management, product issues, ownership, scope, etc. To handle these complex situations professionally, IBM has a Critical Customer Escalation Management team, with Escalation Managers based all over the world. As an Escalation Manager, you will not only be engaged in a reactive manner to de-escalate critical customer situations, but you might also be engaged proactively with lighthouse customer projects to avoid escalations. From both engagement types, you will drive the Lessons Learned process, deriving internal and external follow-up recommendations.

Responsibilities as Escalation Manager

• Identify the stakeholders required to successfully de-escalate the situation
• Take on responsibility for internal and external communication during the escalation
• Collect all issues leading to the escalation and develop an action plan to resolve them
• Coordinate and follow-up on all activities that are part of the action plan
• Provide regular status reporting to stakeholders, including the project team and executive management
• Define escalation completion criteria
• Drive internal follow-up activities to avoid similar situations in the future
• Identify opportunities to turn the escalation into a success story, including creating upsell opportunities
• Represent the Critical Customer Escalation Management team in internal management alignments and planning meetings

Required Technical and Professional Expertise

• 3-5 years’ experience in handling critical customer situations
• Excellent communication skills, also in front of senior management, both internally and on the customer side
• Outstanding analytical capabilities to decompose the complex situation into its root causes
• Ability to judge situations in a very objective manner
• Project management skills to drive the de-escalation as a project
• Stay calm also in very critical situations
• Flexibility to take on responsibility for an escalation and, if needed, to go onsite
• Good overview of IT system landscapes and on IBM products is a plus

Preferred Technical and Professional Expertise

Experience in Escalation Management in a complex setting.