Sr. Technical Escalation Manager

Customers trust the Alation Data Intelligence Platform for self-service analytics, cloud transformation, data governance, and AI-ready data, fostering data-driven innovation at scale. With more than $340M in funding – valued at over $1.7 billion and nearly 600 customers, including 40% of the Fortune 100 — Alation helps organizations realize value from data and AI initiatives.

Alation has been recognized in 2024 as one of Inc. Magazine's Best Workplaces for the fifth time, a testament to our commitment to creating an inclusive, innovative, and collaborative environment. 

Collaboration is at the forefront of everything we do. We strive to bring diverse perspectives together and empower each team member to contribute their unique strengths to live out our values each day. These are: Move the Ball, Build for the Long Term, Listen Like You’re Wrong, and Measure Through Customer Impact. 

Joining Alation means being part of a fast-paced, high-growth company where every voice matters, and where we’re shaping the future of data intelligence with AI-ready data. 

Join us on our journey to build a world where data culture thrives and curiosity is celebrated each day!

Job Description:

The Technical Escalation Manager (TEM) at Alation is a pivotal role focused on removing technical blockers and driving value realization of Alation’s Data Intelligence platform. A TEM partners with an Account Manager (AM) for an assigned portfolio of customers and is responsible for monitoring, mitigating, and improving the technical health of the customer base.  Combining strong technical acumen, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills, the TEM maximizes customer satisfaction, retention, and growth while championing the customer's voice across internal teams. This role requires strong communication skills and an empathetic mindset, helping customers overcome challenges and deeply leverage Alation’s platform to achieve their data program goals.

The ideal candidate thrives in strategic thinking, project management, and issue resolution, partnering with Alation program teams, sponsors, and executives. This individual collaborates across teams to identify and remove barriers to customer success, enabling them to maximize the business value of Alation. As part of Alation’s Customer Solutions organization, the TEM’s mission is to help customers overcome technical hurdles, driving measurable business outcomes and maximizing their overall customer experience

What You'll Do:

• Escalation Management: Align with a given region and serve as the primary point of contact for identifying and raising escalations, responsible for owning the overall escalation engagement and driving to close.

• Product Knowledge: Possess deep knowledge of Alation's capabilities, effectively demonstrating value and providing expert guidance aligned with customer needs. Provide workarounds, where appropriate, to allow them to effectively leverage product capabilities to derive business value.

• Technical Troubleshooting: Through various ticketing systems, properly document customer issues and follow standardized support procedures.  Ensure technical issues are tied to business outcomes and properly document customer impact.

• Problem-Solving & Technical Acumen: Through knowledge of Alation, the modern data stack, ticketing systems, and data & analytics technologies, address complex technical or business issues to maximize customer satisfaction. Utilize data and analytics tools to analyze customer usage patterns and provide insights for improving customer engagement.

• Account Health Management: Proactively manage the account health of customers, including monitoring tickets, executive business reviews, and other customer communications to ensure optimal account health.

• Industry Expertise: Solid grasp of data management and governance principles, practices, and solutions, and able to guide customers. 

• Risk Mitigation & Customer Growth:  Work to proactively identify and mitigate renewal risks. Collaborate with internal teams to remediate. Partner closely with Account Management, ensuring customer retention and growth.

• Voice of the Customer: Serve as an advocate for the customer within Alation.  Be the voice of the customer as you partner with support, engineering, product, and sales to shape product development and deliver a best-in-class customer experience.

You Should Have:

• Minimum five years of experience working in a Technical Support, Technical Services, Escalation/Incident management role

• At least three years of providing Customer Success, Customer Success Engineering, Escalation Management, Project Management, Technical Account Management, or Technical Support of complex distributed systems in a business-critical context

• Clear, concise verbal and written communication skills, focused on understanding customer perspective, documenting impact, and advertising appropriately to senior leadership

• Empathetic communication and mediation skills

• Adopt regional preferences and communication styles, as candidates will be working with team members & customers across the globe.

• A solid technical background in enterprise software applications, with an appreciation of how customer usage influences the product roadmap

• Ability and desire to work in a high-pressure environment where maintaining composure and critical thought are crucial to success

• A passion to continually improve the escalation framework and processes

• You are a team player, and you can work in a fast-paced environment with a positive and adaptable approach

• Open to working in shifts to align with global customer needs

If you are passionate about customer success and driving data intelligence initiatives, this role offers an exciting opportunity to contribute to Alation's growth.

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Compensation Pay Range:

Salary Information

The base salary range is specific to the United States.  The salary of the final candidate selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to internal equity, experience, education, work location, specialty and training.  If the final candidate has a different level of experience, the base salary target range may be lower or higher than what is published.

Alation, Inc. is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to that individual’s race, color, religion or creed, national origin or ancestry, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, veteran status, genetic information, ethnicity, citizenship, or any other characteristic protected by law.                                   
 

The Company will strive to provide reasonable accommodations to permit qualified applicants who have a need for an accommodation to participate in the hiring process (e.g., accommodations for a job interview) if so requested.  
 

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