Key Responsibilities

1. Escalation Strategy & Leadership

• Own the escalation management framework, governance model, and operating cadence
• Lead resolution of the most critical, enterprise-level customer escalations
• Serve as escalation point for executive-level and high-risk customer situations
• Establish prioritization criteria and escalation thresholds across the organization
• Facilitate and lead cross-functional “war rooms” and executive updates

2. Team Leadership & Capability Building

• Hire, develop, and lead a high-performing customer success / escalation team
• Define roles, responsibilities, and career progression within the function
• Coach team members on stakeholder management, root cause analysis, and customer engagement
• Foster a culture of accountability, urgency, and customer-centricity

3. Voice of the Customer (VoC) Strategy

• Design and operationalize VoC programs across multiple channels
• Aggregate and synthesize customer insights into actionable business intelligence
• Translate feedback into strategic recommendations for senior leadership
• Partner with Product, Quality, and Commercial leaders to ensure customer insights influence roadmap and decision-making
• Elevate customer insights visibility at the executive level

4. Cross-Functional Leadership & Alignment

• Establish strong partnerships across:
  • Quality & Regulatory (complaints, CAPA, adverse events)
  • Customer Service & Commercial Operations
  • Technical Support & Engineering
  • Field Service & Clinical teams
  • Supply Chain & Manufacturing
  • Sales & Account Management
• Drive accountability and alignment for issue resolution timelines and outcomes
• Influence senior stakeholders to prioritize customer-impacting initiatives

5. Process Excellence & Continuous Improvement

• Lead root cause analysis efforts for systemic issues and recurring escalations
• Build and standardize SOPs for escalation handling and communication
• Drive process optimization initiatives leveraging Lean / Six Sigma principles
• Implement scalable tools, dashboards, and reporting to improve visibility and performance
• Reduce recurrence rates and improve overall customer experience

6. Customer Communication & Executive Engagement

• Define standards for customer communication during escalations
• Support and lead high-impact, executive-level customer interactions
• Ensure consistent, transparent messaging across all customer touchpoints
• Protect, rebuild, and strengthen customer relationships in critical situations

Qualifications

Required

• 10–15+ years of experience in:
  • Customer success, quality, operations, or commercial roles within medical device / healthcare
• 3–5+ years of people leadership experience
• Deep understanding of:
  • Clinical customers (hospitals, physicians, IDNs)
  • Regulatory and quality systems (complaints, CAPA processes)
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives
• Strong executive presence and stakeholder influence
• Experience with ERP/CRM systems (e.g., SAP S4HANA, Salesforce)

Preferred

• Lean / Six Sigma certification or equivalent process improvement experience
• Experience building or scaling customer success or escalation management functions
• Familiarity with complaint handling, audit readiness, and regulatory environments

Key Competencies

• Strategic mindset with ability to translate insights into action
• Strong leadership and team development capabilities
• Executive-level communication and influencing skills
• Customer-first mindset with high empathy and urgency
• Structured problem-solving and data-driven decision making
• Ability to operate effectively in high-pressure environments