Director of Customer Engagement

Firestorm•San Diego, CA

8h•$165,000 - $195,000•Onsite

About The Position

Firestorm is looking to hire the Director of Customer Engagement who will lead the customer-facing arm of the Mission Success function. You will build and lead the Mission Success Manager (MSM) team. You will also own the 30/60/90 customer cadence across the account portfolio; and translate field-derived signal into closed-loop customer responses within the published Service Level Agreement (SLA). This is a founder-adjacent leadership role: you will set the customer-experience standard for a defense-tech company at Series B level, in front of operators who decide vendor credibility in the first 72 hours of fielding.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business Administration, Marketing, Communications or equivalent field. In lieu of degree 15 years of progressive relevant experience
U.S. Citizenship required due to ITAR regulations & the ability to obtain and maintain a Department of Defense (DoD) security clearance
10+ years customer success, account management, or post-sales leadership in defense-tech, dual-use hardware, government services, and/or related sector with U.S. military or government customers.
Experience leading customer-facing teams; hired or grown at least one prior customer success / account team.
Experience converting customer accounts from CapEx wins to recurring revenue or follow-on contract awards.
Experience building customer-facing operating discipline (30/60/90 cadences, CSAT measurement, renewal motions).
Excellent written and verbal communication; comfort at the executive-customer interface (O-5 / GS-14 and above).

Nice To Haves

Prior U.S. military service or 5+ years working with U.S. defense customers at the operator level.
Active Secret clearance at hire (Firestorm will sponsor); Top Secret eligibility preferred.
Experience with defense-tech contract types (Other Transaction Authority (OTA), Foreign Military Sales (FMS), Foreign Comparative Testing (FCT), Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA)).
Familiarity with operational unit types served (U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM), U.S. Forces Korea (USFK)).

Responsibilities

Lead the MSM team as it stands up, ensuring a growth path to additional MSMs as portfolio scales.
Own the 30/60/90-day customer cadence across the account portfolio; ensure single-throat-per-account discipline.
Translate Voice of Customer (VOC) signal into closed-loop customer responses within the 14-day SLA, even when the response is "not in scope for this fiscal year."
Partner with the Product Engineer counterparts: (xCell General Manager), Tempest (Head of Product), and Squall (Project Manager) on monthly VOC triage and quarterly roadmap visibility cadence.
Partner with Program Managers and the Business Development account owners in a three-cornered customer-account relationship: contract execution (PM), customer experience (MSM), commercial relationship (BD).
Build the customer-success operational rhythm: account scorecards, customer satisfaction (CSAT) measurement, renewal posture, expansion conversation framework.
Represent Mission Success in the monthly Warranty & Field Quality Review (W&FQR) and in cross-functional forums affecting customer experience.
Direct interface with the customer at Severity-1 (Sev-1) events; arbiter on customer-impact decisions affecting contract terms or reference ability.
Perform other duties as required

Benefits

Relocation assistance is available
Comprehensive medical, dental, and visions plans
401(k) Retirement Savings Plan
Equity grants for new hires
Unlimited PTO
Extremely generous company holiday calendar, including holiday hiatuses in July & December.
Generous Parental Leave
Lifestyle Spending Account
FSA
DCFSA
HSA
Hospital Indemnity insurance
Critical Illness insurance
Accident insurance
Basic Life/AD&D, short-term and long-term disability insurance, 100% covered by Firestorm.
Option to purchase additional life insurance for you and your family.
Mental Health Resources: We provide free mental health resources 24/7 including therapy and more.
Additional work-life services, such as free legal and financial support, are available.