Manager, Lead Operations

athenahealth•Remote - NC, NC

11d•$97,000 - $165,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Manager, Lead Operations will serve as the operational owner and subject matter expert for the end-to-end lead management ecosystem, from lead acquisition and capture through enrichment, qualification, scoring, routing, sales handoff, disposition, and recycling. This person will be accountable for the health, accuracy, governance, and performance of lead flow across Marketing and Sales, including the organization's lead scoring and qualification models. The role will establish the business rules, operational controls, and measurement framework that determine how leads enter, progress through, and exit the lead lifecycle. This role combines marketing and revenue operations expertise, technical fluency, analytical problem-solving, cross-functional leadership, and people management. The ideal candidate can translate business needs into scalable operational solutions, partner effectively with Sales, Data Science, IT, Analytics, and Operations teams, identify and resolve breakdowns in lead flow, and lead a small team responsible for dependable, high-quality execution.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree or equivalent relevant experience.
5+ years of experience in Marketing Operations, Revenue Operations, Sales Operations, Demand Generation Operations, or a related discipline.
1+ years of people management experience or demonstrated experience leading, coaching, and developing others.
Demonstrated experience owning or playing a significant leadership role in a complex lead management ecosystem.
Experience managing lead processes including lead capture, enrichment, qualification, scoring, routing, assignment, sales handoff, disposition, and recycling.
Experience defining or managing lead lifecycle stages, qualification criteria, routing rules, SLAs, and operational governance.
Strong understanding of CRM and marketing automation platforms such as Salesforce, Marketo, HubSpot, Eloqua, Account Engagement, or similar technologies.
Experience working with lead scoring models, including behavioral and demographic scoring, predictive scoring, or machine learning-informed models.
Experience with lead-to-revenue reporting and funnel performance analysis, including the use of downstream outcomes to evaluate lead quality and operational effectiveness.
Ability to understand and discuss technical concepts including data flows, integrations, fields, business logic, APIs, data quality, and system dependencies.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to diagnose complex operational issues using data and translate findings into practical improvements.
Excellent communication and cross-functional leadership skills, with the ability to translate effectively between business stakeholders and technical teams.
Proven ability to manage competing priorities and drive work through complex cross-functional organizations.
Experience partnering directly with Data Science, Data Engineering, IT, Analytics, or Business Intelligence teams.
Familiarity with SQL, BI/reporting tools, data visualization, data warehouses, or modern marketing and revenue data architectures.
Experience supporting B2B demand generation and complex or multi-segment sales motions.
Experience with account-based marketing, account-level qualification, intent data, propensity models, or buying-group approaches.
Experience managing lead routing across multiple territories, segments, products, or sales teams.
Knowledge of data privacy, consent management, and marketing data governance.

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end lead lifecycle from capture and enrichment through qualification, scoring, routing, sales handoff, disposition, and recycling.
Establish and govern lead lifecycle definitions, qualification criteria, routing and assignment rules, SLAs, disposition processes, and other lead management standards.
Monitor lead flow health and proactively identify and resolve bottlenecks, routing issues, data quality problems, lead leakage, processing delays, and other operational gaps.
Continuously optimize lead workflows, integrations, business rules, and controls to improve reliability, speed, scalability, and conversion.
Partner with Sales Operations and Sales leadership to strengthen lead acceptance, follow-up, disposition, recycling, and closed-loop feedback between Marketing and Sales.
Serve as the business and operational owner of lead scoring and qualification models, ensuring they reflect go-to-market priorities, buyer behavior, and sales feedback.
Partner with Data Science and Analytics to evaluate model performance, recommend enhancements, validate changes, and manage testing and rollout.
Establish governance for scoring and qualification changes, including requirements, impact assessment, testing, documentation, and post-launch validation.
Define and monitor lead flow and funnel KPIs, connecting operational performance and lead quality to downstream outcomes such as sales acceptance, opportunity creation, pipeline, and conversion.
Use performance data and stakeholder feedback to identify opportunities to improve scoring, qualification, routing, and overall funnel effectiveness.
Serve as a key partner across Marketing, Sales Operations, Data Science, IT, Analytics, and other teams for lead flow, scoring, and qualification initiatives.
Translate business needs into clear requirements for automation, integrations, data, reporting, and system enhancements.
Lead root-cause analysis and cross-functional resolution of complex lead flow issues and coordinate testing and release readiness for changes affecting the lead lifecycle.
Evaluate upstream and downstream impacts of changes to protect data quality, reporting integrity, compliance, scalability, and business continuity.
Manage, coach, and develop a small team responsible for lead operations, campaign operations, data quality, or related functions.
Establish clear priorities, ownership, operating processes, documentation, and escalation paths for business-critical lead operations.
Manage the lead operations backlog and intake process, balancing production issues, optimization opportunities, technical debt, and strategic enhancements based on business impact and team capacity.
Build a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and proactive problem-solving while providing leadership with visibility into lead flow performance, risks, and priorities.

Benefits

health and financial benefits
commuter support
employee assistance programs
tuition assistance
employee resource groups
collaborative workspaces
dogs welcome in some offices
flexibility for work-life balance
sponsorship of events throughout the year, including book clubs, external speakers, and hackathons
company culture based on learning
support of an engaged team
inclusive environment where all employees are valued