Senior Director, Technical Support

Zendesk•Madison, WI

8d•$174,000 - $260,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Zendesk is seeking an experienced, strategic Senior Director to lead its Technical Support organization, which handles tickets escalated to human agents after the AI tier. The role sets the organization’s operating strategy, develops technical leaders, and ensures customers receive reliable, high-quality technical resolutions while improving operational efficiency and scalability. A central focus is guiding the cultural and operational transition of human support agents into a proactive workforce aligned with AI teams. The Senior Director leads a multi-layered organization through managers and directors; owns service performance across customer segments and channels; and establishes measures for customer experience, resolution quality, service levels, capacity, and business impact. The role partners across Sales, Customer Success, Product, Engineering, and Finance to align service commitments with customer needs, commercial strategy, and product priorities. It also establishes global capacity planning, forecasting, staffing, and escalation models; evolves support offerings; and uses customer and operational insights to influence company-wide improvements. The role communicates performance, risks, investment needs, and opportunities to executive leadership, represents customers and the support organization in senior-level discussions, and leads continuous improvement and organizational change. It develops workforce management and knowledge-management practices and works closely with AI and product teams to reshape human-AI workflows and evolve support toward proactive service. The position is hybrid, with in-person collaboration at Zendesk offices and flexibility to work remotely for part of the week. The US annualized base salary range is $174,000–$260,000; the position may also be eligible for bonus, benefits, or related incentives.

Requirements

15+ years of leadership experience in technical support, customer support, or service delivery within a high-growth SaaS or enterprise technology company.
Proven experience as a senior executive leading leaders and scaling large, complex global organizations through growth and strategic transformations.
Demonstrated success setting an enterprise vision and translating strategy into operating plans and measurable business outcomes.
Strong understanding of support operations, customer experience, capacity planning, service-level management, and performance metrics.
Experience partnering with Sales, Customer Success, Product, Engineering, and Finance, including senior executives.
Commercial acumen and executive judgment to balance global customer commitments, service quality, workforce dynamics, and multi-million-dollar operating budgets.
Excellent communication, executive presence, and stakeholder-management skills, including explaining trade-offs and recommending a path forward.
Strong people leadership, talent development, and organizational design capabilities.
Ability to lead distributed teams across regions and work effectively across time zones; flexibility may be needed for critical customer or business needs.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.
Strong expertise and proven experience integrating AI and automation into technical support operations, including driving cultural change and evolving agent roles toward proactive engagement.
Strategic mindset and track record of evolving support organizations toward proactive service models and co-designing automated workflows with AI product teams.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree.

Responsibilities

Set the Technical Support strategy and operating model, translating company priorities into clear plans, outcomes, and accountabilities.
Lead and develop a multi-layered organization through managers and directors, fostering trust, high performance, inclusion, and continuous learning.
Own service performance across customer segments and channels, combining AI-driven tools and automation with human expertise.
Define and evolve measures of Technical Support’s value and health, including customer experience, resolution quality, service levels, capacity, and business impact.
Partner with Sales, Customer Success, Product, Engineering, and Finance to align coverage and service commitments with customer needs, commercial strategy, and product priorities.
Establish scalable global capacity planning, forecasting, staffing, and escalation models.
Guide the design and evolution of Technical Support offerings and ensure service commitments are clear, deliverable, and differentiated.
Use customer and operational insights to identify systemic product or process issues, influence prioritization, and improve company-wide outcomes.
Communicate performance, risks, investment needs, and opportunities to executive leadership with clear recommendations and options.
Lead organizational change and continuous improvement while protecting employee experience and customer trust.
Represent customers and the support organization in senior-level discussions, including complex escalations and strategic customer reviews.
Stay current on support, SaaS, AI integration, and service-delivery practices and apply relevant insights and AI tools to operational strategy.
Lead the cultural and operational transition of human support agents into a proactive, AI-aligned workforce in partnership with AI teams.
Develop a deep understanding of workforce management and align staffing strategies with operational demand.
Champion knowledge-management practices and coordinate the sharing and capture of support insights across teams.
Partner with AI development and product teams to reshape workflows, refine human-AI interactions, and optimize service delivery.