Sr. Director, Mission Critical Support

Okta•San Francisco, CA

3h•Hybrid

About The Position

As the Senior Director of Mission Critical Support, you are a crucial executive leader within the Larger Enterprise support organization, reporting directly to the Vice President of Supportability, Escalations, Mission Critical, and Trust. You will lead a highly strategic, global team dedicated to driving a premier level of service that helps our top-tier customers be successful at achieving their strategic outcomes. You will maintain a single-minded focus on ensuring our customers receive a differentiated, world-class support experience while extracting maximum value from their Okta investment. The ideal candidate is a seasoned, business-minded executive with a proven track record of leading mission-critical support teams, driving operational excellence, and serving as a strategic partner to the Go-To-Market (GTM) engine in a fast-paced, high-growth enterprise software company (preferably in the security space). Employing both a strategic visionary mindset and a rigorous operational approach is a must. You will play a pivotal role in helping to drive the shift of this business unit to operate as a P&L, designing a premier service experience, and acting as an executive sponsor across complex, multi-year programs and sales motions.

Requirements

15+ years of industry experience with strong exposure to Customer Support, Professional Services, or Customer Success in a software, SaaS, or systems development environment.
8+ years of leadership experience managing highly strategic, global teams in a fast-paced, enterprise-level environment, including proven experience managing managers/directors.
Demonstrated experience managing budgets, forecasting, and driving the transition toward (or actively running) a P&L for premium service or support offerings.
Deep experience partnering with sales and marketing teams, participating in customer pitches, and driving value-focused service motions.
Enterprise program management experience—managing complex, global initiatives from inception to successful value realization.
Executive Leadership, P&L Experience, Customer Relations, Organizational Design, Data Analysis, Effective Communication, Critical Thinking, Business Insight, and Technical Curiosity.
The desire and ability to operate strategically at the 10,000-foot level, while retaining the ability to roll up your sleeves and get into the trenches when the mission requires it.
Experience defining and scaling support processes in a major SaaS company (e.g., SFDC, ServiceNow, Twilio, Netsuite, Workday, etc.).
Outstanding executive presence and communication skills (presentation, written, and verbal) to interact with C-suite customers and internal boards.
Strong technical affinity; experience working hand-in-hand with software, test, and/or system engineering leaders. Familiarity with software development lifecycles, including Agile/Scrum.
Thrives in a fast-paced environment with a high rate of change and ambiguity.

Nice To Haves

Master's/MBA degree strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Help drive the shift of the Mission Critical Support organization toward a P&L structure. Transition the current model into a sustainable business unit, balancing resource investments with the delivery of a highly differentiated, premium service offering.
Partner closely with the Go-To-Market (GTM) and Sales organizations to integrate premium support offerings into the core sales motion. Act as an executive sponsor during pre-sales, expansions, and renewals to drive premium support attach rates and articulate business value and ROI to C-level customers.
Drive the strategic vision, market research, and competitive analysis to define and refine mission-critical support service offerings, building a premier level of service tailored to driving successful strategic outcomes for our top customers.
Design and scale proactive support and governance methodologies to deliver personalized, high-touch support to critical customers. Establish frameworks for support plans, health checks, risk mitigation, and executive reporting cadences.
Develop and evaluate advanced measurement criteria to assess organizational health, including Customer Satisfaction (CSAT/NPS), Net Retention Rate (NRR), operating efficiency, premium support attach rates, and overall value delivered to top accounts.
Direct management responsibilities for a highly strategic, global team, including managing Directors and Managers. Foster a culture of high performance, accountability, and morale.
Define multi-year organizational strategies and set quarterly OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) that align with overarching corporate objectives.
Attract, hire, develop, and retain top talent across all functional roles. Provide executive coaching, ongoing performance feedback, and succession planning.
Advocate for your organization to drive global visibility. Collaborate across boundaries on enterprise-wide process improvements, systemic customer concerns, and localized business objectives.
Serve as the ultimate point of escalation for key accounts and critical issue management, engaging directly with customer executives to rebuild trust and map out resolution strategies.
Build and maintain deep cross-functional alignment with Product, Sales, Professional Services, and Customer Success Management.
Anticipate and mitigate enterprise-level risks by leveraging industry experience, maintaining close involvement with macro-organizational challenges, and keeping a firm grasp on the big picture.