German Speaking Senior Engagement Manager

Zendesk, Inc.; Greater London; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Zendesk, Inc. is seeking a Senior Engagement Manager to drive large-scale, high-value customer implementations across EMEA from mobilisation to go-live and transition. You will lead cross-functional teams, manage stakeholders from admins to C-suite, and shape delivery plans around CX, AI, and Zendesk product enhancements.

You will influence delivery methodologies, ensure value realization, and maintain governance across engagements, with a strong emphasis on risk management and timely delivery.

Qualifications

• Professional fluency in both English and German, with the ability to lead and deliver work confidently in both languages interchangeably
• 7+ years' experience in project or programme management, including demonstrable experience leading complex technology or SaaS implementation programmes

Responsibilities

• Lead large, complex implementation programmes for Zendesk's customers from mobilisation through go-live
• Deliver to agreed customer outcomes, milestones and commercial commitments
• Translate customer objectives into measurable delivery outcomes focusing on adoption and value realisation
• Coordinate multiple workstreams and cross-functional teams with clear roles and dependencies
• Establish programme governance, reporting, RAID management, and escalation paths
• Act as senior delivery connector across Professional Services, Pre-sales, Sales, Customer Success, Product and other teams
• Manage stakeholders at all levels, from admins to C-suite, including customers and delivery partners
• Take ownership of escalations and reconciliation plans
• Shape delivery standards to improve Professional Services operations at Zendesk
• Maintain autonomy to make decisions in ambiguous situations
• Maintain strong commercial control of engagements including budget and forecasting
• Identify opportunities to extend services engagements in collaboration with Sales and Customer Success

Skills

English-German fluency

Job description

Job Title: Senior Engagement Manager

Zendesk Professional Services is focused on maximising the impact and value of Zendesk software for both existing and new customers.

The Professional Services team works on projects across EMEA with customers of all sizes, from Commercial to Enterprise. Engagements range from new customer implementations, focused on delivering Zendesk at scale and transforming existing CX operations, to working with existing customers to further customise and enhance their use of Zendesk.

A Senior Engagement Manager at Zendesk plays a pivotal role in driving the success of our most complex and high-value customer implementation projects. The role involves leading complex, large-scale implementation programmes across EMEA, from mobilisation through to go-live and transition.

The role requires a strong balance of leadership, excellent communication skills and advanced project and programme management capabilities. You will lead distributed, cross-functional teams, influence senior customer stakeholders and steer complex engagements towards agreed customer outcomes. You should be a strong problem solver, able to manage competing priorities, make sound decisions and maintain momentum in ambiguous and time-sensitive situations.

You will also need strong technical fluency across CX and AI solutions, with the ability to use this understanding to shape delivery plans, minimise risks, challenge assumptions and understand the solution being delivered. Part of the role will focus on improving our delivery methodologies as Zendesk's product evolves, helping us deliver customer value more consistently, efficiently and at scale.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead large, complex and commercially significant implementation programmes for Zendesk's customers from mobilisation through to go-live
• Deliver to agreed customer outcomes, milestones and commercial commitments
• Translate customer business objectives into measurable delivery outcomes to ensure projects focus on adoption, operational readiness and value realisation, beyond just technical implementation and project commercials
• Apply strong technical fluency, to understand SaaS products, CX and AI solutions, integrations, data migration, voice, reporting and analytics, technical dependencies, custom applications and configuration. Use this understanding, not to deliver those project components, but to shape delivery plans, identify risks, challenge assumptions and support sound customer decisions.
• Coordinate multiple workstreams, cross-functional delivery teams, internal specialists, partners and subcontractors, ensuring roles, capacity, responsibilities and dependencies are clear and actively managed
• Establish appropriate programme governance, including delivery cadence, executive reporting, RAID management, decision tracking and escalation paths. Anticipate delivery risks and lead a solution-oriented approach to resolving them quickly
• Act as the senior delivery connector across Professional Services, Pre‑sales, Sales, Customer Success, Product and other internal teams, ensuring that commitments made during the sales process translate into deliverable plans and successful customer outcomes
• Manage and influence stakeholders at all levels, from system administrators and SMEs to C‑suite leaders, including customers, internal teams and delivery partners
• Take ownership of escalations and associated recovery plans
• Shape delivery standards to continually improve Professional Services operations at Zendesk
• Operate with a high degree of autonomy and be able to make sound recommendations and decisions in ambiguous situations
• Maintain strong commercial control of assigned engagements, including budget, margin, forecasting, scope, assumptions, change control and revenue performance
• Identify opportunities to extend or expand services engagements and partner with Sales and Customer Success on appropriate follow‑on work, while managing scope, assumptions and change requests
• Occasionally support pre‑sales teams in scoping and shaping future services projects and sharing previous successful engagement experiences
• Coach and support less experienced team members, contributing to capability development, delivery quality and a culture of continuous improvement
• Be proactive about expanding your knowledge of Zendesk's product and latest releases
• Maintain a strong understanding of CX and AI trends, customer operating models and Zendesk's product direction
• Maintain accurate project, resource, financial and forecasting information in Zendesk's Professional Services systems, including resource management, budget control and billing

Qualifications:

• Professional fluency in both English and German, with the ability to lead and deliver work confidently in both languages interchangeably
• 7+ years' experience in project or programme management, including demonstrable experience leading complex technology or SaaS implementation programmes
• Experience