SM Escalation (Karnataka)

Careernet; India; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 7,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Careernet is seeking a Senior Manager of Escalations Management to lead a team handling high-risk, high-visibility customer issues. You will own the end-to-end escalations process and build the team, playbooks, and systems to prevent recurrence.

You will partner with Legal, Trust & Safety, Quality, Product, and senior leadership on cases with regulatory, PR, or executive-level risk, driving root cause resolution and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in customer service, escalations, or complaints management.
• 2+ years leading a team.
• Experience handling high-stakes, high-visibility, or legally sensitive issues.
• Robust judgment under pressure to assess risk and decide when to elevate.
• Experience building or improving escalations processes, playbooks, or SLAs.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including with senior leadership.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration with Legal, Trust & Safety, Quality, Product.
• Data-driven approach to identifying root causes and trends in escalation volume.
• Calm, solutions-oriented approach to conflict and de-escalation.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end escalations process intake, triage, ownership assignment, resolution, and post-resolution follow-up across all channels.
• Build and lead a team of Escalations Managers/Specialists; hire, coach, and develop the team, and set clear ownership and response-time standards.
• Personally own or oversee resolution of the highest-risk cases, including executive escalations, regulatory or legal complaints, PR-sensitive issues, and social media flare-ups.
• Define and monitor escalation SLAs (response time, resolution time, reopen rate) and report performance to leadership.
• Partner with Quality, Training, and frontline Customer Service leadership to reduce escalation volume by identifying and closing root causes
• Build and maintain escalation playbooks and decision trees for common and emerging issue types, including guidance on when and how to involve Legal, Trust & Safety, or executive stakeholders
• Serve as the senior point of contact for cross-functional partners (Legal, Trust & Safety, Product, Comms) on escalated cases requiring their input.
• Conduct root-cause analysis and post-mortems on major escalations, and drive corrective action plans with the relevant teams.
• Track escalation trends and emerging risk patterns, and proactively flag systemic issues to leadership before they scale.
• Own escalations reporting and present regular updates on volume, themes, and resolution outcomes to senior leadership.

Skills

Escalations management

Team leadership

Stakeholder communication

Root-cause analysis

Cross-functional collaboration

Data-driven problem solving

Job description

About the Role

We're looking for a Senior Manager of Escalations Management to lead the team that handles our most complex, high-risk, and high-visibility customer issues. You'll own the end-to-end escalations process from intake and triage to resolution and root-cause follow-up and build the team, playbooks, and systems that keep escalations from recurring. You'll report to the [Director of Customer Service Operations] and work closely with Quality, Legal, Trust & Safety, Product, and senior leadership on cases that carry legal, regulatory, PR, or executive-level risk.

What You'll Do

• Own the end-to-end escalations process intake, triage, ownership assignment, resolution, and post-resolution follow-up across all channels.
• Build and lead a team of Escalations Managers/Specialists; hire, coach, and develop the team, and set clear ownership and response-time standards.
• Personally own or oversee resolution of the highest-risk cases, including executive escalations, regulatory or legal complaints, PR-sensitive issues, and social media flare-ups.
• Define and monitor escalation SLAs (response time, resolution time, reopen rate) and report performance to leadership.
• Partner with Quality, Training, and frontline Customer Service leadership to reduce escalation volume by identifying and closing root causes
• Build and maintain escalation playbooks and decision trees for common and emerging issue types, including guidance on when and how to involve Legal, Trust & Safety, or executive stakeholders
• Serve as the senior point of contact for cross-functional partners (Legal, Trust & Safety, Product, Comms) on escalated cases requiring their input.
• Conduct root-cause analysis and post-mortems on major escalations, and drive corrective action plans with the relevant teams.
• Track escalation trends and emerging risk patterns, and proactively flag systemic issues to leadership before they scale.
• Own escalations reporting and present regular updates on volume, themes, and resolution outcomes to senior leadership.

What You'll Bring

• 6+ years of experience in customer service, escalations, or complaints management, including 2+ years leading a team.
• A track record of successfully managing high-stakes, high-visibility, or legally/reputationally sensitive customer issues.
• Robust judgment under pressure able to assess risk, make quick decisions, and know when to elevate further.
• Experience building or improving escalations processes, playbooks, or SLAs.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience communicating directly with senior leadership or executives on sensitive cases.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration skills, particularly with Legal, Trust & Safety, Quality, and Product.
• Data-driven approach to identifying root causes and trends in escalation volume.
• A calm, solutions-oriented approach to conflict and de-escalation. .