Critical Support Manager - Escalations

Stripe; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Stripe is seeking a strategic leader to build and run the Critical Support function. You will own the strategy, operating model, and cross-functional partnerships to resolve highly escalated user issues with urgency and impact.

You will guide a high-performing team of escalation specialists, developing product and process expertise to improve support systems and overall product quality. You will pair strategic thinking with hands-on leadership, mentoring the team, and advocating for a

Qualifications

• 8+ years of direct people management experience with frontline specialists or managers.
• Experience leading operational teams in high-growth tech.
• Experience driving large-scale process improvements and program management.
• Strong ability to influence cross-functional teams and drive progress for users.
• Proven track record of data-driven decision making.
• Willingness to contribute to front-line work when needed.

Responsibilities

• Design and deliver scalable user support by partnering with Product, Engineering, Sales, Risk.
• Co-own and drive Critical Support strategy and multi-quarter roadmaps.
• Act as trusted partner to Sales, Account Management, Product, Engineering, Risk, and executives.
• Drive operational delivery and process improvements to mitigate risk and improve efficiency.
• Maintain metrics and provide regular performance reports.
• Build cross-functional ties and position Critical Support as a key unblocker and insights source.
• Set clear goals, provide feedback, and develop team members.
• Foster happiness, growth, and a customer-centric culture.
• Lead organizational enhancements through recruiting, training, and policy writing.

Skills

People leadership

Operational leadership

Escalation management

Stakeholder management

Data-driven decisions

Front-line work

Job description

Who we are About the company

the company is a financial infrastructure platform for businesses. Millions of companies - from the world’s largest enterprises to the most ambitious startups - use the company to accept payments, grow their revenue, and accelerate new business opportunities. Our mission is to increase the GDP of the internet, and we have a staggering amount of work ahead. That means you have an unprecedented opportunity to put the global economy within everyone's reach while doing the most important work of your career.

About the team

The Product Support team directly supports our largest and fastest growing users, partnering with them to grow their business. We actively seek and capitalize on opportunities to meet and exceed their service expectations, working to impress the trendsetters and remove obstacles from their path. The team is there when users need us but also there proactively - before they even realize they need support. The Critical Support team exists within Product Support to help address the most escalated user issues. This team responds to users who have sent their issue or concerns to a member of their the company account team or to a the company executive. We own the resolution of the immediate issue at hand, as well as ensuring that the factors that led to the escalation are addressed and remediated.

Ultimately, these cases often shine a light on points of failures within the company, and the team has the opportunity to create transformative user experiences, while also helping edit the company to rectify the structural issues that resulted in the escalation in the first place.This is a high visibility, high impact role, with the responsibility to work with executives users and cross functional stakeholders, all while helping shape the evolution of this team.

What you’ll do

We are looking for a strategic leader to continue to build and lead Critical Support as the company’s ultimate. You will own the strategy, operating model, and cross-functional partnerships that enable the company to resolve the most severe and consequential user issues with urgency, judgment, and lasting impact on the company’s product and processes. You will equally wear a strategic and operational hat. You will lead a high performing team of escalations specialists to deliver exceptional user experiences. This team goes beyond basic troubleshooting—it's about developing a team of product and process expertise with analytical mindset and project management skills to strategically improve our support systems, processes, and product quality. You will play a key role to cultivate the happiness of their team through clear goal setting, feedback mechanism, mentoring, and advocacy within the organization.

Responsibilities

• Guide the organization to design and deliver scalable user support by partnering effectively with cross functional stakeholders across Product, Engineering and broader teams such Sales (Go-To-Market), Risk etc as needed
• Co-own & drive Critical Support strategy, operating model, and multi-quarter roadmap development that meets or exceeds the company’s users and internal stakeholders expectations towards critical support experience
• Act as a trusted partner to Sales, Account Management, Product, Engineering, Risk, and executive leadership during high-stakes user situations.
• Drive strong operational delivery and process improvement helping to mitigate risk while balancing operational efficiency and user impact
• Maintain metrics and analysis of team performance, and provide regular reporting on team performance in the form of written analysis and performance reports
• Develop strong ties with cross-functional teams and position the Critical Support team to act as ultimate unblocking force for users as well as source of the insights on the company’s product and process.
• Set clear goals and directions, and provide regular feedback on team members’ performance
• Ensure team members are happy, effective, and growing in their career and new work experiences
• Transmit and foster our values, serving as a beacon of the company’s user-centric philosophy and culture of transparency, empathy, inclusion, and empowerment
• Help build the organization through management projects such as recruiting, training, writing team policies, defining team processes, or other organizational improvements

Who you are

We're looking for someone who meets the minimum requirements to be considered for the role. If you meet these requirements, you are encouraged to apply. The preferred qualifications are a bonus, not a requirement.

Minimum requirements

• At least 8+ years of direct people management experience; including senior front line specialists and/or managers and supported them to career growth and transitions
• Experience leading operational teams such as product support teams (preferably in high-growth technology companies)
• Experience in strategizing and driving large scale operational process improvements and program management work
• Solid experience in stakeholder management, with the ability to influence cross-functional teams and drive progress for the team and users
• Strong analytical sense and track-record of making data driven decisions
• Skill and credibility doing the core work of a user facing team with a high bar for quality and a willingness to lead by example and get into the details of front-line work if required
• Strong ownership mindset and experience in driving highly complex initiatives at speed
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Preferred qualifications

• Prior experience with Escalations, Incident Management
• Comfort with some technical troubleshooting
• Familiarity with FinTech industry and products
• Passion for learning new functions and features of technical products