Engagement Manager

DataDrone Inc.; Cheyenne (WY); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

DataDrone Inc. in Cheyenne, WY is seeking an Engagement Manager to orchestrate Zoho implementation engagements from kickoff to handover.

You will lead a cross-functional pod (SME, Integration Specialist, Data Specialist, Reporting & BI Specialist, QA) and drive daily clarity with weekly written discipline. You will install the rhythm with 15-minute standups, 24-hour follow-ups, and milestone reviews, ensuring on-time delivery and clean handoffs while managing risk and scope through change

Qualifications

• Experience leading end-to-end technical implementations in services firms, SI, or product-adjacent consultancy.
• Familiar with the Zoho ecosystem (CRM, Books, Desk, Creator, Analytics) and able to converse with Zoho admins.
• Shipped at least five end-to-end implementations with real SLAs, scope discipline, and clean handovers.
• Calm under client pressure; sharp on cadence; honest in writing.
• Ability to enforce change control without alienating the client.

Responsibilities

• Own the 45-day plan and cadence — board, calendar, channel, rituals.
• Run daily standups, weekly client checkpoints, mid-point reviews, pre-handover dry runs.
• Triage scope asks through change control; avoid verbal yeses.
• Dispatch the Day-30 and Day-40 check-ins and Day-45 delivery closure with the client.
• Coordinate training delivery and the Day-45 + 7 adoption pulse.

Skills

Project leadership

Cadence management

Change control

Client communication

Risk management

Tools

Zoho CRM

Zoho Books

Zoho Desk

Zoho Creator

Jira

Job description

DataDrone runs a Zoho implementation practice that ships outcomes in 45 days. Not a license shop. Not a generalist consultancy. Every engagement starts with one Hero use case and ends with that use case running in production — owned by the client, with the runbook to grow it.

This role is the rhythm-keeper. The orchestrator across every lane and every phase. The seat that keeps a 45-day machine landing on Day 45 — without heroics, without surprises, without loose ends.

What You'll Do

You run the engagement. You don't build it. You don't write Deluge. You orchestrate the pod — the SME, the Integration Specialist, the Data Specialist, the Reporting & BI Specialist, and QA — and you walk the client from kickoff to handover with daily clarity and weekly written discipline.

You install the rhythm — daily standups that finish in 15 minutes, weekly checkpoints with written follow-up inside 24 hours, a Day-22 mid-point review that catches risk before it lands on Day 30, two Day-30 client-facing check-ins that earn the "Confirmed" reply, a Day-40 readiness gate, and a Day-45 closure document that signs cleanly.

You protect the SME's build block. You hold the line on scope through change control. You surface yellow before it becomes red. You teach the client's exec sponsor enough about the build that they can talk about it in their own board meeting.

You are the calm centre of gravity when delivery gets messy.

Daily Rhythm (How You Operate)

• Morning standup (15 min, capped), mid-day async pulse, EOD client update.
• Board reflects reality at end-of-day, every day.
• Weekly written client update inside 24 hours of the checkpoint.
• Cultural maxim: "If it's not on the board, it doesn't exist. If it's not documented, it didn't happen."
• Timezone Flexibility — clients pick NA / EMEA / APAC; we mirror.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the 45-day plan and the cadence — board, calendar, channel, rituals.
• Run daily standups, weekly client checkpoints, mid-point reviews, pre-handover dry runs.
• Triage every scope ask through change control. No verbal yeses.
• Dispatch the Day-30 Configuration and Data Quality Check-ins and the Day-40 Readiness Check-in.
• Walk the Day-45 Final Delivery Closure & Handoff with the client; close cleanly.
• Maintain the live risk and decision logs. Surface yellow early.
• Coordinate training delivery and the Day-45 + 7 adoption pulse.

What We're Looking For

• Hands-on running technical implementation engagements — services firm, SI, or product-adjacent consultancy.
• Familiar with the Zoho ecosystem (CRM, Books, Desk, Creator, Analytics) — you don't need to be the architect, but you read a blueprint and can hold a conversation with a Zoho admin.
• Have shipped at least five end-to-end implementations with real SLAs, scope discipline, and clean handovers.
• Calm under client pressure; sharp on cadence; honest in writing.
• Can hold the line on scope through change control without making the client feel walled in.
• Documentation-as-you-go is your normal, not your aspiration.

Bonus Points For

• Experience running multi-product Zoho implementations (CRM + Books, CRM + Desk + Creator).
• Migration-engagement experience (Salesforce / HubSpot / Dynamics → Zoho).
• Vertical depth in Services, SaaS, Distribution, Manufacturing.

The Mindset We Hire For

• Run the rhythm. Cadence is sacred; standups end on time; checkpoints don't reschedule.
• Surface yellow early. Yellow is the most important colour. Red is too late. Green is reassurance.
• Protect the build block. Your SME's calendar is the practice's productivity. Defend it.
• No verbal yeses on scope. Change control is the wall. Walk every ask through it.
• Write the update before they ask. The unsent update is the loudest signal of trouble.
• Hand over what you'd want to inherit. The runbook is the receipt.

Success in This Role

• 30 days → First engagement run; board honest; cadence installed; mid-point review delivered without surprises.
• 60 days → Two parallel engagements (or one complex Migrate); mid-point reviews cited internally as a template; standups ≤15 min consistently.
• 90 days → Voice in practice retro; mentoring a junior EM; contributed at least one improvement to a cadence or check-in artefact.

Tools You'll Use

Trello / Jira / Linear, Notion / Confluence, Slack / Teams, Google Workspace, Calendar, Zoho Analytics (read), Loom, AI Copilot loaded with the practice KB.

Why Join Us

Run engagements that actually land on Day 45 — not Day 90 with a different story. Own the rhythm of a tight, disciplined pod where every seat respects every other seat's lane. Earn the client's "Confirmed" and "Ready to go" replies through honest writing, not theatre. Build a reputation as the EM who lands the outcome. Timezone Flexibility — clients pick NA / EMEA / APAC; we mirror.

Self-Check Before You Apply

• Can you cap a standup at 15 minutes without the pod hating you?
• Will you send the written update inside 24 hours of every checkpoint — every single one?
• Can you read a Hero blueprint, hold a conversation with the SME about trade-offs, and not pretend to be the architect?
• Will you surface yellow at the earliest honest moment — even when it's awkward?
• Can you walk a scope ask through change control with a client without making them feel walled in?
• Will you hand over a runbook that the client's admin can actually use?