Engagement Manager

Jobtailor; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Jobtailor seeks a seasoned Engagement Lead to own end-to-end deployments for enterprise customers, from pre-POC scoping through production rollout, milestone tracking, and risk management.

You will manage relationships at all levels, define governance cadences, triage issues with product and engineering, and coordinate contracts while ensuring on-time delivery in complex defense and SaaS environments, with security clearance and US work eligibility.

Qualifications

• 7+ years leading customer engagements, implementations, or deployments in technical, enterprise environments.
• Experience owning white-glove enterprise-delivery at elite firms or a high-growth SaaS or deep-tech company.
• Background in commercial defense or defense technology with familiarity of primes and Tier-1 suppliers.
• Technically fluent, able to discuss software/firmware with engineers and translate complexity for non-technical stakeholders.
• Proven ability to lead multi-stakeholder deployments and turn difficult situations into customer wins.
• Strong executive presence and communication skills; comfortable with senior stakeholders.
• Legally authorized to work in the United States; current security clearance or ability to obtain one.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end engagement delivery from pre-POC scoping through production deployment.
• Manage customer relationships at every level, set and manage expectations, provide reliable support during deployments.
• Run structured governance by defining engagement timelines, milestones, and cadences.
• Stabilize deployments by triaging issues with product and engineering and strengthening customer confidence.
• Handle contract coordination, requirements clarification, technical scoping, and escalation management.
• Support multiple accounts simultaneously and document repeatable engagement playbooks.
• Surface friction to product/engineering, partner with Growth on expansion/renewals, ground decisions in field realities.

Skills

Customer Engagement Leadership

Project Governance Management

Technical Scoping and Requirements Clr

Executive Communication Skills

Security Clearance Management

Tools

AI-Enabled Technologies

Software Discussion

Firmware Discussion

Signal Processing

Job description

• Own end-to-end engagement delivery from pre-POC scoping through production deployment, including project plans, milestone tracking, risk identification, and on-time delivery across active accounts.
• Manage customer relationships at every level, establish credibility, set and manage expectations, and provide reliable support during complex deployments.
• Run structured project governance by defining engagement timelines, milestone frameworks, and communication cadences.
• Stabilize first-of-kind deployments by triaging issues with product and engineering, setting expectations, and strengthening customer confidence.
• Handle contract coordination, requirements clarification, technical scoping, and escalation management as needed.
• Support multiple accounts simultaneously and document repeatable engagement frameworks and playbooks.
• Surface customer friction to product and engineering, partner with Growth on expansion and renewals, and ground internal decisions in field realities.

Requirements

• 7+ years of experience leading customer engagements, implementations, or deployments in technical, enterprise environments.
• Experience owning white-glove enterprise-delivery at an elite professional services firm (e.g. management consulting, investment banking) and/or a high-growth SaaS or deep tech company.
• Background in commercial defense or defense technology; familiarity with how primes, Tier 1 suppliers, and defense customers evaluate and procure new technology.
• Technically fluent: comfortable discussing software, firmware, or signal processing with engineers and translating complexity for non-technical stakeholders. Familiarity with AI-enabled technologies.
• Proven ability to lead complex, multi-stakeholder deployments and turn difficult situations into customer wins.
• Strong executive presence and communication skills; effective with both working teams and senior stakeholders.
• Highly organized and self-directed; comfortable managing multiple accounts and engagements in a fast-moving, resource-constrained environment.
• Current possession of a security clearance, or the ability to obtain one.
• US Citizenship may be required for certain project assignments involving security clearance.
• Legally authorized to work in the United States.

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in leading complex customer engagements and deployments in technical environments, with a strong focus on project governance, stakeholder communication, and relationship management. Possesses technical fluency in software and AI-enabled technologies, along with the ability to navigate the defense technology landscape.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• Customer Engagement Leadership
• Project Governance Management
• Technical Scoping and Requirements Clarification
• Executive Communication Skills
• Security Clearance Management

ATS Optimization Keywords

Hard Skills

• Project Planning
• Milestone Tracking
• Risk Identification
• Technical Deployment
• AI-Enabled Technologies
• Software Discussion
• Firmware Discussion
• Signal Processing
• Multi-Stakeholder Management
• Contract Coordination

Soft Skills

• Relationship Management
• Organizational Skills
• Self-Direction
• Expectation Management
• Problem-Solving

Certifications & Qualifications

• Security Clearance

Industry Keywords

• Enterprise Environments
• Professional Services
• SaaS
• Defense Technology
• Commercial Defense