SM Escalation

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. - Strong judgment under pressure — able to assess risk, make quick decisions, and know when to escalate 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.