About Us:

Proofpoint is a global leader in human- and agent-centric cybersecurity. We protect how people, data, and AI agents connect across email, cloud, and collaboration tools. Over 80 of the Fortune 100, 10,000 large enterprises, and millions of smaller organizations trust Proofpoint to stop threats, prevent data loss, and build resilience across their people and AI workflows. Our mission is simple: safeguard the digital world and empower people to work securely and confidently. Join us in our pursuit to defend data and protect people.

How We Work:

At Proofpoint you’ll be part of a global team that breaks barriers to redefine cybersecurity guided by our BRAVE core values:

Bold in how we dream and innovate

Responsive to feedback, challenges and opportunities

Accountable for results and best in class outcomes

Visionary in future focused problem-solving

Exceptional in execution and impact

Director, Global Critical Situation Management and Incident Response

Customer Success and operational excellence are vital to Proofpoint’s long-term growth and profitability. Ultimately, Proofpoint’s success is dependent on the success of its customers. The business must ensure its customers are receiving significant value from both its products and services. As such, Proofpoint needs a senior leader to drive success for its customers, executing against the organization’s broader customer success strategy.

The Director of the Global Critical Situation Management team is a senior leader responsible for driving world class customer support outcomes, leading the organization’s most urgent customer escalations, and ensuring that customers achieve maximum value from Proofpoint’s products and services.

This role blends operational leadership of global technical support with the strategic, customer advocacy driven functions of critical incident command. The Director will oversee break/fix support delivery, manage critical customer situations from initiation through resolution and postmortem, strengthen cross functional alignment, and drive continuous improvement across people, process, and technology.

Key Responsibilities

Customer Success Support Delivery Leadership

Execute a comprehensive Critical Situation management and customer success strategy, including hiring, onboarding, performance standards, and operational plans.

Define success criteria and track adherence to key operational metrics for escalations

Develop standards for handling customer incidents, escalation paths, and communication frameworks that drive successful outcomes.

Improve customer satisfaction, and overall customer health across the lifecycle.

Evaluate customer needs, identify gaps, and drive initiatives that strengthen customer value realization.

Collaborate cross functionally with Technical Account Management, Professional Services, Product and Engineering to support customer success.

Promote business continuity and operational excellence across the global support community.

Lead effectively in a matrixed, cross functional environment.

Critical Situation Management & Escalation Leadership

Serve as the executive escalation point for the most urgent and complex customer situations.

Lead cross functional triage and resolution efforts, coordinating Support, Engineering, Product, Security, and Operations.

Provide clear, timely, customer facing status updates and internal reporting during critical incidents.

Manage SEV0 escalations from initial detection through root cause analysis and post incident review.

Conduct post escalation analysis and author customer facing cause analysis documents.

Evaluate customer requests related to SLA violations and ensure appropriate internal review.

Lead cross departmental process improvements to maximize customer retention and reduce repeat escalations.

Participate in the 24×7 on call rotation as needed.

Strategic & Operational Excellence

Use customer data, operational metrics, and market insights to identify trends and drive continuous improvement with product and engineering teams.

Partner with business and technical leaders to build consensus on strategy, prioritization, and process evolution.

Identify systemic issues and lead corrective action efforts across departments.

Provide leadership in documentation quality reviews, ensuring technical guides, troubleshooting content, and internal training are accurate and effective.

Drive improvements within the broader Services organization, influencing processes across teams.

What You Will Accomplish

Navigate ambiguity with confidence and treat obstacles as opportunities to innovate.

Communicate effectively with stakeholders at all organizational levels, including executives and customers.

Demonstrate the courage to think differently and challenge existing assumptions.

Lead with urgency in fast paced, dynamic environments; drive accountability and follow through.

Apply analytical thinking and data driven decision making to improve support outcomes and customer loyalty.

Qualifications

7+ years of customer support, customer success, or professional services leadership in a B2B SaaS environment.

Proven track record managing enterprise class support organizations to customer success goals (CSAT, NPS, etc.).

7+ years of experience in escalation or incident management roles with demonstrated success resolving complex, high impact issues.

Strong business and management acumen with experience influencing senior leadership.

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.

Strong technical proficiency, including:

Broad understanding of cybersecurity as it relates to email security, enterprise archiving, data and application security

Understanding of databases and SaaS architecture

Linux command line competence

Skilled communicator and influencer with customers, executives, and internal teams.

Experience with Salesforce Service Cloud or similar support systems.

Ability to independently troubleshoot complex system environments with multiple configurations and protocols.

Project Management experience: PMP certification is a plus.

Why Proofpoint

Proofpoint is a fast growing, customer focused organization with market leading products and a culture grounded in innovation, collaboration, and appreciation. As a global company with offices in over 10 countries, we believe that hiring exceptional people—and treating them well—is the foundation of our success. Joining the team means contributing to an environment that values diverse perspectives and empowers employees to make an impact.

#LI-PH1

Why Proofpoint?

At Proofpoint, we believe that an exceptional career experience includes a comprehensive compensation and benefits package. Here are just a few reasons you’ll love working with us:

Competitive compensation
Comprehensive benefits
Career success on your terms
Flexible work environment
Annual wellness and community outreach days
Always on recognition for your contributions
Global collaboration and networking opportunities

Our Culture:

Our culture is rooted in values that inspire belonging, empower purpose and drive success-every day, for everyone.

We encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. If you need accommodation during the application or interview process, please reach out to accessibility@proofpoint.com.

How to Apply

Interested? Submit your application along with any supporting information- we can’t wait to hear from you!

Consistent with Proofpoint values and applicable law, we provide the following information to promote pay transparency and equity. Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several U.S. geographic markets, and we pay differently based on those defined markets as set out below. Pay within these ranges varies and depends on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The actual offer will be based on the individual candidate. The range provided may represent a candidate range and may not reflect the full range for an individual tenured employee. This role may be eligible for variable compensation and/or equity. We offer a competitive benefits package, including flexible time off, a comprehensive well-being program with two paid Wellbeing Days and two paid Volunteer Days per year, plus a three-week Work from Anywhere option.

Base Pay Ranges:

SF Bay Area, New York City Metro Area:

Base Pay Range: 187,700.00 - 275,275.00 USD

California (excludes SF Bay Area), Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Washington DC Metro, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Texas, Washington, Virginia, and Alaska:

Base Pay Range: 151,000.00 - 221,430.00 USD

All other cities and states excluding those listed above:

Base Pay Range: 137,000.00 - 200,915.00 USD

Director, Global Critical Situation Manager

Benefits

Job Description