Head of Critical Situation Management (100% remote - United States)

About Ellucian

Ellucian is a global market leader in education technology. We power innovation for higher education, partnering with more than 2,900 customers across 50 countries and serving over 20 million students. Ellucian's AI-powered platform, trained on the richest dataset available in higher education, drives efficiency, personalized experiences, and strengthened engagement for all students, faculty and staff. Fueled by decades of experience with a singular focus on the unique needs of learning institutions, the Ellucian platform features best-in-class SaaS capabilities and delivers insights needed now and into the future. These solutions and services span the entire student lifecycle, from student recruitment, enrollment, and retention to workforce analytics, fundraising, and alumni engagement. Ellucian's innovative solutions, vast ecosystem of partners, and user community of more than 45,000 provide best practices leading to greater institutional success and achieving better student outcomes.

Values Rooted in Purpose

We embrace the power to lead, the courage to innovate, and the determination to grow. At our core, we believe in humanizing our approach, recognizing that our people are our greatest strength. With a shared vision of transformation, we endeavor to shape a brighter future for higher education.

About the Opportunity

The Head of Critical Situation Management is responsible for identifying, managing and resolving major incidents that impact the organization's customers. This role involves ownership of processes to proactively identify risks, cross functional coordination to ensure timely resolution and ensuring key lessons are integrated into daily operations. The Head of Critical Situation Management is a customer advocate, trusted collaborator and will lead the response to critical customer situations by working with business leaders; coordinating internal teams; and ensuring effective customer communications and strategies are used. 

What you will do

• Driving Issues to Resolution: action-oriented ability to drive issues to resolution through process, ensuring action by accountable groups and a focus on customer satisfaction and outcomes 
• Customer & Internal Coordination: effectively manage internal and external resources and communications to address critical situations  
• Analysis & Insight Generation: Utilize strong analytical skills to translate complex data into actionable insights, e.g., from our customer health score and project risks 
• Proactive Risk Management: Develop and manage processes and practices to identify and mitigate customer risks, e.g., our customer hot-list process 
• Collaborative problem solving: work independently with stakeholders at all levels of the organization to integrate lessons from customer risks into operations  
• Customer Advocacy: Engage in discussions and present regular reports on customer insights and success metrics to drive action across operational owners and senior business leadership. 
• Customer-Centric Planning: Every customer risk or insight supported by a clear plan of action, repeatable playbooks, and pragmatic guidance. 
• Scalable Approaches: ‘80%+’ of our approach to critical situations follow common patterns with minimal lift. 
• Effective Escalation Pathways: risks identified and managed through established escalation paths with very limited direct escalations to senior leaders  
• Closed Feedback Loops: Internal teams have clear visibility into lessons learnt and recommended actions 
• Data-Driven Execution: Dashboards, benchmarks, and insights guide progress and flag risks early. 

What you will bring

• 6+ years of proven experience in incident management, technology operations, or related roles within a SaaS environment. 
• Ability to communicate with clarity across business functions and levels of leadership. 
• Ability to work effectively in a cross-functional team environment. 
• Strong problem-solving skills and the capacity to work under pressure. 
• Ability to develop and execute programs to drive and sustain change or improvements. 

What makes #Ellucianlife

• Comprehensive health coverage: medical, dental, and vision
• Flexible time off
• Thrive Flex Lifestyle Account (LSA) that allows you to contribute towards your health, financial or learning interests
• 401k w/ match & BrightPlan - to help you save for the future
• Parental Leave
• 5 charitable days to support the community that supports us
• Telemedicine
• Wellness
• Headspace Care (mental health)
• Wellbeats (virtual fitness classes)
• RethinkCare & Wellthy– caregiver support
• Diversity and inclusion programs which provide access to internal employee resource groups
• Employee referral bonuses to encourage the addition of great new people to the team
• We Foster a learning culture with:
• Education Assistance Program
• Professional development opportunities

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