Director, Incidents and Escalations

This is an incredible opportunity to be part of a company that has been at the forefront of AI and high-performance data storage innovation for over two decades. DataDirect Networks (DDN) is a global market leader renowned for powering many of the world's most demanding AI data centers, in industries ranging from life sciences and healthcare to financial services, autonomous cars, Government, academia, research and manufacturing.

"DDN's A3I solutions are transforming the landscape of AI infrastructure." – IDC 

“The real differentiator is DDN. I never hesitate to recommend DDN. DDN is the de facto name for AI Storage in high performance environments” - Marc Hamilton, VP, Solutions Architecture & Engineering | NVIDIA 

DDN is the global leader in AI and multi-cloud data management at scale. Our cutting-edge data intelligence platform is designed to accelerate AI workloads, enabling organizations to extract maximum value from their data. With a proven track record of performance, reliability, and scalability, DDN empowers businesses to tackle the most challenging AI and data-intensive workloads with confidence. 

Our success is driven by our unwavering commitment to innovation, customer-centricity, and a team of passionate professionals who bring their expertise and dedication to every project. This is a chance to make a significant impact at a company that is shaping the future of AI and data management. 

Our commitment to innovation, customer success, and market leadership makes this an exciting and rewarding role for a driven professional looking to make a lasting impact in the world of AI and data storage. 

The Director of Incidents and Escalations is responsible for overseeing the management, resolution, and prevention of critical incidents, ensuring the highest level of operational continuity and customer satisfaction. This role will lead a team of escalation engineers and incident managers, working closely with cross-functional teams such as Engineering, Product Management, and Managed Services, to ensure swift issue resolution and proactive problem prevention. The director will be the key point of contact for major customers, working to continuously improve incident response processes, reduce time-to-resolution, and enhance customer satisfaction.

Key Responsibilities:

• Incident Management: Lead and coordinate the resolution of major incidents, ensuring efficient triage, response, and communication during critical outages or disruptions.
• Escalation Oversight: Serve as the primary escalation point for complex customer issues, working closely with senior leadership to drive solutions and manage customer expectations.
• Customer Satisfaction: Own the customer experience during high-severity incidents and escalations, ensuring clear communication and alignment between customers, support teams, and internal stakeholders.
• Operational Efficiency: Design and implement best practices for incident management, leveraging automation and AI tools to reduce incident response time and increase resolution accuracy.
• Team Leadership: Lead and mentor the incidents and escalation teams, ensuring continuous professional development, cross-training, and effective team collaboration.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Collaborate with Product Development, Engineering, and other departments to identify root causes of incidents, driving long-term product and service improvements.
• Process Improvement: Develop and maintain key performance indicators (KPIs) for incident management, continuously improving processes for faster resolution times and higher customer satisfaction.
• Strategic Initiatives: Partner with senior leadership to develop and execute strategic initiatives aimed at improving incident response and reducing future incidents, including the introduction of proactive monitoring tools and AI-driven insights.

Requirements:

• Experience: 10+ years of experience in a technical support or operations role within the technology, storage, or managed services industry, with at least 5 years in a leadership position overseeing escalations or incident response.
• Leadership: Proven experience leading cross-functional teams and managing critical incidents under high-pressure situations.
• Technical Expertise: Strong understanding of computer storage technologies (e.g., SAN, NAS, cloud storage, etc.), infrastructure management, network operations, and performance monitoring tools.
• Communication: Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence both technical teams and non-technical stakeholders.
• Problem-Solving: Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, with the capability to think strategically and drive continuous improvement in incident and escalation processes.
• Customer Focus: Demonstrated experience managing customer expectations and fostering strong relationships with strategic accounts, including experience working with SLAs and SLOs.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in a technical field such as Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent; an MBA or relevant master’s degree is a plus.
• Certifications: ITIL certification or similar in incident management and service delivery is highly desirable.
• Availability: Willingness to participate in 24/7 on-call rotations and lead crisis situations as they arise.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with AI-based incident management systems and self-service technologies.
• Proven track record of reducing incident impact through proactive monitoring, automation, and process optimization.
• Background in managing relationships with large enterprise customers, particularly in the technology, cloud, or storage sectors.

DDN has a very strong orientation towards these 4 characteristics and any successful employee will demonstrate these capabilities: 

Self-Starter - Takes independent action to identify and solve problems. Seeks out relevant information needed to make decisions. Gets involved with new initiatives. 

Success/Achievement Orientation - Delivers quality results consistently. Targets, achieves (or exceeds) measurable results. Sets challenging goals, focuses on critical priorities, and is accountable. 

Problem Solving - Recognizes problems and responds with a systematic assessment that identifies and addresses cause of issue. Practical, realistic, and resourceful. 

Innovative - Builds and improves key business processes that enhance the effectiveness of DDN. Generates new ideas, challenges the status quo, and solves problems creatively.

DataDirect Networks, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender, sex stereotyping, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, protected Veteran Status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

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