About the Job
Our client is seeking a Vice President, Global Service & Customer Operations to lead the worldwide service organization supporting advanced technology products deployed across global customer environments. This executive will be responsible for field service operations, technical support, warranty administration, customer escalations, and service excellence initiatives while partnering closely with Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, and Operations teams.
This leader will oversee the complete customer service lifecycle, ensuring timely issue resolution, driving product reliability improvements, managing warranty performance, and strengthening long-term customer relationships. The ideal candidate brings extensive experience leading global service organizations supporting industrial, energy, transportation, automotive, or advanced technology products.
What You'll Do
Global Service Strategy & Operations
- Develop and execute a global service strategy aligned with customer commitments, product deployments, and business growth objectives.
- Build and scale regional service organizations, service partner networks, and technician capabilities across multiple geographies.
- Establish service-level standards, escalation procedures, workforce planning models, and spare parts strategies.
- Drive improvements in service responsiveness, operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and product uptime.
- Lead the ongoing optimization of service processes, tools, reporting, and support infrastructure.
Field Service & Technical Support Leadership
- Lead global teams responsible for field service, remote diagnostics, commissioning support, repairs, replacements, and return-to-service activities.
- Develop standardized troubleshooting procedures, technician training programs, and diagnostic methodologies.
- Ensure safe service practices for electrical, mechanical, high-voltage, and customer-site operations.
- Improve key performance metrics, including response times, first-time-fix rates, service productivity, and customer experience.
- Establish processes for collecting, documenting, and analyzing field performance data.
Warranty & Customer Escalation Management
- Own global warranty administration and service case management processes.
- Establish accountability for case ownership, investigation, corrective action, customer communication, and issue closure.
- Lead cross-functional responses to critical customer incidents, escalations, and operational disruptions.
- Ensure consistent application of warranty policies, service agreements, and contractual commitments.
- Oversee repair, replacement, customer accommodation, and cost-recovery decisions.
Root Cause Analysis & Continuous Improvement
- Serve as the customer-facing leader coordinating resolution efforts between Service, Quality, Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Operations.
- Lead root cause investigations, corrective action initiatives, and preventive action programs.
- Drive improvements in product reliability, serviceability, warranty performance, and customer satisfaction.
- Identify recurring issues and champion long-term improvements across products, processes, and service operations.
- Promote a culture of operational excellence and continuous improvement.
Customer Experience & Executive Engagement
- Develop Voice of the Customer programs, customer satisfaction measurement tools, and executive review processes.
- Ensure customers receive timely, transparent communication throughout issue resolution and corrective action activities.
- Build strong executive-level customer relationships and serve as a trusted escalation point for strategic accounts.
- Partner with company leadership to develop customer retention and long-term success strategies.
- Translate customer feedback into actionable business, product, and operational improvements.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business, Operations Management, or a related discipline.
- Master's degree, MBA, or relevant certifications preferred.
- 12+ years of leadership experience in field service, after-sales support, technical operations, customer success, warranty management, or related functions.
- 5+ years leading regional, multi-site, or global service organizations.
- Proven experience managing field service teams, technical support operations, warranty programs, and customer escalation processes.
- Experience supporting industrial equipment, transportation systems, energy technologies, automotive products, advanced manufacturing systems, or similar technical solutions.
- Strong understanding of warranty administration, claims management, SLAs, root cause analysis, corrective actions, and continuous improvement methodologies.
- Experience utilizing CRM, service management, and case management platforms.
- Excellent executive communication, stakeholder management, and cross-functional leadership skills.
The Ideal Candidate
- Strategic, customer-focused executive leader.
- Proven success building and scaling global service organizations.
- Experienced managing critical customer escalations and high-pressure operational situations.
- Skilled at balancing customer satisfaction, operational excellence, and financial performance.
- Strong collaborator across Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, Operations, and Executive Leadership.
- Passionate about continuous improvement, service excellence, and customer success.