Director, Support Strategy and Operations

Illumio is the leader in ransomware and breach containment, redefining how organizations contain cyberattacks and enable operational resilience. Powered by the Illumio AI Security Graph, our breach containment platform identifies and contains threats across hybrid multi-cloud environments – stopping the spread of attacks before they become disasters.
Recognized as a Leader in the Forrester Wave™ for Microsegmentation, Illumio enables Zero Trust, strengthening cyber resilience for the infrastructure, systems, and organizations that keep the world running.

Illumio is building a new Customer Experience (“CX”) Operations function from the ground up: a strategic operating backbone spanning Professional Services, Customer Success, Support, and Training.

The Director, Support Strategy & Operations owns the end-to-end Support operating model including the business rhythms, metrics, governance, and cross-functional accountability structures that enable the Support organization to scale outcomes without scaling headcount proportionally. You are a strategic operator who will drive operational efficiency by architecting automation and AI requirements with the business and coordinating execution with IT, translating operational needs into technical solutions without building them yourself.

This is a player-coach role. You will set the strategic direction and design the operating model while also rolling up your sleeves and get into the data, the processes, and the tooling. You will know your domain cold: what the numbers mean, where the friction is, and what needs to change before anyone tells you.

Illumio moves fast, operates with a high degree of autonomy, and rewards people who take ownership and drive impact. If you want to build the model, own the outcome, and see the impact of your work directly in how the business operates, this is it. You will report directly to the VP of Customer Experience and operate as a key member of the CX Ops leadership team.

Illumio's CX organization is in active transformation. We are moving from a reactive, task-driven operational model to a proactive, data-driven operating backbone that gives leaders constant visibility into what's working, what's at risk, and what needs to change. When this role is operating at full capability, Support engineers are more productive, customer escalations drop, and leaders have a real-time, proactive view of Support health.

Support Operating Rhythm

• Weekly operating review: case health, backlog aging, MTTR, P1 ratio, escalation rate, cost-per-case

• Release coordination: Support briefed and ready before every product release

• Account and user administration: define the standard, set the SLA, automate the execution

• CSAT and customer effort score tracking connected to operational decisions

Knowledge Management & AI-Augmented Deflection

• KB governance: article ownership, quality standards, review cadence, retirement criteria

• Design the strategy and drive execution of AI-assisted article creation

• Coveo adoption: 80%+ of Support engineers using it as primary search during active cases

• Customer-facing self-service launched with deflection targets tracked from Day 1

Cross-Functional Operating Model

• Weekly CX business review: prepared, data-ready, and accountable

• Alignment with Finance (cost-to-serve), Engineering (interface model), and GEO Support leadership

• Identify and prioritize high-value automation opportunities within Support Ops

• 10+ years in customer support operations, technical support, or CX operations in a B2B enterprise software or SaaS environment, with at least 5+ years in a leadership role

• Proven track record designing and owning operating cadences, not participating in them

• Experience building or significantly maturing a knowledge management program, preferably in an AI-augmented context

• Deep familiarity with support tooling, case routing, taxonomy, automation, and workflow design

• Ability to translate business requirements into automated outcomes by architecting the solution & coordinating the execution

• Player-coach orientation: comfortable setting strategy and rolling up your sleeves into the data, processes, and tooling when the work requires it

• Governs through systems and processes

• Defines success before starting and measures whether it was achieved

• Holds cross-functional partners accountable without direct authority (aligns Engineering, Finance, IT, and GEO leaders through preparation & consistency)

• Manages from data; knows what the numbers mean, when they signal risk, and what to do about it without needing an analyst to translate

• Communicates with precision & can distill a complex operational picture into a clear, actionable view for executive audiences

• Cybersecurity or security product domain experience preferred

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Our Commitment

Illumio believes that an environment of unique backgrounds, experiences, viewpoints, and individual contributions creates a culture of belonging, drives our future, and makes us stronger together in support of our customers and their success.

All official job offers from our company are extended directly by our recruitment team and will be sent through an official E-Signature document for your review and signature. Please be aware that we do not ask for any personal information in the process of extending offers of employment, such as financial details or social security numbers. Upon acceptance of any offer, we will request such information as part of the onboarding process prior to or on your first day of employment, and only after completing a background check through an authorized third-party vendor. If you receive any communication asking for personal details outside of these processes, please contact us immediately to verify the authenticity of the request. Your security is important to us, and we are committed to a safe and transparent hiring experience.

For roles in San Francisco and Los Angeles: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, Illumio will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.