Escalation Prevention Specialist

The Customer Office operates as a part of Unified Support, with a primary responsibility for managing the support relationship with IFS customers. Its core mission is to enhance customer satisfaction and maximize lifetime value, thereby fostering customer retention and renewals. A crucial aspect of this function is managing Account Escalations, which ensures a strong and enduring customer relationship by providing assurance and effective control in challenging situations.

Overall, the Customer Office serves as a bridge between customers and IFS, working to align our organization's efforts with customer expectations and needs. Through its functions and initiatives, it aims to create a customer-centric culture within IFS, driving continuous improvement and ultimately delivering greater value to our customers.

The Escalation Prevention Specialist plays a critical role in the Customer Office proactively identifying, managing, and resolving customer risk scenarios to prevent escalation and support effective de-escalation where required.

Acting as a central coordinator across support, R&D, and customer stakeholders, the role ensures alignment on priorities, accelerates resolution of critical issues, and delivers clear, consistent communication to senior stakeholders.

The position contributes directly to customer satisfaction, retention, and operational excellence by ensuring high-risk situations are effectively managed and prevented from escalating.

Key Responsibilities:

• Proactively manage and prioritise high-risk and escalation-related support cases
• Lead assigned Preventative Account Escalations end-to-end
• Assess customer risk and identify potential escalation triggers early
• Validate and challenge case prioritisation where required
• Identify and manage case dependencies impacting resolution timelines
• Accelerate resolution of cases critical to escalation exit criteria
• Ensure appropriate escalation to higher support tiers and R&D where required
• Remove blockers and drive mitigation actions to prevent delays
• Act as a key communication point between customer, support teams, and leadership
• Provide regular, high-quality status reporting to internal and external stakeholders
• Manage stakeholder expectations, including senior and C-level engagement
• Support Escalation Manager in customer updates and governance reviews
• Work closely with Support, R&D, Customer Success, and Escalation Management teams
• Coordinate effectively across global and matrixed teams
• Drive alignment on priorities, actions, and timelines
• Support Account Escalation Judging processes as required
• Contribute to IFS Community engagement and knowledge sharing
• Support and lead Customer Office Drop-In Clinics

 

Required Competence  

Essential

• Strong critical thinking and decision-making skills in high-pressure environments
• Analytical, structured, and methodical approach to problem-solving
• Excellent communication skills (written and verbal), including executive-level engagement
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills
• Ability to work independently and drive outcomes with limited supervision

• Deep understanding of support operations and Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
• Strong ability to quickly understand customer environments, business processes, and technical landscapes
• Proven ability to meet challenging deadlines in fast-paced environments
• Collaborative team player with strong networking capability

Desirable

• Knowledge of IFS products, architecture, and underlying technologies
• Experience operating within matrixed, global organisations

Required Education & Experience

Essential

• Minimum 3+ years’ experience in a mission-critical support or operations environment
• Demonstrated experience managing high-risk or escalated customer scenarios
• Strong relationship-building and cross-functional collaboration skills
• Experience working in fast-paced, geographically distributed teams
• A great communicator who helps build the IFS brand

Desirable

• Comfortable working within a matrix-rich organisation

We embrace flexibility and hybrid work opportunities to support diverse needs and lifestyles, while also valuing inclusive workplace experiences. By fostering a sense of community, we drive innovation, strengthen connections, and nurture belonging. Our commitment ensures you can work in a way that suits you best, while also engaging with colleagues to share ideas and build meaningful relationships.