Sr. Technical Account Manager

Company Overview

At Proofpoint, we have a passion for protecting people, data, and brands from today’s advanced threats and compliance risks. We hire the best people in the business to:

• Build and enhance our proven security platform
• Blend innovation and speed in a constantly evolving cloud architecture
• Analyze new threats and offer deep insight through data-driven intel
• Collaborate with customers to help solve their toughest security challenges

We are singularly devoted to helping our customers protect what matters most. That’s why we’re a leader in next-generation cybersecurity—and why more than half of the Fortune 100 trust us as a security partner.

The Role

The role of the Technical Account Manager is to work with your customers so that they realize the full value of the products and services they have purchased from Proofpoint, ultimately maximizing renewals and add-on transactions. This is a technical role in a fast-paced environment that demands interaction with enterprises at senior levels, as well as with technical staff within the traditional IT and Security organization. Successful candidates will have an excellent technical and security software foundation, especially related to Linux, messaging, and cloud services, a proven track record of successfully interfacing with customers on both technical and non-technical levels, substantial experience driving concurrent projects and issues to completion with little direction, and above all, a passion for ensuring a top-quality customer experience.

*This position requires U.S. citizenship due to the nature of the accounts supported.*
*Experience working with U.S. federal, state, or public-sector customers is strongly preferred.*

Your day-to-day

• Independently provide ongoing and proactive technical leadership and support to Proofpoint’s strategic customers with little direction.
• Manage and monitor support interactions, serving as an internal advocate for strategic customers, responding to customer escalations, and proactively escalating when needed.
• Direct crisis and incident response, working with the account team, technical support, operations and engineering teams to ensure timely resolution, while communicating effectively with customers.
• Meet regularly with clients, both remotely and on-site, to review support interactions, system status, major issues, upcoming releases, and other pertinent items.
• Create and deliver executive customer presentations that outline system performance, potential issues, ROI and suggested forward courses of action.
• Develop deep understanding of customer’s business and operational needs.
• Maintain deep practical technical knowledge of Proofpoint’s integration within the customer's environment, including network, security, systems administration, and messaging management.
• Develop and oversee a comprehensive strategy to meet complex customer requirements utilizing Proofpoint’s solutions.
• Provide proactive recommendations that support the customer's requirements, roadmap and ongoing technical needs.
• Identify and prioritize short-term and long-term goals.
• Plan and lead process improvement initiatives tailored to improve customer satisfaction with the services and interaction with the Proofpoint Team.
• Plan, document, and identify risks and challenges for production changes that span multiple services or technologies.
• Requires little supervision on assigned tasks.
• Works independently on routine tasks.
• Responsible for scheduling own time and for quality completion of multiple tasks within a varying environment of changing constraints.
• Uses independent judgment within broad parameters.
• Designs and implements solutions to complex problems with minimum supervision.

What you bring to the team

• 8 years of industry experience in a client/professional services, sales engineer, senior support engineer, IT operations management, or senior engineer role with exposure to multiple technology areas
• 2+ years experience managing strategic/top accounts
• Knowledge of data communication concepts and technologies, specifically email and networking
• Knowledge of Linux, SMTP, and MySQL
• Working knowledge of Windows, Active Directory, and Microsoft Exchange
• Very strong customer service and excellent written and oral communication skills
• A history of successfully leading and directing technical staff through crisis situations
• Adaptable and willing to learn new technologies
• Knowledge of project management and strong time management skills
• Ability to effectively work in a team environment as well as independently
• Ability to develop relationships across multiple organizational boundaries including Support, Operations, and Engineering
• Work with the relevant technical teams to proactively handle customer configurations and recommend customer environment upgrades and add-ons
• Desire and ability to coach and mentor your peers to help improve their technical knowledge, project management skills, and customer management skills
• U.S. citizenship is required for this role.
• Experience supporting U.S. federal, state, or public-sector customers is strongly preferred.

As a customer focused and driven-to-win organization with leading edge products, there are many exciting reasons to join the Proofpoint team. We believe in hiring the best the brightest and cultivating a culture of collaboration and appreciation. As we continue to grow and expand globally, we understand that hiring the right people and treating them well is key to our success! We are a multi-national company with locations in 10 countries, with each location contributing to Proofpoint’s amazing culture!