Service Account Manager

Our Company
We're Hitachi Vantara, the data foundation trusted by the world's innovators. Our resilient, high-performance data infrastructure means that customers – from banks to theme parks – can focus on achieving the incredible with data.   

If you've seen the Las Vegas Sphere, you've seen just one example of how we empower businesses to automate, optimize, innovate – and wow their customers. Right now, we're laying the foundation for our next wave of growth.  We're looking for people who love being part of a diverse, global team – and who get excited about making a real-world impact with data.

The Team
As part of Hitachi Vantara's Global Customer Success and Support organization, the Product Support group is responsible for service enablement and support lifecycle management of our solutions. The team collaborates with other Hitachi organizations throughout the solution's lifecycle to ensure service and support can be provided to the highest degree of quality, customer satisfaction and cost effectiveness.

The Role
The Services Account Manager (SAM) is a key role within Hitachi Vantara, acting first and foremost as the single point of contact between Hitachi Vantara's service organization and its largest accounts. The SAM role drives value for both the customer and Hitachi Vantara by proactively addressing customer needs and developing a strong relationship with key individuals in the customer's organization.

What You Will Be Doing
While the priorities for the SAM role vary to some degree based on customer, the primary responsibilities of the role remain consistent. As the single point of contact, SAM responsibilities range across the entire customer lifecycle, from pre-sales and implementation to escalations and other service-related issues providing oversight and guidance.
   Single point of contact: Own his / her role as the Management contact and escalation point in relation to delivery of all Hitachi Vantara services. Proactively sharing updates and information, both of a technical and non-technical nature, with the customer on a frequent basis.
   Relationship development: Build networks through outreach and establishment of new relationships within the customer organization, extending beyond just the primary points-of-contact. Additionally, maintain vendor relationships for all products deployed within the storage infrastructure (e.g. disk, fabric, software
   Meetings and reporting: Organize and conduct regular meetings and communications with key teams / individuals at each account to review account, status, and ensure that customers get the customized reporting they need. Ensure customer satisfaction with service delivery.
   Solutions assurance: Ensure the solutions being sold, installed, and implemented at the customer's site fulfill the customer's needs. This includes ownership of the solutions assurance process, coordinating and managing implementation consultants and overseeing the Solutions Assurance Document (SAD).
   Service escalations: "Quarterback" escalations by owning the coordination of customer meetings, communicating with the customer, and aligning the logistics of the escalation team with the customer's internal team. Facilitate a smooth handoff to the escalation team by proactively staying on top of all issues while having the necessary data prepared and ready to share.
   Rebuild after escalation: Complete and review incident report detailing the sequence of events, the root cause of the incident, lessons learned and actions to be taken. Engage in all post-mortem communication to the customer with a focus on rebuilding trust. Solicit survey feedback from the customer and drive the implementation of any needed changes.
   Sales and pre-sales involvement: Be a full participating member of the account team, responsible for keeping the team apprised of customer developments and insider information to maximize growth opportunities. Attend and facilitate regularly scheduled internal meetings with other members of the account team and participate in external sales meetings. Continually seek further opportunities for Hitachi Vantara products and services and inform rest of the account team.
   Help with Business Development: Be Hitachi's internal expert on the customer's system, service history, and current and future business objectives. Ensure that pre-sales, sales, implementation, and service teams have the customer knowledge they need to operate and guarantee that any proposed solution fulfills the customer's business needs. Maintain understanding of the products, services and solutions to be supported by Hitachi Vantara.
   Pre-install and implementation: Own the account support plan, including details for how the account is serviced and supported. Coordinate and manage a smooth install for the customer and provide them with timely updates throughout the process. Work with CS&S engineers, Resource Management and Global Support to ensure that all incidents relating to installed storage infrastructure and to Hitachi Vantara service delivery are managed and resolved in a timely manner.
   Account risk mitigation: Develop and implement a robust risk mitigation strategy tailored to each customer account. Proactively monitor for emerging issues and identify opportunities to reduce risk, enhance account stability, and foster strong relationships as a trusted advisor to customer stakeholders and executive sponsors.
   Routine maintenance: Assume lead responsibility for delivery of maintenance support services for each account. Manage and coordinate CEs to ensure routine maintenance, break-fix, and communication is conducted in a timely manner. Ensure Customer is aware of new microcode releases & engineering changes. Coordinate the activities of third-parties supporting Hitachi Vantara at the customer as required.
   Continuous Improvement: Identify and follow through opportunities for improving customer care, whether internal or external to Hitachi Vantara. Identify and address proactively any issues impacting the effectiveness of Hitachi Vantara support.
   Customer Success: In some client instances the SAM will also take on Customer Success responsibilities in proactively engaging with customers to drive further product adoption, retention, expansion, and advocacy. The SAM will work closely with the client to gain a deep understanding of their ongoing priorities, desired objectives, and expectations, and guide them on ways to maximize the value of their investment in our solutions. They will be responsible for building and executing a Customer Success Plan, as well as monitoring Account Health and following established procedures for account risk management and mitigation. The SAM will serve as the main liaison between the client and key Hitachi Vantara stakeholders (e.g. Sales, Product Management, Engineering, Professional Services, and others) to deliver the best possible customer experience and outcomes.

What You'll Bring To The Team
The SAM role is a hybrid – it is critical that individuals have both account management and technical leadership skills. Just one skillset is not enough to succeed in this position. If a SAM has a strong background in just one skillset or the other, training may be required to get the individual confident and capable in both areas.
   Account Management Skills: The SAM needs to be comfortable reaching out to new people within the customer's organization and establishing connections. Merely maintaining existing points-of-contact is not sufficient. The SAM must be able to proactively maintain existing connections deepening and strengthening them. The SAM role is not a sales role, but the SAM must be comfortable in sales meetings and other sales situations, and be able to discuss products, services, and solutions with the customer.
   Technical Leadership Skills: The SAM must be able to communicate technical details, both internally and with the customer. To do this, the SAM must understand the customer's system from a technical level. Being able to communicate technical details will be key for establishing credibility both with technical experts inside Hitachi Vantara and with the customer. Furthermore, the SAM needs to be able to put technical specifics into non-technical language for those who are less technical in the customer's organization. This includes understanding Hitachi Vantara-specific terminology and communicating it externally.

Additionally, the SAM must have a strong knowledge of the storage industry, products, and solutions. They must have the technical ability to build customer facing reports, create implementation plans, coordinate installs, and monitor product health throughout escalations. A SAM should be comfortable pulling technical data from a customer's system as well as monitoring trends or irregularities in the data. From time to time the SAM must be able to work off normal hours to help in the coordination of client activity

Qualifications:
   Bachelor's and/or Master's degree in computer science, Information Technology, Engineering or a related field and disciple is required
Years' Experience – at least 2 years in a Cloud Solution, Data storage or similar support capacity
   Demonstrated deep experience with client facing interactions, building presentations and handling potentially difficult situations
   Proven ability to provide exceptional customer service is a strong attribute
   Proven ability to develop and manage customer relationships.
   Experience of helping driving pre-sales and consulting activities to implement data strategies and solutions
   Demonstrate the ability to present and sell new products to support the clients environment as a means of differentiating value
   A collaborative, solutions-oriented approach and strong communication skills.
   Ability to project manage, project tasks, set timelines, and lead meetings with internal/external client stakeholders to define scope, timeline, milestones, create and communicate progress reports

The expected pay is determined based on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, depth of experience in the practice area. Employees are eligible to participate in Hitachi Vantara's bonus/variable/commission pay programs, where applicable, and are subject to the program's conditions and restrictions.

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