Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Director of Service

🎯 Role Definition

The Director of Service is a senior operational leader who designs and runs end-to-end service delivery and support functions across channels (field, remote, technical support, managed services). This role is accountable for operational excellence, service strategy, financial performance (P&L), SLA compliance, workforce planning, partner management, and continuous improvement programs that increase customer retention, reduce churn, and scale the service organization efficiently.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Service Manager with multi-site responsibility
Field Service Manager or Head of Field Operations
Director of Customer Support or Customer Success
Program Manager for large-scale services or managed services

Advancement To:

Vice President of Service / VP Operations
Head of Global Operations or Head of Customer Experience
Chief Customer Officer (CCO) or Chief Operations Officer (COO)

Lateral Moves:

Director of Customer Success
Director of Product Operations
Director of Field Services
Director of Managed Services

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Develop and own the strategic roadmap for service delivery and support that aligns with corporate goals, accelerates revenue retention, and defines clear KPIs (CSAT, NPS, SLA attainment, MTTR, first-time fix) to measure success across field, remote, and managed services.
Lead end-to-end service delivery operations including field service engineering, technical support, installation, maintenance, and managed service contracts, ensuring seamless coordination between field teams and centralized support functions.
Own P&L for service lines, build and manage annual budgets, drive cost-to-serve improvements, identify profitable service offerings, and present financial performance and forecasts to executive leadership.
Design, implement, and enforce SLAs and operating procedures across regions; monitor SLA performance, establish remediation plans for breaches, and report trends with actionable recommendations to stakeholders.
Build, coach and scale high-performing cross-functional teams (service managers, field technicians, dispatch, warranty claims, escalation engineers), including recruiting, succession planning, performance management and professional development.
Implement and mature workforce management processes: capacity planning, demand forecasting, shift scheduling, routing optimization, and technician productivity programs to ensure on-time service and cost efficiency.
Lead digital transformation initiatives for service operations—introduce or optimize FSM/CRM/ITSM platforms (e.g., ServiceNow, Salesforce Service Cloud, Microsoft Dynamics, Field Service) and automation to improve dispatching, parts logistics, and remote resolution rates.
Own the customer escalation process and personally lead resolution of high-severity incidents, ensuring timely communication with C-suite stakeholders, root-cause analysis, and implementation of corrective actions to prevent recurrence.
Manage vendor, subcontractor, and partner ecosystems including SLAs, performance reviews, contracting, and cost control to ensure consistent quality and scalable coverage in new markets.
Partner closely with Sales and Account Management to embed service offerings into commercial proposals, define Service Level Agreements in contracts, and ensure smooth handoffs during onboarding and product launches.
Develop and deploy quality assurance, continuous improvement, and operational excellence methodologies (Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen) to reduce repeat visits, improve first-time fix rates, and increase overall service quality.
Lead pricing strategy and packaging for service contracts, warranties, and managed services, including margin analysis and go-to-market coordination with commercial teams.
Establish and track operational dashboards and executive-level reports (real-time and periodic) that highlight SLA trends, operational risks, cost drivers, technician utilization, parts availability, and customer experience metrics.
Design parts & logistics strategy: optimize vendor-managed inventory, spare parts forecasting, depot vs. field stocking models, and reverse logistics to reduce time-to-repair and inventory carrying costs.
Drive safety, compliance, and regulatory adherence across field operations, ensuring technicians are trained, certified, and operating according to regional and industry regulations.
Lead post-incident reviews and systemic root cause analysis for recurring technical issues, working with product, engineering, and quality teams to implement design or process changes to improve reliability.
Own service onboarding for new customers and new product introductions: define processes, training plans, success criteria, and operational readiness checklists to guarantee rapid, high-quality scale-up.
Cultivate a customer-centric culture across the service organization by creating feedback loops with customers, analyzing voice-of-customer data, launching service improvement programs and driving upward impact on retention and upsell.
Set and enforce professional standards for technician training, certifications, and continuous learning programs to maintain high technical competency and customer-facing professionalism.
Drive cross-functional programs with Product, R&D, and Engineering to influence roadmap decisions using field data and service insights that reduce support burden and improve product reliability.
Develop contingency and disaster recovery plans for service continuity, including surge resourcing, remote support escalation paths, and disaster response playbooks to protect SLAs during critical events.
Standardize global processes and playbooks while allowing localized adaptations for compliance or market-specific constraints, enabling scale with consistency in quality and governance.
Serve as a visible leader to customers and prospects, representing the organization in executive briefings, major escalations, board-level reports, and industry conferences to build trust and market credibility.
Establish metrics-driven incentive programs for service teams and partners that align behaviors to company goals (improved CSAT, reduced MTTR, cost control, revenue from service contracts).
Oversee warranty and claims processes, authorizations and financial reversals, working with Finance and Legal to minimize leakage and improve recoveries.
Champion diversity, equity, and inclusion within the service organization and ensure hiring, promotion, and leadership development practices support an inclusive, high-performing culture.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Work with Finance to reconcile service revenue recognition, cost allocations, and contract accounting for managed services.
Partner with HR to design and implement competency frameworks, training curricula, and certification paths for technical staff.
Coordinate with Legal and Compliance on contractual obligations, regulatory reporting, and audit responses related to service delivery.
Assist Marketing and Product in building case studies, reference accounts, and evidence of service excellence for customer acquisition and retention.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Service Management & Strategy: proven ability to define and execute global service strategies, SLAs, and operating models for field, remote, and managed services.
P&L Management: budgeting, forecasting, margin analysis, and financial reporting for service product lines.
Field Service Management (FSM) Systems: hands-on experience with FSM and dispatch platforms (e.g., Salesforce Field Service, ServiceMax, Microsoft Field Service).
ITSM & Ticketing Tools: working knowledge of ServiceNow, Zendesk, or similar systems for incident, problem, and change management.
CRM Integration: experience integrating service processes with CRM (Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics) for seamless customer lifecycle management.
Contract & Commercial Acumen: negotiating and managing service contracts, warranties, SLAs, and third-party vendor agreements.
Data & Analytics: ability to define and interpret operational dashboards (Power BI, Tableau, Looker), analyze MTTR, FTTF, utilization, and make data-driven decisions.
Process Improvement: experience applying Lean, Six Sigma, or other continuous improvement methodologies to increase efficiency and quality.
Parts & Logistics Optimization: inventory management, MRO strategy, and vendor-managed inventory experience.
Project & Program Management: delivering complex cross-functional initiatives, product launches, and service migrations on time and on budget.
Compliance & Safety: knowledge of regulatory requirements and field safety best practices for technicians and service partners.
Technical Competency: prior technical background or sufficient product knowledge to engage in technical escalations and operational root-cause analysis.

Soft Skills

Strategic Leadership: ability to develop vision, align teams, and drive execution across dispersed geographies and functions.
Customer Advocacy: strong customer-orientation with a track record of improving CSAT/NPS and resolving executive escalations.
Communication & Influence: concise executive-level reporting, effective stakeholder management, and polished presentation skills.
People Development: talent builder who coaches managers and develops technical leaders through mentoring, feedback and structured career paths.
Problem Solving: structured thinker with strong root-cause analysis and decision-making under pressure.
Change Management: proven capability to lead people through operational transformations and technology implementations.
Negotiation & Conflict Resolution: effective at negotiating vendor contracts and resolving internal and external disputes.
Collaboration: cross-functional partner that builds strong relationships with Sales, Product, Engineering, Finance and Legal.
Resilience & Adaptability: able to operate in fast-paced, ambiguous environments and respond to service-critical incidents calmly.
Analytical Mindset: comfortable with numbers, trend analysis and translating data into actionable operational plans.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Engineering, Information Systems, Operations Management, or a related field.

Preferred Education:

MBA or Master’s degree in Business, Technology Management, Operations Research, or related discipline.
Certifications such as ITIL Expert, PMP, Six Sigma (Black/Green Belt) are highly desirable.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Business Administration
Mechanical, Electrical or Industrial Engineering
Information Systems / Computer Science
Operations Management
Supply Chain / Logistics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 10–15+ years of progressive experience in service operations, field service, or customer support roles.

Preferred:

Minimum 5–8 years in senior leadership roles (Director level or equivalent) with direct P&L responsibility.
Demonstrated experience scaling service operations across multiple regions and channels, including managing distributed field technician networks and third-party partners.
Background working with managed services or contract-delivered support, enterprise customers, and complex SLAs.
Proven track record of implementing technology platforms (FSM, ITSM, CRM), driving process improvements, and delivering measurable improvements in CSAT, MTTR, and cost-to-serve.
Experience operating in regulated industries or environments with strict safety/compliance requirements is a plus.