Service Relationship Manager - Sydney/Melbourne
Fortinet · Sydney
Location: Australia (Sydney, Melbourne)
The Service Relationship Manager (SRM) serves as the strategic advisor and primary service relationship owner for Fortinet's most strategic and complex customers. Acting as the customer's trusted advocate, the SRM is accountable for driving customer success, maximizing value from Advanced Support services, managing operational and relationship risks, leading critical escalations, and ensuring customers achieve their desired business and security outcomes.
The SRM partners closely with customer executives, operational teams, Fortinet Sales, Technical Support, Engineering, Professional Services, and Partners to deliver a seamless customer experience and measurable business value throughout the customer lifecycle.
The successful candidate combines executive presence, strategic thinking, service delivery expertise, customer success leadership, exceptional EQ & high IQ, and strong operational management skills to drive customer satisfaction, retention, and long-term partnership growth.
As a Service Relationship Manager, you will:
Strategic Customer Success & Business Alignment
- Develop and maintain strategic Success Plans aligned to customer business objectives, cybersecurity priorities, and operational goals.
- Understand customer business drivers, organizational priorities, digital transformation initiatives, and security strategies.
- Ensure Fortinet Advanced Support services are aligned to customer outcomes and measurable success criteria.
- Act as a trusted advisor and strategic consultant to customer stakeholders.
- Drive adoption of Advanced Support deliverables, proactive services, and service recommendations.
- Conduct ongoing customer health assessments and develop action plans to improve customer outcomes.
Executive Relationship Management
- Build and maintain trusted relationships with executive and senior stakeholders including CIOs, CISOs, IT Directors, Network Managers, and Security Operations teams.
- Lead Quarterly Services Reviews (QSRs) and Weekly Service Review (WSR) Meetings.
- Translate technical challenges into business impacts and vice versa.
- Serve as the executive-level point of contact for service performance, customer concerns, and strategic planning discussions.
- Provide ongoing strategic guidance on supportability, operational resilience, and service optimization.
Escalation Leadership & Service Recovery
- Own and coordinate high-priority customer escalations and service concerns.
- Lead cross-functional resolution teams during critical incidents.
- Drive service recovery plans and customer communication strategies during major operational events.
- Ensure appropriate engagement of Engineering, TAC, Sales, and senior leadership when required.
- Conduct post-incident reviews and drive corrective actions to prevent recurrence.
- Act as the customer's advocate during critical issue resolution.
Service Governance & Operational Excellence
- Conduct regular operational reviews covering service performance, case trends, issue management, SLA compliance, and customer risks.
- Monitor customer service health and identify improvement opportunities.
- Track and report against customer-specific KPIs and success metrics.
- Maintain governance structures including action registers, risk registers, service improvement plans, and success plans.
- Ensure Advanced Support commitments and proactive deliverables are executed successfully.
Customer Risk Management
- Proactively identify service delivery, operational, adoption, relationship, commercial, and renewal risks.
- Develop mitigation strategies and recovery plans.
- Establish early warning indicators for customer dissatisfaction and service degradation.
- Present customer health, risks, and recommendations to internal stakeholders and leadership.
- Drive actions that improve overall customer sentiment and service outcomes.
Commercial & Renewal Support
- Partner with Sales and Account Teams to support customer retention and renewal strategies.
- Demonstrate measurable value delivered through Advanced Support engagements.
- Identify and communicate service adoption gaps that may impact customer outcomes or renewals.
- Support discussions regarding service expansion opportunities where appropriate.
- Contribute to account planning activities and customer growth strategies.
Voice of the Customer
- Represent customer feedback within Fortinet.
- Identify recurring customer challenges, product enhancement opportunities, and service improvement initiatives.
- Collaborate with Product Management, Engineering, and Support teams to advocate for customer requirements.
- Share customer insights that help drive service and product evolution.
Leadership Without Authority
The ability to lead across organizational boundaries without direct management responsibility.
- Lead virtual teams comprising Technical Support, Engineering, Professional Services, Sales, Customer Success, and Partner organizations.
- Influence decision making through expertise, credibility, and customer advocacy.
- Align diverse stakeholders around customer priorities and business outcomes.
- Drive accountability and execution across cross-functional teams.
- Facilitate collaboration between customer and Fortinet stakeholders during strategic initiatives and critical incidents.
- Foster a culture of customer-centricity and operational excellence.
We Are Looking For:
An insightful and influential collaborator to join our team. We encourage you to apply for this position if you have the following qualities:
- 8+ years in Customer Success, Technical Account Management, Service Delivery Management, Enterprise Support, IT Operations, Managed Services, or similar customer-facing roles.
- Experience managing strategic enterprise and government customers.
- Demonstrated success managing executive-level stakeholder relationships.
- Proven experience leading complex escalations and service recovery activities.
Strong executive presence with the ability to communicate effectively across operational, management, and executive audiences.
- Ability to translate complex technical concepts into business-focused discussions and outcomes.
Experience conducting Service Reviews, governance meetings, and strategic account planning sessions.
Experience leading and driving outcomes across cross function team without authority
Strong understanding of customer lifecycle management, retention strategies, and value realization.
- Strong understanding of cybersecurity, networking, cloud, and enterprise infrastructure technologies.
- ITIL certification or equivalent service management experience preferred.
Excellent communication, negotiation, and influencing skills.
Why Join Us:
At Fortinet, we embrace diversity and inclusivity. We encourage applications from diverse backgrounds and identities. Explore our welcoming work environment designed for a rewarding career journey with an attractive Total Rewards package to support you with your overall health and financial well-being. Join us in bringing solutions that make a meaningful and lasting impact to our 660,000+ customers around the globe.
We will only notify shortlisted candidates.
Fortinet will not entertain any unsolicited resumes, please refrain from sending them to any Fortinet employees or Fortinet email aliases. Should any Agency submit any resumes to Fortinet, these resumes if considered, will be assumed to have been given by the Agency free of any related fees/charges.
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Join Fortinet, a cybersecurity pioneer with over two decades of excellence, as we continue to shape the future of cybersecurity and redefine the intersection of networking and security. At Fortinet, our mission is to safeguard people, devices, and data everywhere. We are currently seeking a dynamic Service Relationship Manager to contribute to the success of our rapidly growing business.