Technical Account Manager

Summary

We are looking for a Technical Account Manager (TAM) to join our Guidewire Customer Success and Alliances (CSA) organization. The Technical Account Manager will be based in Tokyo, Japan and will report to one of our Managers in the Technical Account Management group.
We are Guidewire Software, and we're perhaps the best company to work for that you've never heard of. We are proud to be voted a “Top 3” employer on Glassdoor by our own employees and positioned as a market leader by industry experts like Gartner. We serve the second-largest financial services industry in the world (after banking), worth $2 trillion USD. We build the core applications that companies use to sell insurance policies, settle claims, and bill their customers. We also have a portfolio of products serving the innovative needs of our customers in areas such as data management, digital online portals, and predictive analytics. We serve customers all over the world, helping them handle billions of dollars of business. This is a lucrative and underserved market, and we have grown rapidly through a combination of quality products, excellent service, innovative technology, and a passionate belief in our core values of rationality, collegiality & integrity.

Job Description

The Role: 

We’re looking for an experienced Technical Account Manager that can build and maintain a strong relationship with our Guidewire Cloud customers, and who can provide firm guidance and leadership to the various parties involved in the customer’s journey.  Technical Account Managers engage with our Cloud customers at the start of the customer journey, and focus on technical enablement for key platform features and overall management of the customer’s operational experience with Guidewire Cloud.  As the implementation phase winds down, our Technical Account Managers focus on the “path to production” and the post-production phase of a Guidewire Cloud customer journey.  In this capacity they serve as a primary liaison between the customer team and the Guidewire Product Development & Operations (PDO) team once the customer is successfully deployed into Production.  In this role you will be an advocate for our customers, while simultaneously advocating the benefits of the service & operating model that defines the Guidewire Cloud offering.  On a day-to-day basis, you may be involved in areas such as technical feature education and enablement, service management, SLA/SLO management, system restoration and escalation activity, cloud infrastructure, product update planning and execution, and “DevOps” tasks such as build and release management.  No matter what task you face on a given day, you will collaborate closely with an impressive team of peers whose primary goal is our customer’s success.  We particularly value demonstrated leadership capability and presence, experience working in a Subscription service model, project management experience, excellent organization skills, negotiation skills, and of course the ability to work well as part of an overall organization.

Responsibilities:

• We live by our core principles of integrity, rationality, and collegiality.  Your first responsibility is always to adhere to these principles in everything that you do.

• This is a customer facing role and a priority is placed on exceptional customer service skills including but not limited to professional communication capability, timely response procedures, and understanding the sense of urgency that is characteristic of any production system setting.

• Understand all aspects of the Guidewire Cloud operating model and work directly with our customers to ensure they understand and are prepared to successfully operate in this service-based subscription model.

• Utilize knowledge of Guidewire core products and our Cloud Platform to communicate with and enable customers on important technical features.

• Serve as a liaison between our Customers and our Delivery Services organization to handle referrals for billable services to advance a customer’s technical implementation efforts.

• Help coordinate real-world “table-top” exercises where you will partner with your customer and with internal Guidewire teams to identify key operational scenarios and walk through how all related parties will operate in a Production business setting.

• Ability to complete Guidewire product certification on one or more Guidewire products at the “Business Analyst” level.  

• Work closely with all parties involved in implementation or cloud migration programs (including Guidewire Delivery Services, System Integration Partners, and customer resources) to effectively identify, coordinate, and manage tasks pertaining to the preparation and launch into Guidewire Cloud.

• Advocate for the importance of our Cloud Assurance program and ensure customers understand our recommendations and are executing on those recommendations to optimize their Guidewire solutions.

• Work with our Cloud Program Management function to ensure our Guidewire Cloud programs are adhering to our defined methodologies and best practices.

• Once live in Production, take a leadership role alongside the customer and any implementation parties in stabilizing the Guidewire ecosystem and ensuring the customer is prepared to operate within the Guidewire Cloud model

• Challenge and identify ways to continuously improve our internal service management capabilities by understanding our customer’s unique needs.

• Ability to clearly communicate functional and technical requirements to a remote team.

• Contribute to a team environment that will have both local and remote leadership.

• This role is 50% remote and 50% onsite travel to customer sites in the Tokyo region.  Occasional intercountry travel in Japan or international travel may be required but would be limited in nature. 

• Guidewire Cloud is a service offering with defined contractual SLA’s.  While the Technical Account Manager will work during normal business hours based on their home office location, occasional high priority work outside of established business hours may be necessary (i.e., to help with urgent customer issues).

Desired Skills/Experience:

• Business-Level language fluency is necessary in both Japanese and English

• We will prioritize candidates that have 5+ years of experience in one or more of the following settings: 

  • Working in a Program Management type role within a corporate IT or consulting environment (Guidewire projects preferred)

  • Working as a Customer Success Manager across various business settings

  • Working in a managerial position with a Customer Support organization focused on production operations

• We will prioritize candidates that have 2+ years of applied project experience with Guidewire core applications (PolicyCenter, ClaimCenter, BillingCenter, Digital, Data Management)

• Comfort being in a dynamic role  that will continue to mature with our solution & service offerings

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills 

• Ability to defend and position technical and operational topics with customer personnel

• Applied Project Management experience

• Demonstrated problem solving skills performed in a time-sensitive environment

• Experience using an Agile based methodology

• Proven ability to influence customers and build relationships, both with “on the ground” resources and those in Management/Executive roles

• Ability to quickly triage customer issues and prioritize tasks (i.e., differentiate between production issues and future enhancement work)

• Experience working in an environment where cloud or off-premise enterprise applications have been utilized

• Experience working with Cloud, SaaS, or PaaS service models and understanding the differences versus on-premise software deployments

• Experience with customer and support systems such as Salesforce, Jira, Google Enterprise, and Confluence

• Fundamental Amazon Web Services (AWS) knowledge is preferred

• Applied “DevOps” experience is preferred

Requirements:

• Bachelors’ Degree (B.S., B.A.) or equivalent from a higher education institution

• Authorized to work and travel in Japan

About Guidewire

Guidewire is the platform P&C insurers trust to engage, innovate, and grow efficiently. We combine digital, core, analytics, and AI to deliver our platform as a cloud service. More than 540+ insurers in 40 countries, from new ventures to the largest and most complex in the world, run on Guidewire.

As a partner to our customers, we continually evolve to enable their success. We are proud of our unparalleled implementation track record with 1600+ successful projects, supported by the largest R&D team and partner ecosystem in the industry. Our Marketplace provides hundreds of applications that accelerate integration, localization, and innovation.

For more information, please visit www.guidewire.com and follow us on Twitter: @Guidewire_PandC.

Guidewire Software, Inc. is proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. We are committed to an inclusive workplace, and believe that a diversity of perspectives, abilities, and cultures is a key to our success. Qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, marital status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, or disability. All offers are contingent upon passing a criminal history and other background checks where it's applicable to the position.