Manager, Technical Architecture (Manager - SaaS Professional Services)

Why This Role Why Now

Zendesk is the intelligent heart of customer experience. We power billions of conversations with brands you know and love, advocating for digital-first user journeys. As the Manager of Technical Architecture, you will lead the Technical Architecture team within our Global Managed & Professional Services organization. You aren't just managing people; you are leading an enterprise team that crafts the technical engines powering deep engagement globally. Pune is a foundational pillar of our global expansion strategy, creating a prime opening for a leader who excels at driving technical design while managing critical client escalations seamlessly.

Who we're looking for

We are seeking an established leader who thrives on mentoring, managing, and monitoring high-performance project goals. The ideal candidate is energetic, creative, and analytical—someone eager to inspire new skills across a diverse team while setting repeatable standards for success. This is a customer-centric role for a leader who is deeply passionate about daily customer interfacing, translating business requirements into solutions, and navigating organization-wide change.

What you'll be doing

• Strategic Leadership: Plan and direct all aspects of the Technical Consulting Services organization in your function.
• Mentorship & Growth: Lead and mentor team members to achieve period-over-period improvement in billable utilization, productivity, and quality targets.
• Portfolio Accountability: Take overall responsibility for billable deliverables and projects, including staffing, scheduling, design, quality, and execution.
• Global Expansion: Lead recruiting and hiring efforts to grow a global team, designing workflows that transition seamlessly between regional zones.
• Business Impact: Contribute to the positioning and definition of offerings and methodology improvements, while meeting bookings and revenue targets.

What you bring to the role

• Technical Breadth: Deep understanding of web development, RESTful APIs, and backend/ mobile development concepts.
• C-Suite Presence: Excellent instincts and the ability to interface at the executive level with ease, facilitating deep technical conversations with internal and external stakeholders.
• Operational Agility: Willingness to roll up your sleeves to support team members and customers tactically with a strong bias toward action.
• Global Collaboration: Ability to design and manage workflows that transition seamlessly between global regions (AMER, APAC, EMEA).

Basic Qualifications

• 3+ years of team management experience (coaching, hiring, and performance management; not open to first-time managers).
• 6+ years of experience delivering consulting services or programming (Ruby, Python, Java, or JavaScript).
• Proven leadership in business and process transformation.
• Bachelor's Degree (MBA preferred).
• Able to work at the Pune office 3x in a week, support shifting work schedules (AMER, APAC, EMEA), and regularly cover evening shifts aligned with AMER operational time.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience inside a fast-paced SaaS Professional Services or Service Delivery environment.
• Expert-level project management, cross-functional collaboration, and escalation negotiation skills.
• Hands-on developer or administrator-level experience with Zendesk products or parallel CRM platforms (Salesforce, ServiceNow, Freshdesk, Kustomer).
• Technical understanding or implementation acumen involving AI platforms (Decagon, Forethought, Ada).

Please note that Zendesk can only hire candidates who are physically located and plan to work from Pune, Maharashtra. Please refer to the location posted on the requisition for where this role is based.

Hybrid: In this role, our hybrid experience is designed at the team level to give you a rich onsite experience packed with connection, collaboration, learning, and celebration - while also giving you flexibility to work remotely for part of the week. This role must attend our local office for part of the week. The specific in-office schedule is to be determined by the hiring manager.

The Intelligent Heart Of Customer Experience

Zendesk software was built to bring a sense of calm to the chaotic world of customer service. Today we power billions of conversations with brands you know and love.

Zendesk believes in offering our people a fulfilling and inclusive experience. Our hybrid way of working, enables us to purposefully come together in person, at one of our many Zendesk offices around the world, to connect, collaborate and learn whilst also giving our people the flexibility to work remotely for part of the week.

As part of our commitment to fairness and transparency, we inform all applicants that artificial intelligence (AI) or automated decision systems may be used to screen or evaluate applications for this position, in accordance with Company guidelines and applicable law.

Zendesk is an equal opportunity employer, and we're proud of our ongoing efforts to foster global diversity, equity, & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment and employees at Zendesk are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an AA/EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer. If you are based in the United States and would like more information about your EEO rights under the law, please click here.

Zendesk endeavors to make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans pursuant to applicable federal and state law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to submit this application, complete any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participate in the employee selection process, please send an e-mail to [Confidential Information] with your specific accommodation request.