Sr. Director, Customer Excellence

As part of our global expansion and value-creation strategy, Smartsheet is establishing a Customer Excellence Center of Excellence (CE CoE) in India. We are seeking a strategic, hands-on, and customer-obsessed Senior Director to build, lead, and scale this new center.

This leader will serve as the India-based executive owner of the CoE responsible for building the team, running day-to-day operations, ensuring capability excellence across Support, Professional Services, Customer Success Operations, Education, and Digital Success, and partnering closely with global functional leaders to deliver measurable customer and business outcomes.

This is a unique opportunity to build something from the ground up, influence the global operating model, and deliver impact across the full customer lifecycle all while shaping a cohesive, high-performing culture in India.

You will report directly to the Chief Customer Officer and serve as a peer to global CE leaders, with direct leadership responsibilities in India and dotted-line partnerships across every CE function. In addition, you will be a member of the India Leadership Team.

You Will:

Customer Excellence CoE Leadership

• Build and scale the India CE Center of Excellence, starting with Support, Professional Services, CS Operations, Education, and Digital Success.


• Develop a unified CoE strategy that ladders into Smartsheet s global Customer Excellence strategy.


• Establish the operating model, org structure, workflows, and governance to ensure the CoE becomes a globally integrated, high-performing capability hub.

Global Partnership & Influence

• Serve as a peer and strategic partner to global CE leaders (Support, PS, CS Ops, Education, CSM).


• Act as both an innovation partner and a service provider leading select global initiatives while operationalizing others.


• Provide critical input into global processes, tooling, and standards; influence strategic decisions through data, insight, and operational excellence.


• Customer Outcomes & Operational Excellence


• Drive measurable improvements in GRR, product adoption, support efficiency, onboarding speed, and customer experience KPIs.


• Build and scale customer-facing and customer-enabling capabilities (Support L1/L2, PS delivery pods, customer education, digital CS programs, workflow content).


• Champion automation, knowledge management, workflow optimization, and systems excellence.

People Leadership & Organizational Buildout

• Hire, onboard, and develop a high-performing team, beginning with support roles and expanding into additional CE functions.


• Create India-specific career paths, job families, and onboarding academies aligned with global standards.


• Foster a culture of ownership, collaboration, low ego, self-awareness, and continuous improvement.


• Ensure high employee engagement, strong career development, and low regrettable attrition.

Regional Leadership & Culture Building

• Serve as the senior-most CE leader in India, shaping the identity, cohesion, and culture of the CoE.


• Partner with HR, Recruiting, and Facilities to attract world-class talent and build a compelling employee value proposition.


• Promote Smartsheet s values while bridging cross-regional collaboration and communication.

You Have:

• 15+ years of leadership experience across Customer Success, Technical Support, Professional Services, or Customer Operations in SaaS or technology companies.


• Experience contributing to or helping build global capability centers in India (full ownership not required, but exposure to India scale-up is expected).


• A balanced strategic + operational skillset: strong analytical thinking paired with a hands-on, roll up your sleeves builder mentality.


• A track record of driving measurable customer outcomes (GRR, adoption, CSAT, support efficiency, PS delivery quality).


• Experience partnering with global leaders and operating in a matrix with dual solid-line and dotted-line structures.


• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to influence executives, navigate ambiguity, and bring clarity across time zones.


• Evidence of building high-performing, engaged teams and developing talent across functions.


• Deep understanding of customer lifecycle motions, digital success, automation, workflows, and scaled operations.


• Experience with customer systems and workflows (Salesforce, Service Cloud, Zendesk, Gainsight, etc.)


• A reputation for self-awareness, emotional intelligence, humility, collaboration, and trust-building.


• Bachelor s degree required; advanced degree preferred.


• Willingness and ability to travel internationally.