Position Summary

The Vice President of Client Support is a member of Illumia's operational leadership team, reporting to the COO. Customer support is both a cost center and a competitive signal - and Illumia's customers have long-standing relationships with the company and high expectations for responsiveness. This role exists to ensure that support is a differentiator, not a reactive cost center: a reason customers renew, not a source of escalation.

This is not a steady-state leadership role. Illumia is completing the operational unification of Transact and CBORD into a single, high-performing $600M software company. The support organization carries the weight of that history - two legacy cultures, two toolsets, and two sets of client expectations. The VP of Client Support is responsible for building the unified, high-performing support function that One Illumia requires: consistent standards, AI-enabled workflows, and a leadership team developed to carry the organization forward.

The COO's first-year mandate includes establishing support SLAs, driving generative AI adoption across the function, and making support a measurably better experience for Illumia's clients. This leader owns the execution of that mandate.

Responsibilities

• Support Strategy & Performance: Define and execute a multi-year support strategy that elevates service quality, scales with client growth, and drives measurable improvement in the KPIs that matter
• AI-Enabled Support Transformation: The COO's mandate is to make generative AI a structural advantage across Illumia - and the support function is one of the highest-leverage opportunities in the company.
• Leadership Team Development & Succession: The support organization has a leadership bench with real capability - and real development needs. This leader inherits a team that includes strong tactical executors, high-potential leaders who are not yet operating at their ceiling, and structural patterns (including historical over-promotion and 'club' dynamics in some teams) that need to be addressed with intention.
• Operational Excellence & Reporting: Support currently operates with impaired data visibility following the loss of key reporting capability after Walt's departure. The Zendesk data integration into the data warehouse is incomplete
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Support does not operate in isolation. This leader is the primary voice of the client across Illumia

KEY AREAS OF FOCUS

1. Establish SLAs and Make Them Visible
2. Lead the AI Transformation in Support
3. Build the Leadership Team Support Deserves
4. Restore Operational Transparency
5. Be the Standard-Bearer for the Client Experience

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Communications, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience
• Master's degree or MBA (preferred)
• 12+ years leading client support or service operations, with at least 5 years in a VP-level or senior director role managing large, distributed teams
• Demonstrated experience serving clients in higher education, healthcare, corporate enterprises, or other complex, mission-critical environments
• Proven track record implementing generative and agentic AI tools - including intelligent ticketing, virtual assistants, and automated triage - with measurable improvement in support efficiency, quality, and client satisfaction
• Deep expertise in support best practices, including tiered service models, knowledge-centered service (KCS), omnichannel delivery, SLA management, and emerging AI-enabled support tools
• Exceptional coaching and mentoring skills with a track record of developing leaders at all levels, including managing through organizational change and addressing underperformance directly
• Strong data orientation - able to build and use reporting infrastructure to manage operations and communicate performance to executive leadership
• Executive presence and communication skills to represent client perspectives with authority across the organization
• Experience with SaaS or enterprise technology platforms in higher education or healthcare
• Familiarity with FERPA, HIPAA, or relevant compliance frameworks
• Certifications in customer experience or service management (e.g., ITIL, HDI)
• Experience leading support organizations through post-merger integration

LEADERSHIP QUALITIES

We hire and develop people who are humble, hungry, and smart - and we hold our leaders to the highest standard across all three.

• Humble:
  • They lack excessive ego or concerns about status. The right leaders for Illumia don't need to own the spotlight - they share credit, define success collectively, and are quick to elevate the contributions of others. This is a company still writing its story. The leaders who thrive here find energy in building something together, not in being recognized as the smartest person in the room.

• Hungry:
  • They are always looking for more - more things to do, more to learn, more responsibility to take on. We are not looking for caretakers. We are looking for leaders who are restless about what's possible, self-motivated to close the gap between where we are today and where we need to be, and who are already thinking about the next opportunity before anyone asks.
• Smart:
  • They have common sense about people, dealing with others in the most effective way, and picking up on the needs and feelings of others. At Illumia, our leaders must operate across a complex, distributed organization spanning multiple product lines, two legacy cultures, and thousands of customers with competing priorities. Technical skills matter, but the ability to read a room, build trust across functions, and bring people along is what separates a great leader from one who burns the organization out.

WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU JOIN

• Flexible time off including paid holidays and volunteer time
• Robust health, dental, and vision insurance plans on your first day of employment
• Comprehensive employee assistance program (EAP)
• Employer-paid life insurance, AD&D, short-term and long-term disability insurance
• Flexible spending account (FSA) or health savings account (HSA)
• Matched 401(k)
• Employee stock purchase plan

Base salary offers for this position may vary based on factors such as location, skills, and relevant experience. Some positions may include additional compensation in the form of bonus, equity, or commissions.