FORTNA partners with the world’s leading brands to transform omnichannel and parcel distribution operations. Known world-wide for enabling companies to keep pace with digital disruption and growth objectives, we design and deliver solutions, powered by intelligent software, to optimize fast, accurate and cost-effective order fulfillment and last mile delivery. Our people, innovative approach and proprietary algorithms and tools ensure optimal operations design and material and information flow. We deliver exceptional value every day to our customers with comprehensive services and products including network strategy, distribution center operational design and implementation, material handling automated equipment, robotics and a comprehensive suite of lifecycle services.
At FORTNA, we believe in fostering a workplace that isn't just a job but a movement – a collective effort to redefine success and transform challenges into opportunities. "Join the Movement" encapsulates our commitment to a workplace culture that thrives on collaboration, celebrates diversity, and empowers every individual to contribute to something greater than themselves. Our Team. Our Passion. Our Approach.
The Customer Systems Advocate is a customer-facing individual contributor responsible for the operational health of a defined portfolio of named accounts in elevated support states. This role operates through influence, not direct authority, coordinating across Controls, Software, WES/WMS, Infrastructure, and third-party teams so that issues are actively worked and customers always have a clear point of contact and a recovery plan.
The right candidate has a strong foundation in customer relationship management and technical support within warehouse automation or industrial systems environments. They can hold a credible conversation with an engineer, explain a root cause to an operations director, and keep a customer relationship steady during a difficult period. Strong organizational discipline and consistent follow-through are essential.
Key Responsibilities
Customer Health Management
- Own a defined portfolio of named accounts in elevated health states, serving as the primary coordination and communication point for each assigned customer.
- Monitor account health indicators including incident volume, P1/P2 frequency, open issue age, and resolution velocity to assess risk and prioritize effort.
- Establish regular engagement cadences with each assigned customer: operational reviews, issue status updates, and recovery plan checkpoints.
- Partner with the Incident Management team during active P1/P2 events to ensure customer communication is coordinated and post-incident follow-through is owned.
- Manage portfolio transitions as customer health improves, handing off restored accounts to standard support and onboarding newly elevated accounts as conditions require.
Cross-Functional Problem Resolution
- Own root cause analysis (RCA) documentation for significant incidents and recurring issue patterns across assigned accounts, coordinating with Incident Management, Controls, Software, and WES/WMS teams.
- Drive participation in post-incident reviews and post-mortem events, confirming that lessons are captured, owners are assigned, and corrective actions are tracked to closure.
- Coordinate corrective action plans across engineering, support, and third-party teams — maintaining momentum and accountability without direct authority over those resources.
- Maintain a shared issue register for each assigned account covering open defects, committed timelines, and escalation status, visible to both internal teams and the customer.
- Identify systemic and recurring failure patterns across accounts and escalate findings to Problem Management and engineering leadership for root cause investment.
Customer Relationship Management
- Build and maintain trusted working relationships with customer operational leaders, site managers, and IT/support stakeholders across assigned accounts.
- Serve as the customer's internal advocate, communicating operational impact and urgency to engineering and support teams on behalf of each assigned account.
- Translate technical findings, RCA outputs, and corrective action plans into clear language for customer audiences at all levels.
- Manage sensitive customer situations with composure, knowing when to escalate internally and when to hold the relationship steady.
- Keep communication consistent between incidents so customers feel supported and informed, not just heard from during a crisis.
Post Go-Live & Hypercare Support
- Engage with select post go-live projects during hypercare periods where elevated risk, operational instability, or customer escalation warrants dedicated coordination support.
- Partner with Project Delivery and Implementation teams to establish clear handoff criteria and post go-live support expectations before systems transition to steady-state operations.
- Monitor early-life system performance for assigned hypercare accounts, coordinating rapid response to stabilization issues and ensuring open items are tracked with defined owners and timelines.
- Support the establishment of communication cadences and escalation paths with customer stakeholders during the hypercare window, building the relationship foundation for ongoing account health management.
Operational Reporting & Continuous Improvement
- Analyze incident and case data across assigned accounts to surface recurring failure patterns, systemic gaps, and unresolved risk areas.
- Produce and maintain account-level reporting covering incident trends, open corrective actions, recovery milestones, and overall health status.
- Contribute findings to Problem Management and engineering leadership to inform prioritization of long-term corrective investments.
- Recommend improvements to stabilization processes, escalation workflows, and customer communication practices based on direct account experience.
- Support development and refinement of standardized tools including account health scorecards, RCA templates, and hypercare engagement checklists.
Required Qualifications
- 5+ years of experience in customer-facing technical support, service delivery, or operations roles within warehouse automation, industrial systems, or similarly complex operational environments.
- Demonstrated ability to build working relationships with customer stakeholders (operations leaders, site managers, and engineering contacts) and coordinate across internal teams including Controls, Software, WES/WMS, and third-party vendors.
- Experience managing escalated customer situations with composure and clear communication under pressure.
- Familiarity with incident and problem management processes, including post-incident reviews and root cause analysis.
- Strong organizational skills and follow-through discipline, with the ability to manage multiple active accounts and competing priorities simultaneously.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to translate technical findings into clear operational language for customer audiences.
- Familiarity with ITIL service management principles, particularly incident, problem, and change management.
- Proficiency with ticketing and case management platforms such as Salesforce Service Cloud, ServiceNow, or Jira Service Management.
Preferred Qualifications
- Hands-on experience supporting automated warehouse platforms including conveyors, ASRS, shuttle systems, sortation systems, or robotic automation.
- Working knowledge of WES, WMS, PLC, SCADA, controls, and industrial networking concepts at a level sufficient to engage credibly with engineering teams and understand system failure context.
- Experience in 24/7 operational support environments where system availability directly impacts customer throughput and business outcomes.
- Experience in a hypercare, stabilization, or post go-live support capacity with enterprise customers.
- Demonstrated experience producing structured customer-facing reporting including incident summaries, health dashboards, or corrective action trackers.
- Familiarity with Lean or Six Sigma problem-solving methodologies (e.g., DMAIC, 5 Whys, Fishbone/Ishikawa) and experience applying structured root cause analysis tools in an operational environment.
Work Environment
- Travel to customer distribution center and operational sites is expected, with frequency driven by account health status and active stabilization needs.
- This role supports customers operating 24/7 warehouse environments. Availability during off-hours for P1/P2 escalations and time-sensitive customer situations is required; specific on-call expectations will be defined by team structure and account portfolio.
- Comfortable working in fast-moving environments where priorities shift, engineering resources are constrained, and results depend on relationships and persistence rather than formal authority.
- Effective across functions and organizational levels, from warehouse floor operations teams to engineering leads to customer executive stakeholders.
The base salary range for this role is $66,100 to $99,200. This base salary range represents the low and high end of the base salary range for this position. Actual base salary offered will vary based on various factors including but not limited to location, level, job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and performance.
This job description describes the general nature and level of work expected of a person assigned to this position. All job requirements listed indicate the minimum level of knowledge, skills and/or ability deemed necessary to perform the job proficiently. Employees may be required to perform any other job-related duties as requested by their supervisor.
It is the policy of FORTNA and its affiliated companies to provide equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, citizenship status (if authorized to work in the U.S.), or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. In addition, FORTNA will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.
