Principal Customer Architect

Job Description

Join us at Zendesk, where we're on a mission to power exceptional service for every person on the planet. We're accelerating that ambition by building products rooted in AI, automation, and intelligent customer experiences, because behind every interaction lies an opportunity to make a human connection.

We’re looking for a Principal Customer Architect to help enterprise customers turn early proof of value into lasting adoption of Zendesk’s AI Resolution Platform. You’ll shape technical adoption strategies, guide customers through AI-enabled change, and help them realize measurable business outcomes. You’ll bring together customer goals, technical possibilities, and the right Zendesk specialists to make progress practical and sustainable. 

What you’ll be doing

• Lead technical adoption roadmaps for strategic customers, translating business priorities and technical health into clear milestones and measurable outcomes.
• Build account technology plans covering architecture, Zendesk usage, technical debt, customer priorities, and adoption opportunities.
• Diagnose barriers across configuration, data, integrations, processes, operating models, and stakeholder alignment; turn findings into prioritized actions.
• Guide customers through AI and platform adoption with repeatable playbooks, standard configurations, and practical enablement.
• Lead technical discovery, whiteboarding, relevant product demonstrations, and standard sandbox configurations to make proposed outcomes tangible.
• Scope productized pilots and proofs of concept with clear success criteria, ROI logic, and a path to production adoption.
• Coordinate AI Experts, Professional Services, FDEs, Architects, and other specialists around a shared customer outcome.
• Share technical evidence that supports adoption, value realization, and expansion readiness, while tracking progress through approved systems.

What you bring to the role

• Strong technical judgment across SaaS configuration, integrations, APIs, data flows, and AI automation.
• The ability to lead structured discovery and explain complex technical ideas in clear business language, from practitioners to executives.
• Experience using adoption plans, maturity assessments, playbooks, and stakeholder alignment to make customer change stick.
• Good solution-scoping judgment: you know when a standard approach is right and when to bring in deeper technical or delivery expertise.
• Comfort with light demos and standard configuration that help customers understand what’s possible without over-customizing.
• A proactive, calm approach to ambiguous customer challenges, with the ability to build trust and lead through influence.
• An AI-literate approach to your work: you can use approved AI tools responsibly, consider data, security, oversight, and measurement, and adapt as AI changes customer workflows.

Basic qualifications

• Typically 12+ years of experience in complex customer-facing technical transformation, architecture, AI automation, advisory, or a related field—or an equivalent record of impact. Level is based on demonstrated scope, judgment, and impact, not tenure alone.
• Experience owning technical adoption or transformation outcomes with enterprise customers.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical discovery, assess integrations or data flows, and recommend practical solutions.
• A track record of influencing senior stakeholders and coordinating cross-functional teams through complex change.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience with customer service, CX platforms, AI agents, workflow automation, or service operations.
• Experience designing productized pilots, technical adoption programs, or repeatable customer playbooks.
• Familiarity with regulated environments, complex architectures, or advanced AI automation.
• Experience turning customer adoption patterns into scalable methods, while bringing structured feedback to Product and Engineering.

The US annualized OTE (On Target Earnings) range for this position is $210,000 - $320,000 with a base/commission pay mix. This position may also be eligible for bonus, benefits, or related incentives. While this range reflects the minimum and maximum value for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations, the offer for the successful candidate for this position will be based on job related capabilities, applicable experience, and other factors such as work location. Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only (or OTE for commissions based roles), and do not include bonus, benefits, or related incentives.

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 [email protected] with your specific accommodation request.