Customer Advocacy & Reference Program Manager

Sophos is a cybersecurity leader defending organizations globally with an AI-driven platform and expert-led services. The Customer Advocacy & Reference Program Manager is responsible for owning and operating the global customer advocacy and reference program, ensuring high-quality outputs that support sales and strategic initiatives.

Responsibilities:

• Own the global customer advocacy and reference program
• Define and own the global vision, strategy, and operating model for customer advocacy and references, aligned to GTM priorities, solution focus areas, and pipeline needs
• Serve as the single point of accountability for program performance, quality of output, governance, and business impact
• Define and maintain clear standards, workflows, and guidance for how customer advocacy is sourced, managed, and used
• Build and maintain a strong referenceable customer base
• Create and manage a centralized, trusted library of reference customers and advocacy assets, including written and video case studies, testimonials, event speakers, peer reviews, and third-party validation
• Partner with Sales, Customer Success, and Product Marketing to identify, qualify, and onboard high‑value customer advocates across regions, segments, and strategic product areas
• Own customer advocacy content quality and execution
• Own the end-to-end coordination of customer advocacy content, from intake and story development through approvals and final delivery
• Work with Content, Product Marketing, and external teams to ensure customer stories are translated into clear, accurate, and compelling proof points
• Ensure all customer advocacy assets meet quality, accuracy, and brand standards
• Operationalize processes that scale
• Design and run repeatable, scalable workflows for intake, reference matching, approvals, fulfillment, and tracking
• Use automation and AI‑enabled tools to improve speed, accuracy, and consistency - while maintaining appropriate governance and data quality
• Measure and improve program performance
• Track and report on program effectiveness, including utilization, SLA performance, coverage gaps, advocate health, and business impact
• Use insights to continuously optimize program design, prioritization, and execution
• Drive internal adoption and use
• Enable internal teams on how to request, access, and use customer advocacy appropriately and consistently
• Feed customer advocacy insights into Growth Marketing’s broader personalization and content strategy, ensuring the voice of the customer informs targeting, messaging, and campaign development

Requirements:

• 4–7+ years of experience in Customer Marketing, customer references, or B2B advocacy programs
• Proven experience owning and scaling customer reference programs, with a strong understanding of how to combine people, process, and technology to operate at global scale
• An operational mindset, with strong program management, prioritization, and systems thinking
• Hands‑on ownership of program tooling and data quality, including CRM or reference platforms, intake mechanisms, tagging and taxonomy, dashboards, and reporting
• Experience applying automation and AI‑enabled tools to improve operational efficiency, signal quality, and scalability, with appropriate governance and oversight
• Strong understanding of customer reference governance, including consent, approvals, communications hygiene, advocate usage limits, and brand risk management
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with confidence partnering across Sales, Marketing, Product, PR, and Executive teams
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to represent customer voices authentically and accurately
• Experience in cybersecurity, enterprise SaaS, or a technical B2B environment is a plus