Sophos

Customer Advocacy & Reference Program Manager

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Job Description

Role Summary

The Customer Advocacy & Reference Program Manager is responsible for owning and operating the global customer advocacy and reference program, from intake and sourcing through content development, activation, and measurement. This role is accountable for the quality, credibility, consistency, and business impact of all customer advocacy outputs that support sales motions, campaigns, PR, and strategic initiatives across the business.



What You Will Do
  • 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.


  • What You Will Bring
  • 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.