Lead - Business Systems Services at Freshworks CRM in Chennai, IN

Company Description

Organizations everywhere struggle under the crushing costs and complexities of “solutions” that promise to simplify their lives. To create a better experience for their customers and employees. To help them grow. Software is a choice that can make or break a business. Create better or worse experiences. Propel or throttle growth. Business software has become a blocker instead of ways to get work done.

There’s another option. Freshworks. With a fresh vision for how the world works.

Freshworks Inc. builds uncomplicated service software that delivers exceptional employee and customer experiences. Our people-first approach to AI eliminates friction, helping businesses reduce complexity, lower cost-to-serve, and deliver faster, more human support through enterprise-grade yet easy-to-use CX and IT solutions. Nearly 75,000 companies, including Bridgestone, New Balance, Nucor, S&P Global, and Sony Music, trust Freshworks to power their Employee Experience (EX) and Customer Experience (CX) operations.

Fresh vision. Real impact. Come build it with us.

Job Description

This role serves as the Solution Architect and strategic technical owner for the Customer Support technology ecosystem. The architect will partner closely with Customer Support Operations, Customer Experience (CX), Product, Engineering, and IT teams to design scalable, secure, and high-performing solutions across Freshdesk, customer support platforms, and enterprise integrations.

The ideal candidate brings deep experience with one or more leading customer support platforms such as Freshdesk, Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud, ServiceNow Customer Service Management (CSM), or similar enterprise service management solutions, along with strong expertise in integrations, automation, AI, and enterprise architecture.

As a Manager-equivalent Individual Contributor, this role provides architectural leadership while remaining hands-on in solution design, platform configuration, integrations, automation, and complex technical problem-solving.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the architecture and technical roadmap for Customer Support applications and related integrations.
• Design scalable solutions across Freshdesk, knowledge management, chat, messaging, telephony, CRM, and enterprise applications.
• Provide architectural guidance for platform configuration, automation, integrations, and customizations.
• Design and govern integrations using REST APIs, webhooks, middleware, and event-driven architectures.
• Establish best practices for application architecture, security, data governance, and platform scalability.
• Lead architecture reviews for major implementations, platform upgrades, migrations, and transformation initiatives.
• Drive platform standardization while reducing technical debt and improving operational efficiency.
• Evaluate and implement AI capabilities including ticket summarization, intelligent routing, virtual agents, knowledge recommendations, and agent productivity enhancements.
• Partner with business stakeholders to identify opportunities for automation and continuous improvement.
• Mentor administrators, business systems analysts, and engineers on architecture standards and best practices.

Key Decisions Responsible For

• Customer Support application architecture and technology roadmap.
• Case management and workflow architecture.
• Omnichannel support design including email, chat, messaging, and voice.
• Integration architecture and middleware strategy.
• Automation and AI strategy.
• Platform governance and security.
• Build vs. configure vs. integrate decisions.
• Long-term scalability and platform modernization.

Technical Skills

• Strong experience architecting enterprise Customer Support platforms such as Freshdesk, Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud, ServiceNow CSM, or similar solutions.
• Deep understanding of customer support operations including case management, ticketing, SLAs, routing, queues, knowledge management, and omnichannel support.
• Experience with REST APIs, middleware platforms, webhooks, and enterprise integrations.
• Experience implementing workflow automation using platform-native capabilities and low-code/no-code tools.
• Knowledge of CRM integrations and customer lifecycle processes.
• Experience with AI-powered customer service capabilities and Generative AI technologies.
• Strong understanding of enterprise application architecture, security, data modelling, and governance.
• Ability to troubleshoot complex application and integration issues across multiple platforms.

Leadership Skills

• Ability to influence architecture decisions across business and technology teams.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Proven experience leading enterprise platform implementations and transformation initiatives.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

Ability to mentor technical teams and establish architecture standard

Qualifications

• 7 - 12 years of IT experience with 5+ years supporting or architecting enterprise Customer Support platforms.
• Proven experience designing and implementing enterprise customer support solutions.
• Hands-on experience with Freshdesk is highly preferred.
• Experience with Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud, ServiceNow CSM, or similar platforms is strongly preferred.
• Experience with enterprise integrations, APIs, middleware, and workflow automation.
• Experience implementing AI-enabled customer support capabilities is a plus.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Systems, or a related field.

Preferred Experience

• Experience supporting global Customer Support or Customer Experience organizations.
• Experience leading Freshdesk implementations, migrations, or platform modernization initiatives.
• Familiarity with ITIL practices and Service Operations.
• Experience with integration platforms such as Workato, MuleSoft, Boomi, or similar technologies.
• Experience evaluating and implementing AI solutions that improve customer support operations and agent productivity.

Additional Information

At Freshworks, we have fostered an environment that enables everyone to find their true potential, purpose, and passion, welcoming colleagues of all backgrounds, genders, sexual orientations, religions, and ethnicities. We are committed to providing equal opportunity and believe that diversity in the workplace creates a more vibrant, richer environment that boosts the goals of our employees, communities, and business. Fresh vision. Real impact. Come build it with us.