Lead Advocacy Programs Manager

Define and execute UKG's executive customer advocacy strategy in alignment with corporate, customer, and go-to-market priorities. Establish a scalable framework for identifying, engaging, nurturing, and activating executive advocates. Connect executive engagement activities to customer retention, growth, thought leadership, and market influence objectives. Partner with Sales, Customer Success, Account Management, and Executive Leadership to identify and activate strategic customer relationships. Build and nurture a community of executive advocates who are interested in sharing expertise, influencing industry conversations, and engaging with peers. Facilitate meaningful executive-to-executive connections that strengthen relationships and create value for participants. Advise internal stakeholders on executive engagement and advocacy practices. Lead executive reference programs, advisory boards, leadership councils, roundtables, and executive events. Design engagement journeys and participation models that encourage sustained executive involvement. Collaborate with Sales, Customer Success, Product, and Marketing to activate advocates in support of strategic business opportunities. Influence cross-functional stakeholders without direct authority to drive alignment and successful execution. Establish governance, processes, tools, and success metrics for executive advocacy programs. Measure and communicate program impact through engagement, participation, customer outcomes, and business influence metrics. Use data, feedback, and market insights to improve program strategy and participant experiences. Develop executive-ready reporting and recommendations to guide future investment and program direction. You're a strategic builder who can create structure around existing strengths and develop programs that deliver value for customers and the business. You bring executive presence, strong business judgment, and the ability to build trust with senior leaders. You're equally comfortable developing long-term strategy, advising internal stakeholders, engaging customer executives, and managing execution across multiple teams. 7+ years of experience in customer marketing, customer advocacy, executive engagement, customer success, strategic accounts, partnerships, or a related discipline. Experience building, scaling, or leading executive-level customer programs such as advisory boards, executive councils, peer communities, or reference programs. Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders and drive alignment across multiple functions. Proven ability to connect relationship-focused initiatives to measurable business outcomes. Strong communication, stakeholder management, and executive presentation skills. Experience working independently in complex or ambiguous environments and driving initiatives from strategy through execution. Experience in business-to-business software as a service (B2B SaaS), human capital management (HCM), human resources technology, or enterprise software. Familiarity with customer advocacy platforms, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and executive engagement tools. Experience supporting enterprise sales motions and executive relationship strategies. Knowledge of executive event strategy, peer networking programs, and customer communities.