Customer Success Director

Customer Success Director

The Customer Success Director is a senior individual contributor role, who partners with our customers to align on and achieve their desired outcomes. This role oversees execution of the contracted deliverables across the full customer lifecycle from onboarding through to renewal. You will partner internally with a cross functional team who own various aspects of the delivery and coordinate across functions including On-boarding, Client Services & Support to ensure the contracted commitments are executed to timeliness and quality standards; and you will own the communication with the customer. The Customer Success Director has renewal accountability for a portfolio of accounts & reports to the VP of Customer Success for AMR.

The ideal candidate will have a track record of happy and long term productive customer relationships in subscription businesses. You're a goal oriented, critical thinker with an instinct for risk & ability to map solutions to customer challenges. You have your eye on the long term, with the experience & confidence to negotiate & convince on alternatives when an approach is not in the customer or Partnerize's long term best interest. You're a team player with a 'can-do' attitude, bright, personable, dynamic, fair, accountable & reliable.

Core Responsibilities

SUCCESS PLANNING

• Customer discovery in the on-boarding phase, developing a deep understanding of customer challenges, expectations and goals for the product/service combination they have subscribed to with us, ensuring we set them up correctly, effectively, efficiently with scalability in mind
• Alignment of a joint business plan with customers, including SMART metrics to achieve goals
• Tracking progress, regular reporting to the customer and internally on status of the success plan, progress, remedial actions, and evolution of the plan as the relationship matures
• Effectively quantifying and consistently reaffirming to the customer, the value being delivered

STRATEGIC EDUCATION

• Mapping customer use cases to Partnerize product and service offerings
• Educating the customer to expert level on Partnerize products to ensure they are executing efficiently, fully leveraging product functionality and optimizing their investment
• Regularly communicating best practice and educating the customer on industry benchmarks and the customer's relative position

CUSTOMER HEALTH

• Relentless focus on Customer Health, tracking of multiple risk indicators with weekly reporting aligned to defined definitions of customer health statues
• Effective management of customer expectations, resetting and realigning as required to manage any risk exposure due to misalignment

• Where risk is identified, proactively initiating & owning specific plans to address, driving accountability internally with the relevant functional risk owners

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

• Proactively investing in deepening & broadening our relationships with customers both day to day contacts and sponsor and budget holders, to manage the risk of sponsor/contact loss and explore opportunities to expand the relationship
• You take an outside in perspective, ensuring our interactions with customers are value oriented and that we are demonstrating value-add in all our interactions, across all functions.

FORECASTING, RENEWAL, ACCOUNT PLANNING

• On your assigned accounts you are intimately familiar with the commercial terms, scope, renewal dates and values across all products, aware of and effectively articulating how you are actively managing any identified commercial risk
• Effective quarterly revenue forecasting
• Ownership for timely renewal planning & execution of renewal transaction and paperwork
• Internal Account planning, SWOT analysis, identification of CSQLs and CSQAs and opportunities to drive growth through account performance.

You & Your Experience

• You're somebody who will achieve Trusted Advisor status with the high standards & follow through you demonstrate. Your collaborative approach & ability to walk in your customer's shoes allows you to push back as appropriate without losing trust. Commercially savvy, you generate short term results while maintaining a long-term perspective geared towards lasting, happy and importantly, productive partnerships.
• You're not a 'yes person'. You're a critical thinker with broad shoulders and don't shy away from difficult conversations, challenging back as appropriate and maintaining focus on the aligned priorities and success plan. You have soft hands when dealing with customers while being assertive, efficient and strong in executing on their behalf. Non-standard or off-contract requirements are called out internally and with customers, you give direction to manage, document & commercially handle in a way that considers the long-term interests & outcomes for both customers & Partnerize.
• You demonstrate and provide examples of a strong instinct for risk, & you proactively work to identify and get in front of risks before they become issues. You display maturity and accountability when escalating, you propose solutions and maintain ownership.
• You develop a deep understanding of Partnerize's products and services but display an outward facing mindset - you're in tune with the market and customers' needs and frustrations and demonstrate empathy for the challenges they face. You ensure success criteria are aligned, documented, progress is tracked & value regularly reported and re-validated with customers
• You are a structured operator with an appreciation for process rigor: dependable, thorough, with robust project management, report writing and documentation skills. You are detail oriented, not phased by complexity, and can surface above the detail to prioritize, remain focused on the bigger picture & take a macro perspective

• You demonstrate leadership and ability to bring the account team and customer along with you, you can influence account team members who do not have a direct reporting line to you, to successful outcomes.
• You provide thought leadership, mentoring and coaching to other team members, you contribute to driving best practice Customer Success process and rigor within your team.

Core Requirements

• Background in Customer Success, Professional Services and/or Account Management roles in a subscription model business, with responsibility for customer health and renewal
• Minimum of 7 years client facing experience
• Confidence operating at senior/C level and presenting, negotiating, managing expectations and communicating across the spectrum of users to budget holders and sponsors
• Bachelor's degree qualified or equivalent experience

Desirable

• Recognized CS certification desirable - if you are not yet CS certified, Partnerize will enroll you in our partner CS certification program on joining
• Affiliate marketing or digital marketing experience
• Competent and disciplined user of SF.com
• Customer Success systems experience

Benefits & Perks

• Flexible Time Off Policy – Take the time you need
• Enhanced parental leave (16 weeks for birth parent, 8 weeks for non-birth parent at full pay) and $100 bonus after the birth of your child
• Regular company events and activities
• Robust Company Sponsored Health & Welfare Benefits
• 401k Plan – 4% employee match
• Enhanced Wellness Program including access to EAP and Wellness Coaching