Director of Customer Success

Culture Amp Pty Ltd; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

MacBooks for you to do your best work

Share Options - it’s important to us

Medical insurance - for you and your :

Excellent parental leave and work-life

Flexible working schedule

Fun and inclusive digital events

Work from home opportunities

Job summary

Culture Amp Pty Ltd is seeking a Director, Customer Success Pod Leader to drive customer value, retention, and expansion across a shared book. The role leads a team of CS Managers and Renewals Managers, partnering with Sales and RevOps to build one unified GTM engine.

You will co-lead with the Sales Pod Leader, own renewal forecast, define territory plans, and coach the team to become strategic advisors. This is a high-impact leadership role in a dynamic, revenue-driven environment.

Qualifications

• Own renewal forecast with movement, risk, and actions driving results.
• Coach CS practitioners to become strategic advisors.
• Demonstrated CS leadership with accountability for GRR and renewals.
• Work cross-functionally with Sales, People Science, Implementation, Support, RevOps.
• Deep CS methodology, LAER, and value-based engagement in B2B SaaS.
• Ability to lead through ambiguity and change with commercial confidence.
• Data fluency with Vitally, Salesforce, Gong to diagnose risk.

Responsibilities

• Drive customer value, retention, and expansion across a shared book.
• Lead CS Managers and Renewals Managers with coaching and rigor.
• Own pod renewal forecast and ensure forecast integrity.
• Define pod territory designs with Sales and RevOps for coverage.
• Monitor adoption trends and risk indicators to prevent surprises.
• Lead renewals strategy, timelines, and GRR ownership.
• Coach team to become strategic advisors and maintain performance rhythm.
• Serve as executive sponsor on high-stakes accounts and escalate when needed.
• Drive adoption goals and ensure seamless handoffs from acquisition to renewal.
• Spearhead GTM play roadmap and cross-functional alignment with leadership.

Skills

Renewal forecast ownership

Team leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Executive stakeholder management

Commercial acumen

Data-driven decision making

Tools

Vitally

Salesforce

Gong

Job description

• The Director, Customer Success (internally we call it Customer Experience (CX)) Pod Leader is accountable for driving customer value, retention, and expansion across a shared book of business within a cross-functional pod
• This role leads a team of Customer Success Managers and Renewals Managers with the same rigor, commercial edge, and coaching intensity expected of a senior CS leader ; while operating as an equal partner to the Director, Sales in building one unified GTM engine
• This role requires operating differently than most CX leaders have to date in tech, specifically around co-leadership and commercial ownership that is tied to revenue
• Own the pod’s renewal forecast and maintain forecast integrity, speak to week-over-week movement, and translate CSM inputs and your own book inspection into a dependable, consistent number that leadership can rely on
• Lead pod territory design within your book of business. Working with your Sales Pod Leader and RevOps, translate the pod’s assigned accounts into clearly defined CSM and RM territories that optimize for coverage, collaboration, and customer continuity
• Diagnose and manage portfolio health through monitoring adoption trends, engagement signals, and risk indicators using Vitally, Salesforce, and Gong; ensuring a no-surprises renewal motion through early identification, strong value realization and proactive mitigation of at-risk accounts
• Lead renewals process discipline and set strategy for renewal negotiations, manage commercial timelines, and hold the team accountable for securing outcomes well ahead of renewal dates; own GRR as a personal accountability
• Coach CSMs and Renewals Managers into strategic advisors to develop the team through a consistent operating rhythm of 1:1s, performance coaching, feedback, and career development conversations that build capability and drive accountability
• Serve as executive sponsor on high-stakes accounts and act as the senior CX point of contact for complex escalations, expectation resets, and moments where the partnership with the customer is at risk
• Drive adoption goal-setting and outcome delivery to set adoption goals across the pod’s book, hold the team accountable to specific account plans, and move the team from reactive firefighting to proactive customer engagement
• Manage team performance rigorously and lead them through structured performance management, ensure high standards are celebrated and gaps are addressed, and contribute to hiring and onboarding decisions that raise the bar of the team
• Own the customer lifecycle as a shared responsibility and partner closely with the Sales Pod Leader to ensure seamless handoffs, no gaps in customer coverage, and a joined-up experience from acquisition through adoption, renewal, and expansion
• Set the tone for one GTM engine. Model cross-functional trust, unified customer engagement, and shared accountability across Sales and CX; the pod operates as one team with one commercial goal
• Co-create the pod’s GTM play roadmap and partner with the Sales Pod Leader to identify the Sales & CX quarterly plan and roadmap of plays and customer segments the pod will prioritize; document the approach and recommend plays upward to regional and functional leadership
• Optimize jointly for NRR and value creation to ensure every pod decision, from resource allocation to customer prioritization, connects to long-term value creation and predictable net revenue retention
• Drive AI fluency and tool adoption across the pod to actively model the use of AI tools to improve efficiency and output quality; hold the team accountable for building AI-enabled habits into their daily workflow
• Synthesize and deliver joint pod QBRs to co-present quarterly business reviews covering pod performance across Sales, CX, and customer health dimensions
• Serve as the pod’s ultimate escalation point and own the resolution of complex, cross-functional, or customer-facing issues within the pod; engage senior or cross-functional partners (Support, People Science, RevOps) when the situation requires it
• Build a pod culture of performance to set a clear vision for the pod alongside the Sales Pod Leader, translate strategy into focused execution, and create an environment where ambition, accountability, and collaboration thrive

Benefits

• MacBooks for you to do your best work
• Share Options - it’s important to us that everyone is an owner and can share in our success
• Medical insurance - for you and your family so you can feel safe in these uncertain times
• Excellent parental leave and in work support programme, - for those families to be
• Flexible working schedule - where we can, let’s make work, work for you
• Fun and inclusive digital, and (in the future) in-person events
• Work from home opportunities

Research shows that candidates from underrepresented backgrounds may hesitate to apply if they don’t meet every requirement, but your unique experience matters.

• Experience owning and delivering a renewal forecast, including speaking to movement, risk, and the specific actions driving the result
• Proven ability to coach and develop CS practitioners into high-performing strategic advisors
• Demonstrated success as a Customer Success leader, with direct accountability for GRR, renewal outcomes, and a team’s performance against retention and adoption goals
• Experience working cross-functionally with Sales, People Science, Implementation, Support, and RevOps to drive customer outcomes
• Deep understanding of CS methodology, LAER frameworks, and value-based customer engagement in a B2B SaaS environment
• Demonstrated ability to work through ambiguity and lead a team through change, evolving models, or new ways of working
• Commercial confidence, comfortable navigating renewal negotiations, expansion conversations, executive-level customer engagement, and escalations
• Data fluency, proficiency with Vitally, Salesforce, and Gong (or equivalent) to diagnose risk and drive team performance
• Alignment with Culture Amp values and behaviors
• Senior leadership presence and communication skills required for high-stakes customer moments and internal stakeholder alignment
• Strong coaching and people leadership capabilities, with the ability to build accountability and develop talent