Director of Scaled Customer Success

Newsela Inc.; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 235,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Maternity/Paternity/Adoption leave

Learning stipend

Pet healthcare

Commuter savings

Unlimited time off

Job summary

Newsela Inc. seeks a Director of Scaled Customer Success to lead strategy, execution, and performance for Newsela’s scaled segments (SMB and Schools). You will manage frontline managers, design a scalable coverage model, and drive outcomes in adoption, retention, renewal readiness, and account health.

The role emphasizes growth through whitespace, upsell, and proactive customer engagement. You will own the expansion and retention strategy across high-volume segments, coach managers, and partner

Qualifications

• Experience leading senior teams to define and execute scalable customer success strategies.
• Proven ability to manage high-volume SMB/education accounts with focus on retention and expansion.
• Strong cross-functional partnering with Sales, Product, Marketing, and CS Ops.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead the long-term Scaled CS strategy across SMB and Schools.
• Own expansion and retention strategy, map accounts, and identify cross-sell/upsell signals.
• Coach frontline managers; establish rhythms, performance conversations, and accountability.

Skills

Strategic leadership

People management

Cross-functional collaboration

Data-driven decision making

Scaled CS/tech-touch

Job description

• We are looking for a Director, Scaled Customer Success to join our Customer Success team
• Reporting to the VP, Customer Success, you will be responsible for defining and leading the strategy, execution, and performance of Newsela’s scaled customer segments, including SMB and Schools
• You will lead frontline managers, design and optimize our scaled coverage model, and ensure our teams are delivering strong customer outcomes across adoption, retention, renewal readiness, and long-term account health
• This is a pivotal people leadership role responsible for leading frontline managers whose teams manage a large volume of accounts
• You will own core revenue and retention targets (NRR, GRR), driving growth not just through successful renewals, but by establishing a proactive culture of whitespace penetration, upsell, and account expansion
• You will build a scalable, data-driven coverage model that pairs digital engagement and automation with high-impact human account management to maximize support at the right moments in the customer journey
• Define and execute the long-term Scaled Customer Success strategy across Newsela’s SMB and Schools customer segments. This includes determining how we segment customers, where we leverage digital or tech-touch engagement, and where human intervention is most critical to driving adoption, retention, and customer value
• Own the expansion and retention strategy across the high-volume SMB and Schools segments, converting adoption and customer health into predictable account growth. Equip managers and their teams to systematically map accounts, identify cross-sell/upsell signals, and proactively pitch additional solutions
• Lead, coach, and develop frontline managers who are responsible for the day-to-day execution of scaled customer success motions. Ensure managers are equipped to lead their teams effectively, coach toward key business outcomes, and create a culture of accountability, clarity, and growth
• Establish strong management rhythms, including regular 1:1s, performance conversations, career development, team health monitoring, and leadership coaching
• Own the scaled coverage model and partner closely with CS Operations to ensure the model is supported by the right data, systems, workflows, reporting, and capacity planning. Be accountable for identifying what the business needs, defining the desired customer and team experience, and partnering cross-functionally to bring that experience to life
• Maintain accountability for core business outcomes across the scaled customer segments, including NRR, GRR, product adoption, customer health, renewal readiness, and engagement
• Use customer data, team insights, lifecycle trends, and business performance metrics to identify risks and opportunities, make strategic recommendations, and adjust the scaled CS strategy as needed
• Build the team’s ability to identify and influence growth opportunities across the scaled customer base
• This includes coaching managers and CSMs on how to recognize upsell signals, surface customer needs, partner effectively with Sales and SDR teams, and ensure growth opportunities are handled in a way that feels aligned to customer goals and the broader Newsela partnership
• Design and improve the scaled customer journey, ensuring customers are advancing through the right lifecycle moments from onboarding through adoption, renewal, and expansion readiness
• This includes partnering with Customer Experience on scaled onboarding, adoption campaigns, customer education, webinars, playbooks, and digital programs that drive meaningful customer outcomes at scale
• Build strong cross-functional partnerships with Sales, CS Operations, Product, Marketing, Enablement, and Customer Experience. Advocate for the needs of scaled customers, synthesize feedback and trends from the field, and ensure the voice of the customer is represented in broader business decisions
• Create clear feedback loops so that insights from SMB and Schools customers inform product, process, enablement, and go-to-market strategy
• Serve as a senior leader within the Customer Success organization, helping shape how Newsela continues to evolve its customer coverage model. Identify gaps, propose solutions, influence change, and help managers and teams successfully adopt new processes, systems, and ways of working
• Bring clarity to what the Scaled CS team owns and how the team operates. This includes defining roles and responsibilities, establishing success metrics, improving team operating rhythms, and ensuring that managers and CSMs understand how their work connects to broader customer and business outcomes

Benefits

• Generous time off for your most important job — maternity, paternity, and adoption
• Continue your learning - on us!
• Healthcare (pets included)
• Discounts and resources to stay healthy
• Commuter savings (trains/bikes)
• Unlimited time Off

Open to travel as needed. Travel is estimated to be approximately 10-15%, depending on business and customer needs

Strong cross-functional influence and skills in partnering with Operations, Product, Marketing, Sales, Enablement, and Customer Engagement teams to align stakeholders around shared goals, advocate for customer and team needs, and drive progress through collaboration

A passion for leading leaders, with the proven ability to coach managers, set clear expectations, hold teams accountable, navigate ambiguity, and create an environment where people can grow, perform, and prioritize through complexity

Experience building, leading, or optimizing scaled customer success models, including digital-touch, tech-touch, or hybrid coverage approaches, with a deep understanding of how to balance efficiency and customer experience, overseeing a large number of accounts, all while designing impactful customer journey

Legally authorized to work in the US

Hands-on experience designing and implementing automation models that support scaled Customer Success teams, alongside comfort partnering with CS Operations to build and optimize journeys, playbooks, health signals, lifecycle triggers, and automated engagement motions in tools like Gainsight, Planhat, or similar CS platforms

Experiencing using AI tools to drive greater efficiency and productivity

A highly organized and systems-minded approach that stays focused on strategy, outcomes, and leadership, with the ability to identify necessary processes, tools, reporting, or workflows without needing to personally own the backend administration or technical build

A strategic, data-driven leadership style that relies on customer insights, business metrics, health data, capacity models, and team feedback to analyze trends, identify root causes, and translate data into clear recommendations for senior leadership

Experience in EdTech, K-12 education, SaaS, or institutional customer segments is strongly preferred

2+ years of experience managing people leaders, with demonstrated success leading teams that drive and improve retention, adoption, customer health, and revenue outcomes

6+ years of experience in Customer Success, Account Management, or a similar customer-facing function