Lead Customer Success Manager

Ascend; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

100% health premiums covered

401k with employer matching

Unlimited PTO

Dog-friendly office

Paid commuter benefits

Parental and family leave

Job summary

Ascend is looking for a Customer Success Manager in San Francisco to lead and scale their post-implementation Customer Success function. You will manage high-value customer relationships, drive adoption, and ensure retention through strategic planning and relationship management. Ideal candidates should have 4-5 years of experience in B2B SaaS or Fintech environments, focusing on consultative approaches to customer success. Benefits include health premium coverage, 401k matching, unlimited PTO, and a dog-friendly office environment.

Qualifications

• 4-5 years of experience in related roles.
• Experience managing high-value enterprise customer relationships.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end lifecycle of top customers.
• Build relationships across Sales, Product, and Product Support.
• Lead core customer operations including business reviews.

Skills

Customer Relationship Management

High Value Enterprise Relationships

B2B SaaS Experience

Consultative Approach

Strong Communication Skills

Job description

Overview

Insurance is a $10T industry still running on PDFs, email threads, and manual reconciliation. Ascend is changing that.

We built the first finance automation platform designed for insurance — combining AI and embedded fintech to modernize how money moves across the policy lifecycle, from collections to disbursements. In five years, we have become the market leader: trusted by thousands of insurance businesses nationwide, processing billions in transactions annually, and growing 200%+ year over year.

Ascend automates the financial operations that insurers, MGAs, and agencies run every day — and embeds directly into the transactions where money actually moves.

AI is driving the cost of software toward zero. The companies that win won’t just sell tools — they’ll capture value at the point of the transaction itself. Ascend is built for exactly that moment. Our customers don’t just adopt software; they unlock measurable efficiency with a proven 5–7x return on investment.

Our 70+ person team, based in San Francisco and Columbus, brings together deep expertise in insurance, fintech, and AI to build infrastructure the industry has never had.

Why We Do It

The insurance industry intermediates trillions of dollars — and almost none of that infrastructure was built for the modern era. Legacy systems aren’t just inefficient; they’re a ceiling on what the industry can become.

Ascend’s mission is to become the leading financial automation platform for insurance by 2030 — powering the financial operations of the entire industry and transforming the way trillions of dollars move. We’re not building another point solution. We’re building the financial backbone of insurance.

Your Role

Your Role

We are looking for a relationship driven, strategically minded Customer Success Manager to lead and scale our post-implementation Customer Success function. This role will own the end to end lifecycle of Ascend’s highest value customers, serving as a trusted advisor to C-suite and senior stakeholders while driving strong adoption, retention, and expansion. You’ll balance hands-on account management with long-term strategic thinking by building repeatable motions, surfacing customer insights, and partnering cross-functionally to influence product direction and drive durable growth.

Responsibilities

• Objective #1: In your first 30 days, you will: Dive deep into Ascend’s product, customer segments, and current Customer Success processes and tools
• Build foundational relationships with internal partners across Sales, Product, and Product Support
• Begin developing your approach to managing relationships and driving value for sophisticated insurance organizations

• Objective #2: In your first 60 days, you will: Own a portfolio of mid-market and enterprise customers, running regular touch-points with executive stakeholders and day to day users
• Develop a strong understanding of your customers’ workflows, goals, and success metrics with actionable insights to improve adoption and outcomes
• Lead core customer operations including business reviews, feature rollouts, and coordination of complex issues with Product Support

• Objective #3: In your first 90 days, and beyond, you will: Fully own the post implementation customer lifecycle including renewals and expansion motions in partnership with Sales and Product
• Act as the voice of the customer internally by surfacing trends, risks, and opportunities to inform product and process decisions
• Help define and refine scalable Customer Success best practices that enable Ascend to deliver a world class enterprise customer experience
• Mentor and provide guidance to junior Customer Success team members, helping to elevate the overall team’s effectiveness and consistency

Qualifications

• 4-5 years of experience in related roles
• Prior experience managing high value enterprise customer relationships in B2B SaaS or Fintech environments
• Experience managing or mentoring teammates, with an ability to influence without direct authority across cross-functional teams
• Comfortable operating in the ambiguity and pace of a high growth startup
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to navigate executive level conversations and complex subject matter
• A consultative, relationship first approach to customer success with a proven track record of renewals and expansion
• Demonstrated ability to build and improve scalable processes, playbooks, or CS programs — not just execute within them
• Background in insurance, financial services, or fintech is a plus

Compensation

Base Salary Range: $120,000-130,000

Benefits and Work Style

• All roles at Ascend are 5 days a week onsite at our office in SoMa
• 100% health premiums covered for you and your dependents
• 401k with employer matching options
• Fast growing team with emphasis on promoting from within
• Unlimited PTO
• Company paid commuter benefits
• Parental and family leave
• Dog-friendly office

We are committed to equal opportunity employment and embrace diversity within our organization. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.