Manager, Customer Success, Strategic

ssreferrals; United States; On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Sprout Social is seeking a Manager of Customer Success, Strategic to lead a high-impact team on the Sales & Customer Experience group. You will coach senior CSMs, set strategic priorities, and drive retention, expansion, and executive engagement across global accounts.

You will partner with Sales, Renewals, Onboarding, and Product to remove blockers, apply AI tools, and elevate customer outcomes. A strong track record in SaaS leadership and cross-functional collaboration is essential.

Qualifications

• >=6 years in Customer Success or account management, with strategic/enterprise ownership.
• 1+ years leading client-facing teams with coaching and performance management.
• Proven retention and growth targets, renewals, negotiations, and project management.
• Strong communication and negotiation skills under pressure.
• Experience applying generative AI tools to improve productivity.
• Travel ability to travel on-sites within the U.S. 4+ times/year.

Responsibilities

• Lead & Develop Senior Talent: coach CSMs via 1:1s, reviews, and planning; build growth paths.
• Drive Operational Rigor: translate strategy into priorities; establish Mutual Success Plans and CRM discipline.
• Own Retention, Risk, & Expansion: hit retention/quotas; coach expansion pipelines; implement risk detection.
• Executive Escalation: engage with customer executives to reinforce value and renewals.
• Champion AI Innovation: integrate AI tools to streamline research and prep while maintaining oversight.
• Lead Through Change & Cross-Functional Alignment: align with Sales, Renewals, Onboarding, and Product.
• Monitor & Report Performance: track retention, growth, adoption, and health scores.

Skills

Customer Success experience

People leadership

Commercial & operational track record

Risk & influence skills

Generative AI proficiency

Travel readiness

Tools

Salesforce

Gainsight

Tableau

Job description

Sprout Social is looking to hire a Manager, Customer Success, Strategic for the Sales & Customer Experience team.

Why join Sprout's Sales & Customer Experience team?

At Sprout Social, our Sales and Customer Experience team is the driving force behind how today's most innovative brands use Sprout to power the future of customer connection. We sell and support the leading social intelligence platform for businesses, helping organizations unlock the full value of social data to drive strategic decisions. Through powerful social intelligence and trusted partnership, we enable teams to build authentic relationships and drive meaningful business impact.

In this role, you will collaborate with the brightest minds in the industry to support global giants like Salesforce, Airbnb, and Equifax. Just as importantly, we believe in the power of our people. You'll find a culture that honors your ambition, encourages you to explore new horizons, and provides the framework for you to build a career that matters. If you're ready to champion innovation and accelerate your impact, this is where you can do your best work.

What You'll Do

• Lead & Develop Senior Talent: Direct and coach an experienced team of CSMs through 1:1s, call reviews, and account planning. Build individualized growth paths, clear operational roadblocks, and set clear performance expectations.
• Drive Operational Rigor & Execution: Translate segment strategy into clear priorities. Establish and refine team operating standards-including Mutual Success Plans, Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs), account health scoring, and CRM discipline - to ensure consistent performance across the portfolio.
• Own Retention, Risk, & Expansion: Deliver on team retention and quota targets. Pressure-test expansion pipelines, coach opportunity qualification, establish early risk-detection mechanisms, and lead structured save plans for escalating accounts.
• Serve as an Executive Escalation Point: Directly engage with customer executives to reinforce value, support strategic renewals, and articulate social intelligence ROI for C-level audiences.
• Champion AI Innovation: Incorporate generative AI into your workflow and guide the team in using AI tools to streamline research, account prep, and communication without losing strategic oversight.
• Lead Through Change & Cross-Functional Alignment: Guide the team through evolving go-to-market motions with clarity. Partner with Sales, Renewals, Onboarding, and Product to unblock technical hurdles and advocate for customer needs internally.
• Monitor & Report Performance: Track and report key metrics across retention, growth, adoption, and health scores to diagnose portfolio trends and optimize resource allocation.

What You'll Bring

The ideal candidate is an experienced people leader who thrives on operational discipline and is energized by complex, high-stakes customer relationships. You bring strong business acumen, sound judgment under pressure, and a genuine enthusiasm for the work-staying motivated and forward-looking through ambiguity and difficult stretches, and bringing your team with you.

Minimum qualifications:

• Customer Success Experience: 6+ years in Customer Success or account management, with direct experience owning a strategic or enterprise book of business.
• People Leadership: 1+ years of experience leading client-facing teams, with a track record of coaching, performance management, and developing high-tenured individual contributors serving matrixed enterprise clients.
• Commercial & Operational Track Record: Proven success driving retention and growth targets, paired with strong business acumen across renewals, negotiations, process refinement, and project management.
• Risk & Influence Skills: Exceptional communication and negotiation skills, with the ability to influence key stakeholders and maintain sound judgment under pressure.
• Generative AI Proficiency: Hands-on experience applying generative AI tools (e.g., for research, account prep, communication) to optimize personal and team productivity.
• Travel: Ability to travel for customer on-sites within the U.S. 4+ times per year.

Preferred Qualifications:

• SaaS & Tooling Expertise: Experience in SaaS/subscription business models, with fluency in tools like Salesforce, Gainsight, Tableau, or similar CRM/BI platforms.
• Executive Coaching: Experience coaching CSMs on C-suite presentations and value-based ROI selling.
• Sales Background: Previous experience in direct account management or sales roles.

How you'll grow

Within 1 month, you'll plant your roots, including:

• Complete Sprout Social's new hire training & onboarding program alongside other new Sprout