Sr Customer Success Manager

Workday, Inc.; United States; Hybrid; USD 114,000 - 171,000; Full time

Job summary

Workday, Inc. in the United States is seeking a Senior Customer Success Manager to guide large higher education institutions through adoption, renewal, and expansion of HCM, Financials, and Student solutions.

You will align executive strategy with product roadmaps and drive cross-functional collaboration. You will build trusted advisor relationships with university leaders, manage portfolio health, and lead initiatives that accelerate value realization and campus growth.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of enterprise Customer Success, consulting, or account management in Higher Education settings.
• 5+ years of functional domain experience with HCM, Financials, or Student software.
• 1+ year of monitoring customer telemetry data and accelerating feature usage to secure renewals and expansion.
• Bachelor degree or equivalent; business or technical degree preferred.
• Willingness to travel up to 30%.

Responsibilities

• Retain and expand a portfolio of 20-25 higher education institutions with renewals and expansion paths.
• Serve as strategic liaison between university leadership and product management to convey roadmap feedback.
• Lead escalation and issue resolution with client PMs and executive leadership.
• Define and accelerate value adoption paths within 90 days to drive quantifiable wins.
• Incorporate Human-AI workflows into portfolio management to deliver personalized journeys.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Sales, Services, and Product teams.

Skills

Enterprise CS leadership

Higher Education domain

Executive relationship building

Customer telemetry & adoption

Education

Bachelor degree or equivalent

Job description

Your work days are brighter here. We’re obsessed with making hard work pay off, for our people, our customers, and the world around us. As a Fortune 500 company and a leading AI platform for managing people, money, and agents, we’re shaping the future of work so teams can reach their potential and focus on what matters most. The minute you join, you’ll feel it. Not just in the products we build, but in how we show up for each other. Our culture is rooted in integrity, empathy, and shared enthusiasm. We’re in this together, tackling big challenges with bold ideas and genuine care. We look for curious minds and courageous collaborators who bring sun-drenched optimism and drive. Whether you're building smarter solutions, supporting customers, or creating a space where everyone belongs, you’ll do meaningful work with Workmates who’ve got your back. In return, we’ll give you the trust to take risks, the tools to grow, the skills to develop and the support of a company invested in you for the long haul. So, if you want to inspire a brighter work day for everyone, including yourself, you’ve found a match in Workday, and we hope to be a match for you too.

About the Team

The Customer Success Team: Driving Value and Growth. The Customer Success (CS) team is the voice of the customer and a critical driver of long‑term business growth. We are passionate about ensuring our customers achieve maximum value from our product, turning successful adoption into lasting partnerships and powerful advocacy.

Our Core Mission

• Accelerate Adoption: Facilitate smooth onboarding and quick integration of our solution.
• Deepen Engagement: Proactively work with users to ensure they are leveraging key features that solve their business challenges.
• Champion Retention & Expansion: Build trust, identify opportunities for customers to grow with us, and serve as the main internal advocate for customer needs.

About the Role

Higher education institutions are navigating a historic period of transformation, where modern enterprise platforms serve as the operational heartbeat of the student experience and administrative excellence. In Customer Success, we don’t just manage accounts—we empower university leaders to unlock the full strategic value of their technology ecosystem. As a Senior Customer Success Manager, you will serve as a trusted guide to public, private, research, and multi‑institution systems across North America. You will bridge executive strategy with product innovation across HCM, Financials, and Student solutions, turning complex operational challenges into clear success paths that fuel campus agility, student success, and long‑term institutional growth. We are looking for people who have a combination of domain expertise, customer management and Higher Education industry experience.

Responsibilities

• Portfolio retention and expansion: Secure full renewal performance across a dedicated portfolio of 20-25 higher education institutions while partnering with account teams to identify net‑new expansion paths across HCM, Financials, and Student.
• Strategic advocacy: Act as the strategic liaison between university leaders and product management, turning customer roadmap priorities into clear product feedback and cultivating active enterprise champions.
• Escalation & Issue Resolution: Work directly with client PMs and executive leadership to prioritize, oversee, and resolve critical issues impacting satisfaction.
• Value velocity and adoption: Establish customized success paths within your first 90 days, accelerating platform adoption and ensuring executive decision‑makers achieve early, quantifiable wins.
• Human-AI collaborative workflows: Integrate AI resources and digital self‑serve tools into portfolio management workflows, using predictive adoption data to deliver proactive, personalized customer success journeys.
• Domain expertise: Deep knowledge of higher education structures, governance models, and enterprise business processes across HCM, Financials, or Student.
• Brings an inclusive, collaborative perspective that enriches team dynamics, fosters trust, and strengthens cross‑functional alignment with Sales, Services, and Product teams.

About You

• Basic Qualifications Senior CSM 8+ years of experience in enterprise Customer Success, consulting, or account management ideally within the Higher Education industry (public, private, research, or system‑level settings).
• 5 + years of Functional domain experience and familiarity with HCM, Financials, or Student software platforms.
• 1 + years of demonstrated experience and ability to monitor customer telemetry data, accelerate feature usage, and manage consumption‑based software platforms to secure full renewal performance and unlock expansion growth.
• Basic Qualifications Principal CSM 12+ years of experience in enterprise Customer Success, consulting, or account management ideally within the Higher Education industry (public, private, research, or system‑level settings).
• 5 + years of Functional domain experience and familiarity with HCM, Financials, or Student software platforms.
• 1 + years of demonstrated experience and ability to monitor customer telemetry data, accelerate feature usage, and manage consumption‑based software platforms to secure full renewal performance and unlock expansion growth.
• Customer facing services role experience (consulting or account management) that includes issue resolution and escalation management at both the business owner and executive levels.
• Proven ability to build strong executive‑level customer relationships while collaborating cross‑functionally with internal teams, such as Professional Services and Product Management.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to chair meetings or host webinars / Excellent organization, time management, and communication skills.
• Bachelor degree or equivalent work experience; Business or technical degree preferred.
• Ability to travel up to 30%.

Workday Pay Transparency Statement

The annualized base salary ranges for the primary location and any additional locations are listed below. Workday pay ranges vary based on work location. As a part of the total compensation package, this role may be eligible for the Workday Bonus Plan or a role‑specific commission/bonus, as well as annual refresh stock grants. Recruiters can share more detail during the hiring process.

Primary Location: USA.PA.Home Office

Primary Location Base Pay Range: $113,800 USD - $170,800 USD

Additional US Location(s) Base Pay Range: $108,200 USD - $192,200 USD

Our Approach to Flexible Work

With Flex Work, we’re combining the best of both worlds: in‑person time and remote. Our approach enables our teams to deepen connections, maintain a strong community, and do their best work. We know that flexibility can take shape in many ways, so rather than a number of required days in‑office each week, we simply spend at least half (50%) of our time each quarter in the office or in the field with our customers, prospects, and partners (depending on role). This means you'll have the freedom to create a flexible schedule that caters to your business, team, and personal needs, while being intentional to make the most of time spent together. Those in our remote "home office" roles also have the opportunity to come together in our offices for important moments that matter.

Equal Opportunity & Diversity Statement

Workday is an Equal Opportunity Employer including individuals with disabilities and protected veterans. Workday is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals during our application process, in order to perform one or more essential functions of their job, as well as regarding the use of AI tools for employment decision‑making to any degree. Please see below for more details including how to request an accommodation as a qualified veteran, due to a disability or for religious reasons, or as otherwise provided under applicable law. Workday prohibits taking adverse action against any candidate or employee for reporting a possible violation of this policy, requesting one or more work accommodations, exercising a privacy right, or cooperating in an investigation in accordance with applicable law. Any employee who retaliates against a candidate or employee for doing so may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment, to the fullest extent allowable under applicable law. If you require a reasonable accommodation, you may email [e-mail], as far in advance as possible.

Pursuant to applicable Fair Chance law, Workday will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Workday is an Equal Opportunity Employer including individuals with disabilities and protected veterans. Workday is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals during our application process, in order to perform one or more essential functions of their job, as well as regarding the use of AI tools for employment decision‑making to any degree. Workday is a proud equal opportunity workplace. Individuals seeking employment at Workday are considered without regards to age, ancestry, color, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, mental or physical disability, national origin, protected family care or medical leave status, race, religion (including beliefs and practices or the absence thereof), sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

Workday will not accept resumes from headhunters, placement agencies, or other suppliers that have not signed a formal agreement with us.