Customer Success Business Unit Leader

Microsoft; Durban; On-site; ZAR 1 200 000 - 1 800 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company is seeking a Senior Customer Success Lead to guide their team in driving digital transformation for clients. The role involves managing a team, engaging with key stakeholders, and ensuring customers achieve their desired outcomes with Microsoft solutions. Candidates should have strong leadership skills, technical knowledge, and a background in technology or consulting.

Qualifications

• Proven people management experience.
• Background in engineering and/or technology experience.
• Experience in technology leadership or consulting.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Customer Success team to drive digital transformation.
• Manage Customer Success Managers and Cloud Solution Architects.
• Engage with Business Decision Makers to identify new opportunities.

Skills

Leadership

Customer Success

Technical Knowledge

Change Management

Collaboration

Education

Master's Degree in Business Management, Engineering, or related field

Bachelor's Degree in Business Management, Engineering, or related field

Job description

We are looking to hire a Senior Leader as Customer Success Lead within South Africa, to steer the Customer Success team and be at the forefront of our customers’ digital transformation.

The Customer Success Lead Will

1. Play a key role in helping our customers achieve digital transformation.
2. Guide the Customer Success team collaboratively in driving change management, consumption and adoption activities with key Business Decision Makers and IT Decision Makers, helping reduce implementation risk, driving usage of existing solutions, and identifying new opportunities for Microsoft cloud in Infrastructure and Applications, Data and Analytics, Business Applications, and Modern Workplace.
3. Enable customers to realize value from their investments, and create passionate advocates.
4. Be a key part of the regional customer-facing sales leadership; use knowledge to grow sales.
5. Directly manage full-time employees and/or vendor Customer Success Managers (CSM)/Cloud Solution Architects (CSA) that will cover Microsoft customers in the territory.
6. Create relationships with customers across assigned regions to fuel retention, growth, and renewal advocacy.

Responsibilities

We are looking for a passionate, forward-thinking, hands-on leader with exceptional operational discipline. This person will be very active in day-to-day coaching of his/her team, leading by example, ensuring that the team drives successful engagements that enable Customer Success.

Key Responsibilities Of The Customer Success Lead Include

Business Value

• Engage BDMs/ITDMs to ensure business value is obtained and new value opportunities are identified.
• Evangelize Microsoft cloud roadmap.
• Help customers optimize their investment.
• Ensure customers achieve desired consumption/adoption targets by establishing intent and driving adoption; partner with other functions.
• Build strategy, targets, and process.

Customer Advocate

• Foster a culture of customer-centricity, accountability, and collaboration.
• Build strong client relationships.
• Cultivate strong/active network of partners to drive consumption, deliver customer value.
• Ensure customers are supported by partners by establishing a collaborative, customer-first relationship with partners.
• Engage with appropriate Microsoft or Partner resources to ensure awareness and understanding of Customer Success organization and roles.
• Advance customer interests by shaping the end-to-end customer experience.
• Lead virtual team to be proactive, agile, and responsive to the “Voice of Customer”.
• Grow account references, advocacy, and loyalty for CSM/CSA practices.

Technical Leader

• Be a credible and trusted advisor to customers on their technology and business needs.
• Remove blockers via escalation, scoping, feedback, and coaching.
• Exhibit sound judgment.
• Deliver high standards of technical excellence.
• Be a credible industry spokesperson on customer success and technology.
• Be sought out for thought leadership to influence actions/results at senior levels.

Success Manager

• Customer Success discipline and accountability.
• Ensure data collection.
• Run regular ROB process, collect performance data, and report performance to Global CSM/CSA Lead and Strategy Team.
• Ensure CSMs/CSAs collaboration to deliver customer success plan.
• Maintain a consistent coaching rhythm, following the Customer Success Manager coaching framework.
• Engage regularly with customers for feedback on CSM/CSA role.
• Ensure execution of pipeline management, issue escalation, forecasting, and CS plans.
• Drive integrated customer planning to ensure seamless hand-offs between internal customer-facing organizations.
• Enable collaboration within Microsoft.
• Lead by example by bringing in other functions to act on Customer Success qualified leads or expansion opportunities.
• Help Customer Success Managers & Cloud Solution Architect resources connect to relevant Microsoft stakeholders and build relationships across the enterprise.
• Leverage knowledge of Microsoft to work across groups, influence stakeholders, resolve issues, and manage risk.

Qualifications

Proven people management experience.

Background in engineering and/or technology experience (e.g., technology field, Services, Consultant, Specialist Team Unit, Technical Sales, system integrators, developer, project manager, sales).

Master's Degree in Business Management, Engineering, or related field AND experience in technology leadership, consulting/professional services, product strategy, business leadership, sales, or directly within Customer Success OR Bachelor's Degree in Business Management, Engineering, or related field AND experience in technology leadership, consulting/professional services, product strategy, business leadership, sales, or directly within Customer Success OR equivalent experience.

Additional Or Preferred Qualifications

Experience in complex project management and/or customer account management (e.g., leading/orchestrating virtual teams).

Experience in professional services, customer success, sales, and/or customer service.

People management experience.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.