Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Head of Customer Success

🎯 Role Definition

The Head of Customer Success is a strategic executive role responsible for architecting and leading the entire post-sales customer journey. This leader is the primary advocate for our customers, dedicated to ensuring they achieve their desired outcomes while using our products and services. The core mission is to drive sustainable, long-term value for both the customer and our company by maximizing customer adoption, retention, and expansion. This role involves building and mentoring a world-class team, defining scalable processes, and collaborating across the organization to embed a customer-centric culture. Ultimately, the Head of Customer Success is the key driver of Net Revenue Retention and a trusted advisor to the executive team on all matters related to the customer experience.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Director of Customer Success
Senior Customer Success Manager / Team Lead
Director of Account Management or Client Services

Advancement To:

Chief Customer Officer (CCO)
VP of Revenue or Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)
Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Lateral Moves:

VP of Sales
VP of Product Management
Head of Professional Services

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Architect, implement, and continuously refine the company's overall Customer Success strategy to drive adoption, retention, and expansion.
Lead, mentor, and scale a high-performing global Customer Success organization, fostering a culture of empathy, accountability, and proactive customer engagement.
Define and own the entire customer lifecycle, mapping customer journeys and standardizing playbooks for onboarding, adoption, renewal, and advocacy.
Establish, track, and report on key performance indicators (KPIs), including Net Revenue Retention (NRR), Gross Revenue Retention (GRR), customer churn, adoption metrics, and Customer Health Scores.
Act as the ultimate point of escalation for critical customer issues, marshaling resources and providing executive-level communication to ensure swift and satisfactory resolutions.
Champion the "Voice of the Customer" across the company, creating robust feedback loops that deliver actionable insights to Product, Engineering, and Marketing teams.
Develop and manage compensation plans, career paths, and professional development programs for the Customer Success team to attract and retain top talent.
Drive the operationalization of Customer Success through the effective implementation and management of technology platforms like Gainsight, ChurnZero, or Salesforce.
Collaborate intimately with Sales leadership to ensure seamless pre-sales to post-sales handoffs and to identify and execute on upsell and cross-sell opportunities.
Build and nurture strong, long-lasting relationships with executive sponsors and key stakeholders at strategic customer accounts.
Oversee the creation and execution of scalable customer engagement models, including high-touch for enterprise clients and tech-touch for SMB segments.
Develop and manage the departmental budget, ensuring strategic investment in people, processes, and technology to achieve business objectives.
Own the customer renewal process from end to end, including accurate forecasting, risk mitigation strategies, and negotiation of renewal contracts.
Partner with the Marketing team to develop a library of customer case studies, testimonials, and success stories that highlight proven value and ROI.
Analyze customer usage data and health indicators to identify at-risk accounts and trigger proactive, data-driven interventions.
Standardize and scale the delivery of Executive Business Reviews (EBRs) for key accounts to reinforce value, showcase ROI, and align on future strategy.
Refine customer segmentation and personas to ensure tailored, effective, and efficient engagement strategies are applied across the customer base.
Drive a company-wide culture of customer-centricity, ensuring every department understands its role in delivering an exceptional customer experience.
Prepare and present regular, detailed reports on team performance, customer health trends, and retention forecasts to the executive team and Board of Directors.
Design and continuously improve a world-class customer onboarding program that minimizes time-to-first-value and sets the foundation for long-term success.

Secondary Functions

Partner with the Product team to influence the product roadmap based on aggregated customer feedback and identified needs.
Collaborate with the Marketing team to support customer advocacy programs, user communities, and client-facing events.
Assist the Sales team in the late stages of the sales cycle by providing insights on customer use cases and implementation best practices.
Contribute to pricing and packaging discussions by providing data on customer value perception and usage patterns.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Customer Success Platforms: Deep expertise in managing and optimizing platforms like Gainsight, ChurnZero, Catalyst, or Totango.
CRM Software: Advanced proficiency with Salesforce or a similar CRM for managing customer data, pipelines, and reporting.
Data Analysis & BI: Ability to analyze customer data and create insightful dashboards using tools like Tableau, Looker, or Power BI.
SaaS Metrics Mastery: A comprehensive understanding of key SaaS metrics including NRR, GRR, LTV, CAC, Churn, and Customer Health Scoring.
Financial Acumen: Experience with departmental budgeting, financial forecasting, and P&L management.
Project Management: Proficiency in using project management tools (e.g., Asana, Jira) to manage complex customer projects and internal initiatives.
Contract Negotiation: Skill in negotiating renewal agreements, upsell contracts, and commercial terms.
Digital Adoption Platforms: Familiarity with tools like Pendo or WalkMe to drive in-app user engagement and onboarding.
Survey & Feedback Tools: Experience designing and analyzing feedback from NPS, CSAT, and CES survey tools.
Presentation Software: Mastery of PowerPoint, Google Slides, or similar tools to create compelling presentations for customers and executive leadership.

Soft Skills

Strategic and Visionary Leadership: The ability to set a clear vision, inspire a team, and translate high-level strategy into tactical execution.
Empathetic Communication: Exceptional listening, written, and verbal communication skills with the ability to connect with both C-level executives and end-users.
Stakeholder Management: Adept at building relationships and influencing outcomes with internal and external stakeholders at all levels.
Commercial Acumen: A strong business sense and the ability to identify and act on commercial opportunities that benefit both the customer and the company.
Data-Driven Decision Making: A strong analytical mindset with a passion for using data to drive insights and decisions.
Problem-Solving & De-escalation: The ability to remain calm under pressure and skillfully navigate complex and sensitive customer escalations.
Mentoring & Coaching: A genuine passion for developing people and building a highly engaged, high-performing team.
Customer Centricity: An unwavering passion for the customer and a deep-seated belief that customer success is company success.
Change Management: Experience leading teams and organizations through periods of rapid growth and process transformation.
Executive Presence: The confidence and polish to effectively communicate and build credibility with senior executives and board members.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's Degree

Preferred Education:

Master of Business Administration (MBA) or other relevant advanced degree.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Business Administration
Marketing & Communications
Computer Science or Information Technology

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

10-15+ years of experience in a customer-facing role, with at least 5-7 years in a leadership position within Customer Success, Account Management, or Professional Services.

Preferred:

Proven experience scaling a Customer Success team in a high-growth B2B SaaS environment from startup to scale-up phase.
A demonstrable track record of improving key metrics such as Net Revenue Retention, customer satisfaction, and team performance.
Experience managing a significant book of business and owning a renewal and upsell revenue target.
Experience managing global and/or remote teams.
Deep experience working directly with enterprise-level customers and executive stakeholders.