Senior Customer Success Manager

About SANS

SANS Institute (SANS) launched in 1989 as a cooperative for information security thought leadership, it is SANS’ ongoing mission to empower cyber security professionals with the practical skills and knowledge they need to make our world a safer place. We fuel this effort with high quality training, certifications, scholarship academies, degree programs, cyber ranges, and resources to meet the needs of every cyber professional. Our data, research, and the top minds in cybersecurity collectively ensure that individuals and organizations have the actionable education and support they need.

Join the SANS Team

At SANS, our culture is defined by Mission, Brand, People. Our goal is to hire people who understand the importance of continuing to fight against the cyber security threats (Mission) while delivering the highest quality training (Brand) to our students.  We want employees whose personal values align well with our culture of fairness, honesty, customer focus, and pragmatic approach (People).

Summary of Position

We are seeking a Senior Customer Success Manager (SCSM) to join our team and partner with our most strategic and highest investment customer accounts that are under our North America Strategic Account Management team.  This role is critical to the proactive management and value-oriented engagements with our account portfolio.  As a SCSM, you will be responsible for cultivating strong relationships with customer stakeholders to drive utilization of their SANS investment, increase product awareness, and identify opportunities to expand their investment—ensuring they maximize the value of their partnership with SANS.  This role serves as the voice and advocate of the customer and will interact with multiple cross-functional teams to share feedback, opportunities, and/or successes to drive customer results.  If you are a self-motivated, passionate, results-oriented, and innovative problem-solver come join our talented SANS Customer Success team.   

Key Responsibilities

• Proactively manage the post-sales customer lifecycle for a portfolio of customer accounts
• Develop and build strong relationships with key customer stakeholders and executive sponsors
• Host reoccurring meeting cadences with accounts for ongoing value-based engagement touchpoints
• Jointly conduct Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) with customer accounts and SANS resources
• Develop innovative customer success plans to overcome customer obstacles
• Provide guidance and recommendations by understanding customer needs, goals, and expected outcomes
• Communicate potential opportunities, up-sell, cross-sells, and customer observations to relevant SANS resources
• Effectively communicate SANS events, courses, and overall portfolio to provide timely updates to customers to drive utilization of training funds
• Provide customer with insights to drive their adoption, utilization, and potential for higher investment around cybersecurity training funds
• Onboard new customer contacts and organizations within portfolio to SANS and/or voucher program
• Be the voice of the customer to provide internal feedback that can better drive customer success, value, and utilization of SANS offerings
• Liaison with customer support and other SANS resources to drive stellar customer service and overall SANS experience
• Partner with customer and SANS to execute on Customer Success metrics that are tied to SANS business initiatives and performance goals
• Analyze customer trends to provide data-driven opportunities for improvement, highlight areas of strength, and understand critical gaps to surface and discuss with customer accounts
• Work with other SANS team members to establish best practices and share valuable insights around customer success and experience.
• Participate in report generation and interact within business to support additional report development, as necessary.
• Collaborate closely with various cross-functional teams (Sales, Product Management, R&D, Marketing, and Support) to share voice of the customer, opportunity areas, and success highlights to drive improved results and customer experience
• Other duties as assigned and/or needed to support Customer Success team and SANS

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, communications, technology, or other related field or comparable work experience
• 5+ years managing large enterprise and/or strategic accounts in a Customer Success, relationship manager, account management, and/or similar role
• Exceptional oral and written communication and interpersonal skills
• Well-organized and strong project management abilities
• Expert level experience creating data-focused, visually rich customer-facing PowerPoint presentations
• Demonstrated experience using business intelligence tools and/or doing data analysis via Excel to provide customer relevant data insights and trends – Tableau experience preferred
• Proven ability to collaborate and build strong relationships with customers, especially at the leadership and executive levels
• Ability to work well in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment and thrive on challenges
• Highly self-motivated and has quality standards with attention to detail
• Demonstrated ability to understand customer needs, provide quality service, persuasively present ideas, and drive customer satisfaction
• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively across cultural boundaries and work harmoniously with a diverse group of people
• Articulate and professional presentation skills
• Aptitude for continuous learning and new skill development
• Proficient with web-based collaborative tools such as Dropbox, Smartsheet, Salesforce, and ticketing systems and Microsoft Office Suite
• General cybersecurity knowledge and/or experience is preferred

Reporting Relationships

This position will report to the Global Director of Customer Success and has no direct reports.

Work Environment

Remote work environment and must be in one of the following time zones: Eastern, Central, Mountain, or Pacific.  Some travel may be required for training and/or customer account meetings.

Equal Opportunity Employer

SANS is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class. If, because of a medical condition or disability, you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process, or to perform the essential functions of a position, please contact SANS Human Resources.

In addition, all qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment. 

California residents click here for SANS privacy notice for California job applicants

The base salary range for this position is between $95,000 and 115,000. Base salary ranges may vary by geographic location and relevant experience, education, certifications, and years of experience. There is no guarantee an offer will be at the top of the posted range based on the salary analysis.

In addition, SANS provides the following benefits:

Medical

Dental

Vision

Short-Term Disability

401(k) with company match

Employee Assistance Program

Supplemental Life Insurance and AD&D

Paid Time Off

Company Paid Holidays

Volunteer Paid Time Off

Compensation80,000-100,000