Director, Client Success

About Nexcess

Nexcess provides specialty cloud solutions for organizations where performance and compliance have to coexist. We serve businesses worldwide, from agencies scaling client sites to enterprises running mission-critical operations. We've built our reputation on deep technical expertise and genuine partnership with every client we work with. Behind every environment we manage is a team of people who take the craft seriously and keep showing up when it matters.

Overview

The Director. Client Success is responsible for leading the Client Success and Technical Account Management (TAM) functions for the Managed Cloud business unit. This role develops and executes strategies that strengthen client retention, satisfaction, adoption, and expansion across the existing client base.

This is a hands-on leadership role. The Director will coach and develop the Client Success and TAM teams while remaining close to clients, particularly during complex renewals, escalations, executive business reviews, and other high-impact engagements. 

The Director will establish the standards, processes, operating cadence, and tools that enable the team to deliver a consistent and scalable client experience.

The Director will partner closely with Sales, Product, Support, Marketing, and other cross-functional teams to identify opportunities to improve the client experience, address risks, and support retention and expansion. The role will have meaningful responsibility for driving commercial outcomes while recognizing that client retention and growth are shared outcomes influenced by multiple functions across the business.

The successful candidate is a builder and player-coach who is comfortable creating structure where it does not yet exist, establishing clear expectations, coaching through real client situations, and developing a team that can consistently execute without depending on the Director for every decision.

The compensation range for this position is between $160k-$175k base plus bonus.

Responsibilities

Leadership, Coaching & Team Development

• Lead, coach, and develop the Client Success and Technical Account Management teams through regular 1:1s, coaching sessions, call reviews, performance discussions, and professional development.
• Establish clear role expectations, performance standards, operating practices, and development plans for team members.
• Build team capability and accountability through consistent coaching, feedback, recognition, and performance management practices.
• Assess organizational capacity and recommend hiring, organizational, or resource changes as business needs evolve.
• Develop a leadership model that enables the team to operate effectively and independently while maintaining appropriate oversight of high-risk or high-value situations.

Client Retention & Success

• Lead the development and execution of the Client Success strategy for the Managed Cloud business unit.
• Establish a consistent approach to client health scoring, risk identification, account planning, renewal preparation, escalation management, and client engagement.
• Monitor client health and proactively identify accounts that may be at risk of churn or declining engagement.
• Participate in complex renewals, escalations, executive business reviews, and other strategic client conversations when appropriate.
• Coach CSMs and TAMs through challenging client situations and demonstrate effective client engagement practices.
• Partner cross-functionally to identify and address recurring issues affecting client satisfaction, adoption, retention, or time-to-value.
• Establish repeatable retention and client-success practices that can be consistently executed across the team.

Client Expansion & Commercial Partnership

• Partner closely with Sales and Account Executives to identify and support opportunities for expansion within the existing client base.
• Establish clear roles, responsibilities, and rules of engagement between Client Success, TAM, and Sales teams.
• Support account planning and client engagement strategies that identify appropriate upsell and cross-sell opportunities.
• Contribute to retention and expansion objectives through client insights, account strategy, adoption planning, and effective partnership with Sales.
• Participate in appropriate client and commercial discussions while ensuring that responsibilities and decision-making authority are clearly defined across functions.
• Help develop a predictable and scalable approach to install-base growth.

Technical Account Management

• Define and strengthen the Technical Account Management operating model.
• Establish expectations for how TAMs engage with clients, CSMs, Sales, Support, and Product.
• Clarify the respective responsibilities of CSMs and TAMs across onboarding, technical reviews, escalations, adoption, and ongoing account management.
• Ensure technical client needs and recurring themes are appropriately communicated to Product, Support, Engineering, and other relevant teams.

Metrics, Data & Business Operations

• Develop and maintain a Client Success metrics framework that provides leadership with meaningful visibility into client health and business performance.
• Establish consistent definitions and reporting practices for metrics such as Net Revenue Retention (NRR), Gross Revenue Retention (GRR), revenue churn, logo churn, expansion, adoption, time-to-value, and client coverage.
• Establish an effective operating cadence for renewal reviews, account planning, client health reviews, pipeline collaboration, and executive reporting.
• Improve data quality and system-of-record discipline within the Client Success technology stack.
• Use client and business data to identify trends, risks, opportunities, and areas for operational improvement.
• Provide regular reporting and insights to leadership regarding client health, retention, expansion opportunities, and team performance.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Sales, Product, Support, Engineering, Marketing, Finance, and other teams to improve the client lifecycle.
• Bring client feedback and trends to appropriate internal stakeholders to inform product, service, and operational improvements.
• Help establish clear escalation paths and cross-functional ownership for client-impacting issues.
• Represent the voice of the client while balancing client needs with company priorities and business objectives
• Perform other related duties as assigned based on organizational and business needs.

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role will be demonstrated through effective team leadership, strong client outcomes, scalable processes, and progress against agreed-upon business objectives.

First 90 Days

• Build a strong understanding of the client portfolio, team, business priorities, and current operating model.
• Assess team capabilities, processes, and resource needs and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Establish clear and consistent standards for client health, account management, renewals, and escalations.
• Identify key client risks and opportunities and establish appropriate action plans.

Within 12 Months

• Improve client retention and Net Revenue Retention against agreed-upon business objectives.
• Establish scalable Client Success and account management practices that support consistent execution.
• Improve visibility into client health, renewal risk, adoption, and expansion opportunities.
• Partner with Sales to support agreed-upon install-base growth objectives.
• Build a high-performing Client Success and TAM organization that operates effectively and consistently.

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in Client Success, Account Management, Technical Account Management, client Experience, or a related function within technology, cloud, infrastructure, managed services, or B2B SaaS.
• 3+ years of experience leading and developing Client Success, TAM, Account Management, or similar client-facing teams.
• Experience leading or partnering closely with both Client Success and Technical Account Management functions.
• Demonstrated experience developing or improving client retention, account management, client health, renewal, or expansion processes.
• Experience managing strategic client relationships and participating in complex client conversations, renewals, escalations, or executive-level engagements.
• Demonstrated ability to coach and develop teams while remaining engaged in client-facing work.
• Experience partnering effectively with Sales on client retention and expansion initiatives.
• Strong understanding of Client Success metrics, including retention, churn, expansion, adoption, client health, and related performance indicators.
• Demonstrated ability to use data to identify client trends, assess risk, and inform business decisions.
• Strong communication, relationship-building, problem-solving, and organizational skills.
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, evolving environment and establish structure where processes are still developing.
• Ability to work effectively in a remote environment and travel occasionally, generally less than 10%, based on business needs. 

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in cloud hosting, managed cloud, infrastructure, WordPress, web services, or a comparable technical environment.
• Experience working with technical clients, engineering teams, developers, agencies, or other technically sophisticated stakeholders.
• Familiarity with client-success platforms, CRM systems, client health scoring, account planning, and related technologies.
• Experience building or scaling a Client Success or TAM function during a period of organizational or business growth.
• Experience developing client lifecycle strategies, retention programs, or expansion motions.
• Familiarity with SaaS or managed-services business models and recurring-revenue metrics.

Physical Demands & Work Environment

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described below are representative of those that may be encountered while performing the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be provided to qualified individuals with disabilities to enable them to perform the essential functions of the position, consistent with applicable law.

• This position routinely requires the ability to communicate effectively and exchange information with others.
• The position requires regular use of a computer, keyboard, and other standard office equipment.
• The individual may be required to remain in a stationary position and work at a desk or computer for extended periods.
• The position may be performed in a climate-controlled office environment or an approved remote work environment.
• The role involves managing multiple priorities, responding to evolving business needs, and meeting time-sensitive deliverables.
• Occasional movement of office materials or equipment weighing up to 15 pounds may be required.

Disclaimer

This job description is intended to provide a general overview of the position and its primary responsibilities, qualifications, and expectations. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all duties, responsibilities, or requirements.  Responsibilities may be modified, expanded, or reassigned as business needs and organizational priorities evolve.

Nothing in this job description creates or implies an employment contract or guarantee of employment for any specific period. Where applicable, employment remains at-will, meaning either the employee or the Company may terminate the employment relationship at any time, with or without notice or cause, subject to applicable law.

The Company reserves the right to update this job description as appropriate to reflect changes in the position, business needs, or applicable requirements.

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