Roles in Customer Success: An overview

Short answer

What roles exist in Customer Success, and what sets them apart?

The roles can be divided into four groups: entry-level roles, account-owning roles (CSM in its various forms), specialist roles (such as onboarding and CS Operations) and leadership roles (from CS Lead to VP). What sets them apart is not the title, but three things: which customers the role is responsible for, whether it manages people, and whether it is responsible for revenue.

Few disciplines have acquired as many titles in as short a time as Customer Success. That makes it hard to know what a position involves – for the person applying, the person hiring and the person comparing salaries.

This overview describes the most common roles as they are typically used. It is not a standard. Many companies use the titles differently, and the roles change as the company grows. The descriptions are editorial assessments of common patterns, not results from a survey.

Overview#

Editorial overview of common patterns. Titles and content vary a great deal between companies and countries.

Three tracks in the field

Account ownership

Owns customers or segments

1. CS Specialist
2. CSM / Scaled CSM
3. Senior CSM
4. Enterprise CSM

Leadership

Owns team and function

1. CS Lead
2. Head of CS
3. Director of CS
4. VP Customer Success

Specialist

Owns part of the journey

1. Onboarding Manager
2. Renewal Manager
3. CS Operations

Mindre ansvarMer ansvar

Entry-level roles#

Customer Success Specialist#

Also called Customer Success Associate, CS Representative or Junior CSM.

The role is often a way into the field. Its content varies more than any other role: in some companies it sits close to Customer Support and handles enquiries and simple tasks for many customers. In others it works on onboarding, follow-up of customers who have stalled, or preparing material for CSMs.

• Typical responsibilities: follow-up according to fixed routines, simple onboarding, answering questions, updating customer data
• Often measured on: follow-ups completed, activation rate, customer satisfaction
• Next step: CSM, Scaled CSM or Onboarding Manager

Account-owning roles#

Customer Success Manager (CSM)#

The most widespread – and most varied – role in the field.

A CSM is responsible for making sure a group of customers get value from the product. That means understanding what the customers want to achieve, keeping track of how it is going, stepping in when something stalls, and helping customers renew and possibly expand. Read more about what sets the role apart from Customer Support in Customer Success vs. Customer Support.

• Typical responsibilities: a portfolio of customers, onboarding and adoption, customer health, customer meetings and reviews, risk follow-up, often renewals
• Often measured on: retention (GRR), adoption, customer health, in some companies NRR and expansion
• Variation: the portfolio can be anything from ten large customers to several hundred small ones

Two questions clarify a lot: how many customers is one CSM responsible for? And is the role responsible for revenue, or only for the customer's value?

Scaled CSM#

Also called Scalable CSM, Digital CSM, Pooled CSM or Tech-touch CSM.

A Scaled CSM is responsible for many customers – often hundreds or thousands – without following each one personally. The work is about building and improving what reaches many customers at once: automated customer journeys, emails and in-product messages, webinars, self-service and interventions triggered by behavioural signals. Personal contact is used where the signals call for it.

The role has emerged because the classic CSM model cannot be funded when the value per customer is low. It is described in more detail in Customer Success in the SMB market.

• Typical responsibilities: a customer segment, digital customer journeys, campaigns and programmes, analysis of friction, insight for product
• Often measured on: activation and time to value in the segment, retention per segment, effect of interventions, unnecessary enquiries
• Requires: analytical skills, communication and an understanding of automation – to a greater extent than relationship building

A Scaled CSM does not have fewer customers than a CSM. They have more – and work with them in a different way.

Senior CSM#

A Senior CSM mainly does the same as a CSM, but with larger, more complex or more valuable customers. The role often also involves professional responsibility: training new colleagues, developing methods and processes, and handling demanding escalations.

• Typical responsibilities: strategically important customers, escalations, mentoring, improving working methods
• Often measured on: retention and NRR in the portfolio, as well as contribution to the team
• Difference from CS Lead: A Senior CSM usually does not manage people

Enterprise or Strategic CSM#

A role for the largest and most complex customers, often with one or a few customers per person. The work resembles advisory work and change management more than follow-up: executive-level relationships at the customer, plans spanning several years, and coordinating many people on both sides.

Specialist roles#

As a Customer Success function grows, parts of the work are often split out into separate roles.

Onboarding Manager#

Also called Implementation Manager or Onboarding Specialist. The responsibility is the customer's first period: from handover from sales until the customer has got the first value from the product. The role is typically measured on time to value and the share of customers completing onboarding. It is found especially where getting started is demanding – with integrations, data migration or training.

CS Operations#

Customer Success Operations – often shortened to CS Ops – is responsible for the tools, data and processes the rest of the team uses: health scores, reporting, segmentation, automation and systems. The role has no customer portfolio of its own, but has a big influence on how everyone else works. It is often a sign that the function has reached a certain size and maturity.

Renewal Manager#

In some companies, renewals are split out into a separate role, so that CSMs can concentrate on the customer's value rather than contracts. A Renewal Manager is responsible for the renewal process, price negotiations and contract details, and is typically measured on renewal rate and GRR.

Leadership roles#

CS Lead or Team Lead#

A CS Lead leads a team of CSMs day to day: priorities, coaching, follow-up and escalations. In smaller companies, a CS Lead often still has their own customer portfolio alongside the leadership tasks.

The title is ambiguous. In some companies “Lead” means line management. In others it is a senior specialist role with no reports – closer to a Senior CSM. It should always be clarified.

Head of Customer Success#

The Head of Customer Success is responsible for Customer Success working in the company: strategy, operating model, segmentation, measurement and collaboration with sales, product and Customer Support. The role may have a large team or no direct reports. It is described in detail in What does a Head of Customer Success do?

Director of Customer Success#

A Director usually leads several teams and managers, and is responsible for budget, recruitment and resource allocation. The role is most often found in larger companies, where there is also a VP above. In smaller companies, Director and Head of are used for roughly the same level.

VP Customer Success#

The VP Customer Success is the executive for the function, often with a seat on the executive team or reporting directly to it. The role is responsible for strategy, for the overall development of the customer base and often for revenue from existing customers (NRR). In some companies the role is called Chief Customer Officer (CCO), especially when it also covers Customer Support, onboarding and professional services.

Three dimensions that matter more than the title#

Because titles are used so differently, it is more useful to describe a role along three dimensions:

1. Customer responsibility: which customers is the role responsible for, and how many? A portfolio of 15 customers and a segment of 3,000 are two different jobs.
2. Line management: does the role have reports, or does it exert influence through expertise and process?
3. Revenue responsibility: is the role responsible for renewals, expansion or NRR – or for the customer's value without a direct revenue target?

A Senior CSM responsible for revenue from the 20 largest customers may have greater commercial importance than a Head of Customer Success in a small company with no revenue responsibility. The title says little about that.

How to read a job advert#

Ask about this – whether you are applying for the job or writing the advert:

1. How many customers is the role responsible for, and in which segment?
2. How much of the time goes on enquiries, and how much on proactive work?
3. Is the role responsible for renewals or expansion, and is there variable pay linked to it?
4. Who does the role report to, and does it manage people?
5. Which figures is the role measured on?
6. Which tools and data are available to keep track of customers?

The answers say more about the job than the title does.