Manager, Customer Success - Apptio IBM en IBM

Introduction

This position is part of Apptio's Extended Leadership Team with specific responsibility for a portion of the CSM team in the Americas Region. The CSM team activities are focused on usage and adoption combined with new feature adoption, operational best practices, and advocacy for their customers. CSMs leverage their organizational and operational capabilities to help customers create value against their corporate objectives while driving operational excellence and program governance. CSMs engage broadly across organizations, focusing on building relationships and ensuring renewals. Your job is guiding this group of exceptional talent to provide that value and expertise to each of their assigned portfolios in accordance with Apptio’s best practices. For all levels of customer TBM, Cloud, and/or Agile maturity, CSM’s will help to accelerate and mature adoption and value related to the Apptio Solutions which encompasses Business and IT Strategy, Cloud, Technology, Operational and Change Management, as well as Financial Performance Management. The efforts of this individual will directly impact the direction and operation of the entire CSM function in the Americas, the Customer Success organization, and most importantly, the success of IBM Apptio’s customers.

Your role and responsibilities

As the Manager of Customer Success Managers (CSMs), you will be responsible for managing a team of CSMs in the Americas Region as well as be required to maintain a reduced portfolio of customers within the Region. The CSM team’s focus is to monitor and drive adoption, value realization, and expansion of the Apptio product suite. You will bring your CSM experience to your assigned accounts and will be leading, developing, and supporting your team of direct reports to ensure they provide a high level of customer engagement and maintain corporate renewal, health, and expansion objectives. You will partner with the global leaders at Apptio, an IBM Company, across Customer Success (CS), Professional Services (PS), Sales, Marketing, Products, Engineering and Support to foster partnership and industry expertise to ensure every customer realizes full value from their investment with Apptio.

What the role entails:

• Lead, develop, and serve direct reports: Provide direction to the team on CSM operations with on-going feedback & coaching on their performance. Identify gaps in knowledge & capability for both individuals, the team & the CSM Americas function, and work with other CS leaders to ensure those gaps are filled.

• Maintain a reduced portfolio of customers as a CSM: Work closely with customers to understand & drive use cases; monitor & track usage of Apptio Cldy or TargetProcess and related applications; identify & react to adoption risk, both in terms of threats & opportunities; build, agree, then coach customers to deliver against their success plans to ensure achievement of roadmap targets, driving customer value metrics.

• Ensure the performance of the CSM team: Regularly observe direct reports on the performance of their jobs to ensure they maintain the standards expected from an IBM Apptio CSM. CSMs are required to provide timely & accurate updates to key metrics systems, monitoring of usage & use case execution, owning the client value conversation ensuring successful outcomes, manage solution enhancement over the customer lifecycle, identify & react appropriately to risks to adoption & renewal, and oversee support ticket escalations. The role will require the successful candidate to identify & resolve any areas for improvement within their team’s function.

• Align with other CSM functions: Drive operational efficiency & alignment across the Customer Success functions by working in close collaboration with other CSM, CS, and IBM Apptio global leaders on appropriate initiatives & activities to drive customer results.

• Coordinate with the Sales Function: Working alongside sales team members to ensure renewals and expansions. Deep alignment with the efforts of the sales team to maximize adoption, renewal, and customer satisfaction.

• Act as the Customer Advocate: Serve as liaison between our customers & various Apptio teams as necessary to ensure that escalations, support tickets, risks, and general feedback are understood & effectively handled; coordinate support ticket escalations efficiently & equitably and collaborate with other departments in the company to resolve customer issues in a timely fashion while maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction.

• Maintain Domain and Product Knowledge: Understand the business & technical problems the Apptio solution addresses. Stay current on product roadmap as well as understanding the scenarios, features, and functions within each of the products & how these are applied to address business & technical problems.

• Contribute as a leader: Work globally with CS peers, the Global CS Practice and cross-functionally within the Americas Region to develop & drive change initiatives; identify & validate key problems and present workable solutions to management; in collaboration with other IBM Apptio leaders.

Required technical and professional expertise

• Candidates must have a B.A. or B.S., ideally in a technology, engineering, or business-related discipline, with most successful candidates having 3+ years as a CSM role in a SaaS organization

• Proven experience in B2B SaaS environment delivering against operational metrics focused on adoption and renewal, upsell and expansion

• Experience holding CSM teams accountable to metrics

• Capable influencer with proven ability to build & maintain strong customer relationships at all levels

• Proven experience driving customer value & adoption through use case elicitation

• Proven experience identifying & addressing adoption risks & opportunities

• Scrappy, creative and hands on - willing to personally jump in & help the team manage clients, handle escalations, etc.

• Team player who will innovate to continue improving the way IBM Apptio serves its customers

• Excellent organization, program/project management, time management, and communication skills

• Ability to travel up to 20% of the time

Preferred technical and professional experience

• Experience within Cloud, Agile, IT Finance, and/or Technology department

• Technical / hands on implementation experience

• Managerial experience leading a team

IBM is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, caste, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, veteran status, or other characteristics. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.