Director, Customer Success

People.ai

. Drive gross retention, expansion and credit consumption, and lead customers onto the Backstory platform .

Posted 10/20/2026full-timeRemote • California • United StatesLeadWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

Use this summary to align your resume positioning with the role.

Demonstrates extensive experience in Customer Success leadership, focusing on retention and expansion outcomes in B2B SaaS. Capable of developing strategic account plans, success frameworks, and metrics while effectively engaging with C-level stakeholders.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Customer Success LeadershipRetention And Expansion OutcomesSuccess Planning And Value FrameworksExecutive Presence With C-Level StakeholdersExperience With Salesforce And Gainsight

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Account ManagementCapacity PlanningMetrics DevelopmentSegmentation ModelsSuccess PlanningValue Realization FrameworkNegotiation SkillsProblem IdentificationAI Tools UsageUnderstanding Of MCP-Based Integrations

Soft Skills

LeadershipInfluencing High-Stakes DecisionsCollaborationSolution-Oriented MindsetAdaptability

Tools & Technologies

SalesforceGainsightClaudeAI Tools

Industry Keywords

B2B SaaSCustomer SuccessExecutive Business ReviewsConsumption PricingAgentic Workflows

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Drive gross retention, expansion and credit consumption, and lead customers onto the Backstory platform
Give leadership a weekly view of renewal risk and run save motions with direct executive engagement
Run high-touch strategic, time-boxed emerging and scaled customer coverage models
Move emerging accounts into strategic coverage within their renewal cycle
Own account alignment, book economics, capacity planning and scalable playbooks
Understand strategic customers’ businesses, technical environments and product potential
Trace requests to agreed problem statements and measurable outcomes
Own success plans, executive readouts, EBRs and the value realization framework
Hire, develop and retain managers and Customer Success Managers
Build solution-oriented product and architecture instincts across the team
Own onboarding, ramp, career paths and performance standards
Run weekly renewal reviews, segment account reviews, monthly business reviews and quarterly planning
Maintain metrics and dashboards; manage budget, staffing and process
Run Customer Success on Backstory, including account plans, health signals, renewal reviews and customer preparation
Lead forums for sharing platform workflows and turn daily use into product input
Own Sales-to-Customer Success handoff standards and joint renewal and expansion planning
Coordinate with Professional Services, Technical Support and Studio on strategic accounts
Bring customer insights into product and go-to-market planning
Support customer references, stories and Marketing advisory programs

Requirements

What you’ll need

12+ years in Customer Success, Account Management or post-sales leadership, including 5+ years leading teams and developing managers
Track record of owning retention and expansion outcomes in B2B SaaS
Experience building segmentation, capacity models, playbooks and metrics that scale
Experience running a function from data in Salesforce, Gainsight or similar
Hands-on experience designing success planning, EBR and value frameworks for enterprise customers
Ability to translate product usage into outcomes executives care about
Ability to identify the problem beneath a feature request and recommend whether to say no, scope down or escalate
Strong product intuition
Executive presence with C-level customer stakeholders and senior internal leaders
Experience negotiating and influencing high-stakes decisions
Proven partnership with Sales, Services, Support and Product
Use of Claude and other leading AI tools
Understanding of agentic workflows and MCP-based integrations
Clear point of view on how AI is changing the Customer Success role
Ability to learn systems before changing them, take feedback, and disagree and commit
Strongly preferred: experience leading customers through usage-based or consumption pricing and tying variable consumption back to delivered value

Benefits

Comp & perks

Regular employees may be eligible for commissions or bonus programs (target included in OTE)
Equity
Benefits
Accommodations throughout the hiring process