Manager, Customer Success

Overview

Lead a team of 4‑10 Customer Success Managers across high and medium touch segments in the French region. Your role is to drive strategic adoption of AI‑enabled tools, maximize team performance, and cultivate continuous AI fluency within the team. You will build a culture of curiosity, experimentation, and financial discipline, ensuring that customers achieve outcomes that drive expansion and advocacy.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a diverse team of Customer Success Managers, setting crystal‑clear goals and KPIs across weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual cycles.
• Own forecasting, retention, and growth strategies while partnering with sales and renewals to ensure portfolio health and accurate renewal forecasting.
• Engineer next‑level customer outcomes by guiding CSMs to act as “mini‑CEOs,” owning portfolio strategies, eliminating blockers, and managing churn/expansion playbooks.
• Lead monthly and quarterly business reviews (MBRs/QBRs), ensuring success plans are adopted, refreshed, and aligned with customer priorities.
• Champion operational excellence by implementing standard operating procedures, success plans, customer health scoring models, and scalable playbooks.
• Drive an AI‑first revolution in success, partnering with Product/AI teams to pilot new tools, iterate based on real‑world feedback, and educate the team on best practices.
• Build and maintain an AI‑enabled risk flagging system, customer insights dashboards, and automation workflows that enhance engagement and reduce manual effort.
• Provide continuous coaching, career development, and performance feedback, fostering a high‑performance culture and promoting high potential talent.
• Represent the team in cross‑functional forums, influencing product roadmap decisions and ensuring CS feedback informs system design.

Qualifications

• 9+ years in Customer Success or related SaaS/technology roles, including at least 5 years of team management.
• Strong technical and AI fluency, with experience in AI‑driven tools, automation, and data pipelines.
• Proficiency with CRM and CS platforms (Zendesk, Gainsight, Salesforce) and analytics tools (Looker, Tableau) for data analysis and dashboard creation.
• Financial acumen: comfortable with forecasting, renewal/expansion analysis, ARR/MRR modeling, and driving financial outcomes.
• Fluency in French and English; additional languages welcome.
• Demonstrated ability to design, implement, and iterate processes, playbooks, and risk management frameworks.
• Track record of collaborating with product, sales, marketing, and AI teams at a leadership level.
• High adaptability, curiosity, and a history of upskilling and delivering results in ambiguous, rapid‑paced environments.
• Bachelor’s degree in Business or Technology preferred; advanced degrees or certifications in Customer Success, AI, or related fields are a plus.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Zendesk is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster global diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment and employees at Zendesk are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an AA/EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer. Zendesk endeavors to make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans pursuant to applicable federal and state law.