Senior Customer Success Manager

About the role

In this individual contributor role, you will take charge of the entire customer relationship for a select group of high-value Enterprise accounts. Your primary focus will be on driving customer adoption, ensuring retention, and fostering growth, all while helping to establish the Customer Success function from its inception. This position is ideal for someone who is eager to influence the operational framework of Customer Success at Buildkite rather than simply adhering to existing protocols.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Act as the main point of contact for named Enterprise accounts after the sale, ensuring their health, adoption, retention, and identifying opportunities for expansion.
• Develop customer success strategies that align with the engineering and business goals of each account, ensuring they achieve measurable outcomes from their investment in Buildkite.
• Collaborate with Account Executives, Technical Account Managers, Solutions, Product, and Support teams to provide a experience for customers.
• Establish and nurture relationships with key stakeholders, including C-suite executives, VPs, Directors, and program owners within customer organizations.
• Conduct Executive Business Reviews in partnership with Account Executives and Technical Account Managers, delivering value narratives and strategic partnership insights.
• Keep a close watch on technical, commercial, support, and relationship indicators across your portfolio to identify potential risks early and mitigate escalation.
• Work alongside Account Executives to devise renewal strategies by articulating the value proposition and assessing account readiness.
• Identify expansion opportunities through the Customer-Sourced Qualified Lead process, enhancing overall account value.
• Collaborate with Technical Account Managers during the initial 90 days post-sale and maintain ongoing joint engagement to ensure customer satisfaction.
• Play a key role in developing playbooks, processes, and the operational model for the new Customer Success function, mentoring future team members as the team expands.

Requirements

• A minimum of 5 years of experience in Customer Success, strategic account management, or senior post-sale roles within a B2B SaaS environment, with comprehensive ownership of Enterprise accounts.
• Direct experience in a CI/CD, DevOps, developer tools, or technical infrastructure SaaS company, possessing sufficient domain knowledge to engage effectively in engineering discussions.
• A proven track record of driving retention and expansion outcomes within a named Enterprise portfolio.
• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to engage comfortably with VP, CTO, and C-level stakeholders.
• Proficiency in managing objections, navigating challenging conversations, and fostering alignment between customer and internal teams.
• Experience in coordinating efforts across Sales, Solutions, Support, Product, and Marketing for complex accounts with multiple stakeholders.
• Strong commercial acumen, linking daily activities to renewal health, churn risk, and growth opportunities.
• A self-motivated individual who thrives in a founding team environment, capable of shaping processes while executing tasks effectively.

Nice to have

• Practical experience with Buildkite or similar CI/CD platforms, such as Jenkins, GitHub Actions, CircleCI, Harness, or GitLab CI.
• A background in working alongside Technical Account Managers or Solutions Architects, where technical and relationship responsibilities are distinctly defined.
• Familiarity with Customer Success platforms like Vitally, Catalyst, Gainsight, or Totango, as well as revenue tools such as Salesforce, Avoma, or ChartMogul.
• Previous experience in building or contributing to a Customer Success function in its early stages, rather than operating within an established framework.

Skills & tools

• Expertise in managing Enterprise accounts
• Proficient in engaging with executive stakeholders
• Knowledgeable in CI/CD and DevOps domains
• Strong cross-functional coordination abilities
• Skilled in developing renewal and expansion strategies
• Familiar with Customer Success platforms (Vitally, Catalyst, Gainsight, Totango)
• Experienced with revenue tools (Salesforce, Avoma, ChartMogul)

Practical notes

• Salary range: $140,000 to $155,000
• Remote-first work culture
• Comprehensive benefits package included
• Buildkite is an equal opportunity employer and provides accommodations during the recruitment process; for assistance, please contact accommodations@buildkite.com.

About the company

Buildkite is a continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) platform used in DevOps and company was founded in September 2013. Companies using Buildkite include Wayfair, Shopify, Slack, Twilio, Canva, Pinterest, Envato, MYOB, Lyft and Uber.