Handshake logo

Handshake

Manager of Strategic Customer Success

🇺🇸 Hybrid - CA

🕑 Full-Time

💰 $200,000 - $220,000

💻 Customer Success

🗓️ December 28th, 2023

SaaS
Everyone is welcome at Handshake. We know diverse teams build better products and we are committed to creating an inclusive culture built on a foundation of respect for all individuals. We strongly encourage candidates from non-traditional backgrounds, historically marginalized or underrepresented groups to apply.

Our mission is to democratize opportunity for students everywhere. We believe that every student should have an equal opportunity to build a meaningful career regardless of where they go to school, what they major in, or who they know.  

We welcome all people. We celebrate diversity of all kinds and are committed to creating an inclusive culture built on a foundation of respect for all individuals. We seek to hire, develop and retain talented people from all backgrounds. Individuals from non-traditional backgrounds, historically marginalized or underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.

What does the Manager of Strategic Customer Success on the Employer Team do at Handshake?

We’re looking for a Manager of Strategic Success to join our Employer Customer Experience Team - working with F500 employers across the nation to influence and expand their early talent recruiting strategy.  You will serve as a key leader for the Strategic Segment of existing partnerships. You’ll work closely with the team to ensure they achieve their goals, build relationships with executives, expand their presence as thought leaders and drive customer retention and expansion from onboarding through renewal.   

You’ll be instrumental in building and leading a world class Customer Success program for the category leading platform. This high-impact role combines equal parts people management, sales, relationship management leadership and customer satisfaction. The ideal candidate has a proven record of success managing revenue carrying individual contributors in SaaS technology company.   

Your Role


  • Lead a high-performing team of Strategic Customer Success Managers: hire, develop, inspire, motivate and empower the team to successfully achieve our client’s goals while also striving to reach our organization’s retention and revenue growth targets (e.g. NDR) 
  • Mentor and assist team with account planning, metrics pacing, renewals, identifying upsell opportunities, managing churn, and forecasting 
  • Effectively track business progress to goals - adoption, usage, product penetration and overall satisfaction (NPS)
  • Develop relationships with senior stakeholders of our largest customers, navigate complex situations, engage in multi-threading to new lines of business and subsidiaries 
  • Synthesize the voice of Strategic customers from qualitative and quantitative feedback, share with leadership and cross-functional partners (e.g. input into Product roadmap)
  • Understand market trends and keep up-to-date with the latest developments and discussions impacting the industry
  • Work closely with cross functional partners (like Marketing, Product, Sales Ops) to meet client’s objectives, while also positively impacting the CSM function
  • Present to the Executive Team on a consistent basis
  • Front line people management including coaching, performance management, career development and skills development

What we look for 


  • 7+ years in SaaS enterprise and strategic customer success, and/or post-sales experience
  • 5+ years leading high-performing teams, working with Fortune 200 companies
  • Strong track record of success with your own book of business, and regularly hitting individual and team goals
  • Experience creating and influencing value narratives including ROI, product value and thought leadership all coupled with data storytelling
  • Experience influencing renewal proposals/recommendations, forecasting, and account planning
  • Experience with an evangelical sale, selling non-discretionary software to executives at Fortune 500 companies
  • Excellent communication skills, polished, professional sales presentation skillsAnalytical mindset with a methodical data-driven approach to identifying challenges, creating solutions and measuring impact
  • Ability to think systematically, proactively identify gaps, build infrastructure, processes, and tools to drive efficiency and streamlined operations
  • Organized with systems and efficiency to create scalable solutions vs manual work
  • You thrive in a fast paced environment, appreciate and demonstrate flexibility as needed
  • You react gracefully under pressure
  • You’re a do-er with a bias towards action and creative problem-solving

Must reside in San Francisco or NYC and be willing to working a hybrid work schedule

Compensation range

  • $200,000 - $220,000 OTE (80/20)

For cash compensation, we set standard ranges for all U.S.-based roles based on function, level, and geographic location, benchmarked against similar stage growth companies. In order to be compliant with local legislation, as well as to provide greater transparency to candidates, we share salary ranges on all job postings regardless of desired hiring location. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including geographic location as well as candidate experience and expertise, and may vary from the amounts listed above.

About us


Handshake is the #1 place to launch a career with no connections, experience, or luck required. The platform connects up-and-coming talent with 750,000+ employers - from Fortune 500 companies like Google, Nike, and Target to thousands of public school districts, healthcare systems, and nonprofits. In 2022 we announced our $200M Series F funding round. This Series F fundraise and valuation of $3.5B will fuel Handshake’s next phase of growth and propel our mission to help more people start, restart, and jumpstart their careers.

When it comes to our workforce strategy, we’ve thought deeply about how work-life should look here at Handshake. With our Hub-Based Remote Working strategy, employees can enjoy the flexibility of remote work, whilst ensuring collaboration and team experiences in a shared space remains possible. Handshake is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Denver, New York, London, and Berlin and teammates working globally. 

Check out our careers site to find a hub near you!

What we offer


At Handshake, we'll give you the tools to feel healthy, happy and secure.

Benefits below apply to employees in full-time positions.

  • 💰 Equity and ownership in a fast-growing company.
  • 🍼 16 Weeks of paid parental leave for birth giving parents & 10 weeks of paid parental leave for non-birth giving parents.
  • 💝 Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision policies including LGTBQ+ Coverage. We also provide resources for Mental Health Assistance, Employee Assistance Programs and counseling support.
  • 💻 Handshake offers $500/£360 home office stipend for you to spend during your first 3 months to create a productive and comfortable workspace at home.
  • 📚 Generous learning & development opportunities and an annual $2,000/£1,500/€1,850 stipend for you to grow your skills and career.
  • 💰 Financial coaching through Origin to help you through your financial journey.
  • 🛜 Monthly internet stipend and a brand new MacBook to allow you to do your best work.
  • 🚃 Monthly commuter stipend for you to expense your travel to the office (for office-based employees).
  • 🥗 Free lunch provided twice a week across all offices.
  • 🤝 Referral bonus to reward you when you bring great talent to Handshake.

(US-specific benefits, in addition to the first section)

  • 🏦 401k Match: Handshake offers a dollar-for-dollar match on 1% of deferred salary, up to a maximum of $1,200 per year.
  • 🏝 All full-time US-based Handshakers are eligible for our flexible time off policy to get out and see the world. In addition, we offer 8 standardized holidays, and 2 additional days of flexible holiday time off. Lastly, we have a Winter #ShakeBreak, a one-week period of Collective Time Off.
  • 🍼 Lactation support: Handshake partners with Milk Stork to provide a comprehensive 100% employer-sponsored lactation support to traveling parents and guardians.