Edtech.com's Summary

Cornerstone OnDemand is hiring a Senior Manager, Critical Account Programs - United States to build and run a new function that handles the company’s largest and highest-risk customer situations. When a strategic account is in trouble and the fix spans Sales, Services, Product, Partners, Support, and Customer Success, this leader acts as the single point of accountability, coordinating the response and keeping the Executive Leadership Team informed. The role also designs the operating model, governance, and playbooks that let the capability scale as it matures.

Highlights

Define the Critical Account Programs operating model, including qualification criteria, severity levels, entry and exit requirements, escalation paths, decision rights, and roles.
Lead Cornerstone’s most complex cross-functional customer situations as the single owner of the outcome, assessing customer impact, urgency, and business risk and driving each one through stabilization, resolution, and closure.
Prepare executive-level readouts for the Executive Leadership Team covering impact, progress, risks, decisions needed, and recovery plans, and personally lead executive communication with customers during critical situations.
Run post-situation reviews to find root causes, turn them into corrective actions with clear owners, and route product-rooted patterns to the product and support teams.
Spot recurring patterns across customers, products, implementations, and internal handoffs, and work with leaders across the business to prevent them from happening again.
Build the playbooks, tooling, governance, and readiness mechanisms to scale the function, and develop a point of view on how AI can improve risk detection, decision support, and proactive intervention.
10 or more years of experience in customer escalations, critical account or program management, customer success, technical program management, or services in a comparable enterprise environment.
Track record of personally leading complex, executive-visible customer situations involving technical and business stakeholders, and of bringing structure to ambiguous cross-functional problems.
Exceptional executive communication skills, with the ability to manage up to senior leadership, influence outcomes without direct authority, and stay calm under pressure.
Base salary range of $130,800 to $209,300 in a remote role based in the United States.

Senior Manager, Critical Account Programs - United States Full Description

We're looking for a

Senior Manager, Critical Account Programs - United States

This role is Remote, United States

Cornerstone is building a more connected, proactive Customer Organization designed to help customers realize value faster and navigate complexity with confidence. As part of that evolution, we are establishing a dedicated Critical Account Programs capability to change how we manage our most complex, high-impact customer situations.

The Senior Manager, Critical Account Programs will build this capability from the ground up and operate it in practice. You will own the situations that matter most: the largest, heaviest, cross-functional customer problems where our own Executive Leadership Team needs a single leader to coordinate the company's response. When a strategic account is at risk and the path forward spans Sales, Services, Product, Partners, Support, and Customer Success, this is the person who brings structure, drives resolution, and gives leadership a clear line of sight into what is happening and what we are doing about it.

This is not a role for someone looking to inherit an established program. We are looking for a builder and operator who can bring structure to ambiguity, create momentum across organizational boundaries, and remain calm and decisive when the stakes are high. You will define what constitutes a Critical Account situation at Cornerstone, establish the operating model and governance, and personally lead our highest-priority situations while the function matures.

In this role you will...

1. Build the Critical Account Programs operating model

Define Cornerstone's end-to-end framework for managing the highest-impact, cross-functional customer situations, including qualification criteria, severity levels, entry and exit requirements, escalation paths, decision rights, and roles.
Build repeatable mechanisms for intake, prioritization, ownership, action tracking, communication, and closure.
Establish how Critical Account Programs connects with existing customer, product, support, and executive escalation processes so situations are surfaced early and routed to the right owner.
Continuously evolve the model based on what we learn.

Lead Cornerstone's most complex customer situations

Serve as the single point of accountability for the overall outcome of situations involving significant customer, retention, financial, operational, or reputational risk that span more than one function.
Rapidly assess customer impact, urgency, and business risk, and establish the right cross-functional response across Sales, Services, Product, Partners, Support, and Customer Success.
Marshal company-wide resources, align stakeholders around clear ownership, decisions, timelines, and actions, and identify where leadership intervention or executive decisions are required.
Drive situations through stabilization, resolution, and closure, remaining hands-on particularly as the capability is being established.

Communicate with, and manage up to, internal executives and customers

Expert-level communication is central to this role. This leader must be equally strong at managing up to Cornerstone's senior leaders and at leading high-stakes communication with customers.

Manage up to the ELT with confidence and clarity: give our senior leaders a candid, objective view of impact, progress, risks, decisions needed, and recovery plans, and prepare executive-level readouts and recommendations that support fast, informed decisions.
Anticipate what leadership needs to know before they ask, translate complex technical and operational detail into concise executive narratives, and keep leaders appropriately engaged without over-escalating.
Lead customer-facing communications during critical situations: partner with account teams and, where needed, personally lead executive-level communication with customers so they experience Cornerstone as coordinated, transparent, and accountable.
Establish the communication discipline, cadence, and standards that the broader organization can rely on during high-stakes situations.

Turn situations into systemic improvement

Lead post-situation reviews to identify root causes, contributing factors, and breakdowns in process, ownership, or execution.
Translate findings into corrective actions with clear accountability and follow-through, and route product-rooted patterns to the appropriate product and support teams.
Identify recurring patterns across customers, products, implementations, and internal handoffs, and partner with leaders across the business to prevent recurrence. This prevention and systemic improvement work is among the most valuable aspects of the role.

Design a capability built to scale

Design for scale and repeatability while preserving the judgment required for complex customer situations.
Challenge traditional escalation models and identify where new operating approaches, technology, and automation can improve outcomes.
Develop a strong point of view on how AI should transform situation management, including risk detection, situational awareness, decision support, coordination, and proactive intervention.
Build the playbooks, tooling, governance, and readiness mechanisms required to scale, and shape the future function, including the roles and capacity required as it grows.
Drive accountability: establish ownership, challenge stalled progress, and escalate thoughtfully when needed.
Build while operating: solve today's customer problem while improving the system used to solve tomorrow's.
Balance customer and enterprise needs: advocate for the customer while considering commercial, product, operational, and business realities.

You’ve got what it takes if you’ve got…

10+ years of experience in customer escalations, critical account or program management, customer success, technical program management, services, or a comparable enterprise environment.
Experience building systems & processes to improve customer experience
Experience personally leading complex, executive-visible customer situations involving technical and business stakeholders.
Exceptional executive communication skills, including a proven ability to manage up to senior leadership and lead executive-level communication with customers under pressure.
A track record of bringing structure and momentum to ambiguous, cross-functional problems.
Experience partnering closely with Product, Engineering, Services, and Support, with enough technical fluency to navigate complex issues and translate across technical and non-technical audiences.
Experience turning root-cause findings into durable process or operating-model improvements.
Strong judgment, organizational discipline, and the ability to remain calm and action-oriented under pressure.
The ability to influence outcomes without relying on direct authority.
A builder mindset and curiosity to deeply understand our customers, products, and organization.
A clear point of view on how AI, automation, and new operating models can reinvent situation management and move organizations from reactive response toward earlier detection, faster decisions, and scalable intervention.

What success looks like

In the first 12 to 18 months, this leader will have:

Established a trusted Critical Account Programs operating model used consistently across Cornerstone.
Improved the speed, coordination, and quality of response for the company's highest-risk cross-functional customer situations.
Created clearer ownership, decision paths, and executive engagement during situations, with the ELT confident they have a single leader accountable for the response.
Built mechanisms that turn situations into systemic product and operational improvements.
Increased Cornerstone's ability to identify and mitigate customer risk earlier.
Created the foundation, tooling, and organizational model required to scale the capability beyond a single leader.

Total Rewards:

The BASE salary range for this position is: 130800 - 209300 USD. The starting salary for the successful applicant will depend on several job-related factors, including education, training, experience, certifications, location, business needs, and market demands. This range is based on a full-time position and may be adjusted in the future.

Equal Employment Opportunity has been, and will continue to be, a fundamental commitment at Cornerstone OnDemand. All qualified applicants are given consideration regardless of race, religion, color, gender, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, citizenship status, disability, veteran status, or any other protected class as provided in applicable Federal, State, or Local fair employment laws.

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Senior Manager, Critical Account Programs - United States

Edtech.com's Summary

Senior Manager, Critical Account Programs - United States Full Description

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