Customer success manager job description.
Hiring a customer success manager or moving into post-sales ownership? This customer success manager job description explains relationship management, value delivery, renewal strategy, and cross-functional coordination — with details on long-term growth and salary.
What does a customer success manager do?
A customer success manager (CSM) is responsible for building long-term relationships with customers and ensuring they see value from the product or service. They work to drive retention, satisfaction, and account growth.
Core duties include onboarding new clients, leading QBRs (quarterly business reviews), tracking adoption metrics, resolving issues, and identifying upsell or renewal opportunities. CSMs collaborate with sales, product, and support teams.
In startups, they may own the full customer lifecycle. In larger businesses, they focus on account health and commercial outcomes across a defined portfolio, often working with strategic or enterprise clients.
Key responsibilities of a customer success manager.
Customer success managers own long-term relationships with customers. Responsibilities include:
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Managing post-sale relationships and ensuring satisfaction
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Conducting regular check-ins and health reviews
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Onboarding new clients and supporting adoption
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Identifying upsell or renewal opportunities based on usage
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Collaborating with product and support teams to resolve issues
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Maintaining accurate records in the CRM or CS tools
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Driving product usage and user engagement
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Reporting on success metrics and customer retention
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Advocating for customer needs internally
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Hosting training sessions, QBRs, and feature walk-throughs
This role blends relationship management, product knowledge, and commercial support.
Skills and requirements for a customer success manager.
Customer success managers ensure clients derive ongoing value. Employers typically look for:
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3–6 years of experience in customer success, account management, or support
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Proven ability managing onboarding, retention, and renewals
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Skilled in relationship building and understanding client goals
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Experience with CRMs and customer success platforms
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Strong communication and problem-solving skills
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Ability to coordinate internally with product, support, and sales teams
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Skilled in leading client reviews and reducing churn risk
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Confidence analysing client data and usage insights
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Target-driven, focused on client value and growth
Most customer success managers are trusted client advisors in SaaS or service environments.
Average salary for a customer success manager.
In the UK, the average salary for a customer success manager typically ranges from £30,000 to £50,000, reflecting relationship depth, onboarding complexity, and growth metrics.
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Mid-level CSMs earn between £30,000 and £40,000
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Senior managers with strategic accounts or expansion responsibilities may earn between £41,000 and £50,000
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Commission and success bonuses are common for renewals and cross-sells
Strong salaries are found in tech, SaaS, and customer-led platforms.
Career progression for a customer success manager.
A customer success manager (CSM) is responsible for nurturing client relationships, ensuring product adoption, and reducing churn. The role is central to revenue retention and often leads to leadership or strategic growth positions. A typical progression includes:
Customer success executive / Onboarding specialist
Supports new client onboarding and early-stage product education.
Customer success manager
Owns client relationships, renewal cycles, and expansion initiatives. Aligns usage with business value.
Senior CSM / Customer success lead
Advises on client strategy, mentors junior team members, and manages complex accounts.
Head of customer success
Leads CS operations, metrics, and tools. Defines lifecycle stages and retention strategy.
Director of customer success
Reports to senior leadership. Aligns CS outcomes with revenue growth, partnerships, and long-term customer advocacy.
salary guide
Our UK operations salary guide.
Customer success managers ensure customer satisfaction, reduce churn, and support growth. Offers should reflect ownership of relationships and delivery outcomes.
Our UK operations salary guide includes salary benchmarks, hiring trends, 2024 data, and projections through to 2026.
FAQS
Customer success manager FAQs.
Customer retention, health scores, upsell/conversion rates, and NRR (net revenue retention). Strong CSMs don’t just maintain — they expand. They also influence roadmap via product feedback.
CSMs own adoption, engagement, and value delivery — account managers focus more on commercial renewal and upsell. However, in smaller companies, roles often overlap.
Experience solving customer problems, driving adoption, and managing churn risk. Case studies of saving at-risk accounts or turning feedback into product fixes are powerful.
Deep customer discovery, building trust, and establishing a cadence of value delivery. CSMs who listen early and act on usage patterns usually have stronger renewal outcomes.
Senior CSM, strategic CSM, or team lead. Many also step into account management, CS ops, or even product roles, especially if working closely with feedback loops.
