Description

About Customer Success at Salesforce

Salesforce’s worldwide Customer Success Group's primary mission is to drive Customer Health, Adoption, and Consumption that leads to Salesforce Loyalty and reduced Attrition. We work with our customers to build relationships, learn about their businesses, and drive value-based results.

About the Position

Salesforce is looking for a highly effective business and technology leader to become the VP of Customer Success for our EMEA UKI Operating Unit. This role reports to the Senior Vice President, Customer Success EMEA

The EMEA UKI Customer Success Leader leverages deep business and industry knowledge to partner with customers to help them accelerate business value and ROI from their investment with Salesforce. You will align at the C-level, building and maintaining strong relationships to help customers progress on their transformation journey. In this role, you will be responsible for helping customers achieve business value faster and to transform their business and engage with their own customers in whole new ways. The end result is increased loyalty, value, retention, customer satisfaction and ultimately expansion of Salesforce's footprint.

This role has accountability for the entire book of customer business across the Operating Unit (OU), leading a team of Customer Success Managers (CSMs) and Customer Success Area Leads (CSALs). The CSMs drive Customer Health as measured through our Customer Success Score. This includes Product Adoption, Customer Expertise and Technical Health. In addition to Customer Health, the team is also measured on Salesforce Loyalty represented by low Attrition and increased AOV coverage. The CSMs deliver engagements through our Signature Success Plan and this role collaborates across Salesforce by working to address any customer satisfaction, adoption, professional services, or renewal issues, resulting in clear accountability, consistent service and one face to the customer. The Customer Success Area Lead (CSAL) roles are sales-aligned and help orchestrate customer value realisation through our Premier Success Plans. The role focuses on data analysis, business strategy, relationship management, and orchestrating customer success initiatives while working as a trusted advisor to Sales teams to improve customer outcomes at scale.

Responsibilities:

• Be the Customer Success Business Partner for the EMEA UKI Operating Unit and manage relationships with senior stakeholders including the CCO, CEO and Sales Leadership, leveraging the Customer Health Score and Success Plan entitlements to engage with customers as needed using CSM and CSAL resources.
• Act as Executive Sponsor on key accounts, aligning with executives to understand their objectives, assess their capabilities and prescribe recommendations to accelerate business objectives and build a transformational vision
• Lead, coach, and evolve the UKI Customer Success teams, shifting the team's focus to proactive Adoption-Led Growth to ensure every customer engagement contributes to revenue, retention and consumption targets
• Operationally manage delivery of Success Engagements against key KPIs including throughput, closure rate and Customer Success Score outcomes, creating consistent and valued customer experiences
• Work closely with leadership to execute strategies that drive customer success, demonstrating commercial acumen and understanding the link between technical adoption and commercial renewal
• Champion a proactive risk mitigation strategy, mobilising the team to identify attrition risks 12–24 months in advance and execute intervention plays to protect the install base
• Establish relationships with leadership across Sales, Services, Product, Customer Support and Alliances & Channels to ensure cross-functional alignment at scale and enable go-to-market strategies
• Lead teams through significant operational shifts (e.g., moving from subscription to consumption/usage-based models) as a "builder" and "fixer," demonstrating proven transformation experience
• Be an inspirational leader and create a vibrant, inclusive culture that inspires people to do their best work
• Operationalise programs that ensure the team can scale to meet customer needs and do more with less over time
• Contribute to thought leadership and best practices, both internally and externally on customer success and industry transformation
• Serve as a customer advocate in driving the evolution of Salesforce products and services integral to the customer's success

Required Background and Experience

• Executive Leadership: 15+ years of experience in business and technology, with 10+ years of dedicated work experience in Customer Success or a related function, leading a large, high-growth organisation delivering software-based business solutions to enterprise-level clients
• Customer Success Acumen: Proven experience building and scaling a successful Adoption-chartered Customer Success function, leading teams of Customer Success Managers
• Operational Excellence: Proven experience running a business with exceptional operational rigour, the ability to manage delivery against KPIs, and expertise in navigating and excelling in a highly matrixed, collaborative environment
• C-Level Engagement: Exceptional ability to influence and drive effective conversations at the C-level, including facilitating difficult discussions and handling complex objections
• Education: Degree or equivalent relevant experience required. Experience will be evaluated based on the core competencies for the role (e.g. extracurricular leadership roles, military experience, volunteer roles, formal work experience, etc.)

Preferred Qualifications and Skills

• Leadership & Interpersonal Skills:
  • Excellent leadership, management, and interpersonal skills, including high EQ and the ability to lead with positive influence across diverse teams and regions
  • Ability to navigate complex customer organisational structures to build strategic relationships with executives and key stakeholders
• Influence & Program Management:
  • Skilled at program management within large organisations, adept at engaging key stakeholders to effectively drive change across groups
  • Ability to work independently, deliver on detail, and successfully execute long-term strategy in an evolving, fast-paced environment
• Strategic & Technical Acumen:
  • Strong consulting skills and proven results working as a Trusted Advisor to drive business value for clients or stakeholders
  • Detailed understanding of best practices for enterprise CRM systems and experience with complex CRM and IT deployments
  • Passion for technology, innovation, and an in-depth knowledge of core business processes (Sales, Marketing, Service, Support)