Vice President, Customer Success

Role Overview

• Review existing processes and continue to iterate and implement a customer success strategy focused on CSM contributions to value realization, renewals, and growth
• Advance the organization toward a tech-enabled, solutions-focused model inspired by best practices in the technology industry
• Evolve the current structure into a mature, scalable operating model for a global Customer Success organization
• Serve as a thought partner to the SVP and senior leadership, contributing to the long-term roadmap for Customer Success at Elsevier
• Lead and inspire a high-performing team of regional leaders and their organizations; provide mentorship, performance management, and professional growth paths
• Foster a strong culture of accountability, innovation, and customer-centricity
• Oversee organizational change management to support scale, role clarity, and performance optimization
• Partner with Sales, Marketing and Product leaders to drive engagement strategies that reduce churn, increase renewal rates, and expand customer footprint
• Ensure teams build strategic relationships with institutional customers, functioning as trusted advisors to product champions, senior academic and government stakeholders
• Drive customer advocacy, NPS, and customer health metrics through data-informed decision-making and proactive engagement strategies
• Lead and contribute to cross-functional initiatives in CSM enablement, Operations, Success Planning, and Customer Impact Management
• Champion the development of tooling, dashboards, and processes to measure customer success outcomes globally
• Use metrics, analytics, and feedback loops to continuously refine engagement strategy and customer experience across regions.

Requirements

• Proven track record (12+ years) in SaaS customer success, post-sales, or professional services leadership
• Minimum of 5 years in a senior executive role (VP or equivalent) managing regional or global CS organizations
• Demonstrated experience leading large-scale customer success/engagement teams and managing managers/leaders in a high-growth SaaS environment
• Demonstrated success driving renewals and expansion in a B2B SaaS or analytics-driven environment, ideally within academic, scientific, or governmental sectors
• Excellent executive presence, influencing, and communication skills — comfortable engaging at the C-level internally and externally
• Strategic systems thinker with a data-driven approach to decision-making, operational design, and leadership
• Deep knowledge of customer success best practices, digital engagement models, and success platforms (Gainsight, Salesforce)
• Technology-forward mindset with fluency in CS platforms and automation tools; able to collaborate with Product and Engineering on data-driven solutions
• Experience operating effectively within an international, matrixed organization
• MBA or advanced degree preferred.

Benefits

• Health and wellness initiatives
• Shared parental leave
• Study assistance
• Sabbaticals