Senior Customer Success Manager

Guidewire is a platform provider helping property and casualty insurers engage, innovate, and grow through digital, core, analytics, and AI solutions delivered as a cloud service. The Senior Customer Success Manager will oversee customer portfolio strategy and execution, driving engagement, satisfaction, retention, growth, solution adoption, renewals, and advocacy among Guidewire InsuranceSuite customers.

Responsibilities:

• Develop strategic account plans that expand the relationship and promote growth
• Drive cross-functional collaboration to accelerate adoption and value of current and future solutions
• Identify and pursue expansion opportunities aligned to customer goals
• Create trusted partnerships that result in engaged, customer advocates
• Lead executive level engagements focused on value creation
• Define and execute a renewal strategy that promotes growth and mitigates risk
• Promote operational excellence in portfolio, account and team management
• Develop depth and breadth of relationship within portfolio of customers, from C-level to IT and business users
• Understand customer priorities and identify common themes to report out and action
• Understand customer priorities and facilitate engagements to meet customer needs, align our overall strategies, and create meaningful relationships
• Recognize incremental sales opportunities across Guidewire solutions and partner with sales to ensure the customer objectives and value proposition are at the forefront
• Develop strong partnerships by providing positive customer experiences that drive mutual success and creates customer advocates
• Engage with customers to develop deep understanding of customer’s product experience and strategic business needs
• Know the customer “inside and out” and foster positive relationships with key customer stakeholders at senior and C-Suite level
• Serve as the voice of the customer and customer advocate to facilitate feedback and influence on Guidewire products and services
• Provide early insight and adoption recommendations for new products and product features
• Coach and mentor other CMSs in developing the Customer Success Craft and engagement in both Guidewire and Customer Community
• Encourage adoption of Guidewire solutions to help customers achieve their business goals and maximize the value of their investments
• Take the lead in driving to a successful conclusion any customer issues or situations, involving other departments and individuals as necessary
• Create and manage customer success plans and account plans to manage external and internal relationships and strategies
• Facilitate executive discussions including business reviews, roadmap reviews, and strategic alignment
• Develop a deep and cross-functional understanding of the key business challenges and opportunities of your customers and portfolio
• Introduce new features and best practices to customers according to their business needs
• Ensure visibility of program and customer health both internally and with customer teams
• Manage commercial aspects of account relationships post initial sale, including defining a renewal strategy that promotes growth and mitigates risks
• Execute and manage contract negotiations and renewals
• Leverage Executive leadership and communication experience, with ability to define a vision, build a persuasive business case, establish personal credibility, resolve conflict and engender honest feedback and appraisal
• At Guidewire, we foster a culture of curiosity, innovation, and responsible use of AI—empowering our teams to continuously leverage emerging technologies and data-driven insights to enhance productivity and outcomes

Requirements:

• 12+ years relevant experience (e.g., customer success, account management, sales, technology consulting or related position)
• Knowledge of the P&C insurance space, industry trends and challenges, and the fundamental economics of an insurance company
• Passion for solving problems, thinking creatively, and delivering results
• Ability to build and manage C-suite relationships at customers
• Capable of quickly building trust and establishing deep relationships
• Ability to effectively connect and communicate with both business & IT stakeholders
• Executive leadership and communication experience, showing the ability to define a vision, build a persuasive business case, establish personal credibility, resolve conflicting views and engender honest feedback and appraisal
• Demonstrated ability to work on multiple initiatives or accounts simultaneously under pressure
• Demonstrated account planning and management skills, including estimations, budgets, forecasting and coordination of multiple work streams
• Ability to travel as needed to client locations, industry events and company initiatives
• Demonstrated ability to embrace AI and apply it to your current role as well as data-driven insights to drive innovation, productivity, and continuous improvement
• Experience working with cloud-native solutions and/or cloud technologies for mission-critical applications
• Demonstrated coaching and change management experience – not just defining a plan but executing that plan successfully and adapting to obstacles or shifts in business priority
• Knowledge of or experience with Guidewire InsuranceSuite is preferred