Job Summary

The Director Customer Success provides vision and direction to each CSM team as they ensure their assigned customers receive the value of their BlackLine subscription. The Director, Customer Success interacts with the RVP’s of the Account Management Teams, as well as the Geo VP’s of the Strategic, Enterprise and Mid-Market sales teams to design customer strategies to help accelerate the customer BlackLine journey. This individual works with the CTrO or VP of Customer Success to develop, communicate, and execute programs that will optimize the customer experience and are tied to BlackLine’s strategic objectives. The Director passionately champions leading practices and offers optimal solutions across BlackLine’s platform that are directly tied to customer expansion, reference, and reduction in churn, as well as, supporting new logo expansion. The Director also leverages their BlackLine expertise, their accounting, internal controls, and process improvement expertise, as well as their professional judgment to provide leading practices, insights, and deliverables. They guide the team through solving customers’ complex business challenges as well. Most importantly, the Director must be highly confident in the unknown as many customers require assistance in understanding their own processes before considering optimization with BlackLine. They should be able to help their team also navigate the unknown to provide optimal solutions. The Director should be a strategic storyteller and tie business challenges to quantitative and qualitative benefits that drives customer expansion. All facets of the Director role are designed to drive customers to BlackLine nirvana.

Roles and Responsibility (list in order of importance)

• Constantly synthesize and integrate customer and internal needs to evolve and challenge the CS model to ensure Customer Success is providing the highest possible value to BlackLine and its customers.
• Identify and drive messaging that makes compelling arguments for the adoption of BlackLine.
• Define, manage and direct delivery on a Customer Success program strategy specifically associated with a BlackLine onboarded customer segment(s), i.e. Strategic, Enterprise, Strategic, and Mid Market Accounts.
• Direct, manage and train all Managers of Customer Success.
• Assist with the hiring of all open Customer Success Manager positions.
• Lead and deliver special projects as assigned by the Chief Customer Officer.
• Direct the CTOps team on new reporting requirements to run the CSM team assigned.
• Lead team members as they assess current state process, propose potential solutions, and deliver optimized process transformations using the customer’s data to show the art of the possible adopting the full platform and to help customers unlock accelerated value from BlackLine solutions.
• Challenge the status quo approach diplomatically and design original, innovative solutions for common customer challenges and team with other Strategic Innovation Team members for complex challenges where no standard solution currently exists.
• Articulate value and benefits associated with optimized solutions.
• Leverage prior and current experiences and expertise to develop and deliver thought leadership to customers through webinars and other multi-customer events
• Design meaningful strategies and recommendations that directly impact and accelerate BlackLine Customers’ Digital transformation
• Coordinate across teams at BlackLine to enrich the customer experience and provide solutions to customer challenges
• Using professional judgment and expertise, offer opportunities where customers can provide their processes without written documentation; Review and analyze the processes and develop solutions (even when the customer is unsure of their process) based on personal experience and experience with other customers
• Engage with customer leadership and partner with SAM to understand the customers’ goals, objectives, and challenges and adapt our SIT offerings to support their needs
• Coordinate with BlackLine Partner Channel team as well as specific partners, as needed.
• Deliver actionable advice and expertise to customers regarding using BlackLine’s solutions as a foundational technology supporting their accounting innovation journey
• Maintain and elevate BlackLine knowledge as well as, other relevant domain knowledge that is imperative for advising customers on their Digital Transformation journey.
• Identify and communicate on “at-risk” customers and work with Account Owner and leadership to devise best approach
• Exhibit authentic energy for BlackLine solutions and the desire to motivate and engage our customers
• Other duties as assigned

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Required Qualifications
Years of Experience in Related Field:

• 8+ years’ experience in a customer-facing leadership role
• 5-7 years’ experience with BlackLine, a plus
• 12+ years’ domain experience in accounting, auditing and/or finance 

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Economics or Business Administration
Technical/Specialized Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Ability to quickly understand the vision and communicate clear actionable plans to the team and/or customer
• Excellent interpersonal skills and experience building relationships
• Strategic focus with actionable plans
• Ability to adapt to changing priorities, customer needs in high-pressure situations with poise, diplomacy and tact.
• Demonstrated confidence in dealing with the unknown. An ability to complete the puzzle without the final picture being available for reference.
• Highly skilled at problem solving and providing customer focused solutions
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships and trust with clients, while identifying and assessing client opportunity and risk
• Process-oriented mindset, with an aptitude for dissecting processes and delivering optimized solutions; Recognized process improvement skills and ability to architect multiple solutions with limited customer support/documentation
• Excellent listening and empathy skills: identify with the customer and want to help solve their business challenges
• Desire to be solution focused
• An intense customer focus, intellectual curiosity and ability to convert customer signals to a clear, concise story
• Ability to quickly grasp and distinctly explain technological and business concepts
• Excellent verbal and written professional/executive communication; Demonstrated value communication skills; succinctly tie customer challenges to actionable solutions that deliver value; Executive-level communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to effectively navigate and mediate conflict and foster honest dialogue
• Prioritization and time management skills
• Demonstrated strong presentation skills including content building and delivery in varied settings (live, recorded, webex, etc)
• Constantly elevate knowledge of BlackLine, current accounting practices, and changes in the industry
• Demonstrated advanced knowledge of BlackLine solutions to optimize processes
• Highly proficient subject matter expert of domain knowledge beyond BlackLine to support BlackLine customers’ journey.
• Self-motivated, proactive team player with a natural curiosity and passion for learning
• Passion for leading teams and developing talent

Preferred Qualifications

• CPA, CIA or related professional accounting certification

Working Conditions

• Ability to travel – 50% , sometimes internationally