Customer Success Manager

Guidewheel | No comp given

Steph's Notes:

This is a rare case in which you can actually *see* which roles a company deems valuable and which they don't, because some roles on Guidewheel's Careers page have salary transparency and some don't. It's actually pretty funny, in an uh-oh kind of way.

There seems to be a misalignment between the duties of the role and its title (and probably salary, too, but we don't know what that is, sooooo.)

I thought this was probably otherwise okay until we hit the "Personal Characteristics" section, which was just one red flag after another. Not to mention the "What's In It For You?" section contains no actual benefits, and we've got ourselves a BINGO.

Original Job Description: Customer Success Manager

THE COMPANY

Guidewheel is on a mission to empower all the world’s factories to reach sustainable peak performance. Inspired by the simple, universal truth that every machine on the factory floor has a power cord, our plug-and-play FactoryOps platform makes the power of the cloud accessible to any factory. Guidewheel clips onto any machine to turn its real-time “heartbeat” into a connected, actively learning system that empowers teams to reduce lost production time, increase throughput, and perform better and better over time.

At Guidewheel we work with the factories that are the backbone of our economy, and you can have a real, on-the-ground impact right away. We have strong momentum and alignment around our mission, investor support, and a culture that values diversity, growth mindset, and results. And the tight link between our mission and our business model means that reaching more of the world’s 10 million factories accelerates our positive impact on the planet.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Guidewheel is entering an exciting phase of growth, and Customer Success is vital to our long-term mission and vision. We will not be successful unless our customers are receiving massive value from the Guidewheel platform. The Customer Success Manager will play a critical role in launching and supporting customers in North America to drive usage and value from Guidewheel.

This role requires exceptional customer-facing communication through remote technology (we support our customers remotely), the ability to quickly understand a customer’s business, and comfort explaining technology products to all types of users.

What you’ll do:

• Guide customers to value
  
  • Own the customer relationship and success. For 15-40 Guidewheel customers in the USA, you are the owner who will drive success through initial onboarding, product adoption, retention, and identifying value-add new features. You will work cross-functionally with a team of technical account managers and implementation specialists to ensure our customers are successful, and at the end of the day responsibility for the customer’s success is yours.
  • Deeply understand the objectives of the factories we work with and be a trusted right-hand advisor to the teams using Guidewheel
  • Work with the Guidewheel team and customers to repeatedly define, drive, and demonstrate the value (ROI) delivered by the Guidewheel platform
• Define and optimize the customer journey
  
  • Work with the team to define exactly what onboarding + ongoing support from Guidewheel should look like including training, best communication touch points and new release updates
  • Represent the voice of the customer to inform our sales & support process and product roadmap
  • Manage direct + regular customer communication across users
• Own customer experience, renewals, and upsells
  
  • Enable successful roll-out of Guidewheel to users across the factory as an essential business tool, leading trainings both virtually and in person
  • Own contract renewals, growth, and upsells for customers by understanding their business needs and helping them succeed
  • Identify opportunities for customers to act as Guidewheel advocates (e.g. testimonials, case studies)
  • Set clear expectations and provide support to ensure a positive experience for customers at every level

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Direct SaaS Customer Success experience, with world-class results guiding customers to operationalize technology and quantify results.
• Excellent interpersonal, analytical, and communication skills, with the ability to work with all stakeholders within the factories that we serve including but not limited to operations leaders, factory managers, engineers, and maintenance teammates.
• Extensive experience personally managing high-level customers, including executive presence and effectiveness interacting solo with C-level audiences.
• The ideal candidate will have direct experience within a startup, building many aspects of a successful startup “Customer Success engine,” including ideal customer profiles and buyer personas, implementation, customer onboarding, training, customer retention, team recruiting, learning and development, compensation plans, CRM and reporting systems, expansion pipeline and reports, and scalable processes.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

• Thoughtful *and* fast. Understands that speed is a competitive advantage and always strives to hit their goals 10x faster than expected.
• Results-driven with bias for action and commitment to excellence. Self-directed, rolls up the sleeves and engages in all activities with a sense of urgency. Gets it done on time, every time. Extremely organized with excellent attention to detail.
• Thrives in a fast-paced environment of constant change. Manages numerous time-sensitive priorities simultaneously and rigorously. Positive, resilient and constantly seeking candid feedback to improve. Listens to and considers alternatives. Makes decisions.
• Customer obsessed and constantly upleveling. Always seeking to learn more about and care better for our customers. Constantly pushing for the root cause and true “job to be done” to improve the product in ways that drive customer results. Easily moving between details—when they matter—while also upleveling the conversation to connect to strategic business priorities and help us find the most elegant solution.
• Entrepreneurial and driven - wants to be part of a fast growing SaaS company, set high standards, and deliver world-class results, demonstrating flexibility and adaptability as needed in a startup environment. Evidence of extreme drive, looking for a challenge and committed to winning as a team.
• A team builder, team player and leader who creates loyalty, trust and following. Collaborative attitude and desire to contribute outside primary areas of responsibility. Inspires others and is highly respected.

WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU?

• Grow with a team that believes developing talent is important, and is building that as a core strength of the company from day one.
• Be a leader in the organization, leading the way for future hires and mentoring junior team members as they join.
• Have influence and impact on the full customer journey.
• Work with a team of world-class talent.

THE LOCATION

Anywhere! Guidewheel is a distributed team and our expectation is to remain 100% remote-first for the foreseeable future. For this role, you’ll be working with a team on North American time zones.