Customer Success Manager

Higher Education Technology (SaaS)

About the Role

We’re looking for a high-performing Customer Success Manager to drive customer adoption, value realisation, retention, and long-term strategic success across higher education institutions in South Africa and the SADC region.

This is a strategic customer leadership role — not a first-line support or helpdesk position. You’ll work closely with senior institutional stakeholders, including Vice Chancellors, Registrars, CIOs, Deans, Rectors, and ICT Directors, to ensure the platform is aligned with each institution’s strategic objectives and digital transformation priorities.

The ideal candidate brings strong expertise in higher education, enterprise software/SIS environments, strategic account management, and executive stakeholder engagement — acting as a trusted advisor while driving satisfaction, adoption, retention, expansion, and advocacy.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the strategic point of contact for key higher education institutions across South Africa and the SADC region
• Build and maintain strong relationships with senior stakeholders, including Vice Chancellors, Registrars, CIOs, Deans, Rectors, and ICT Directors
• Develop and execute Customer Success Plans aligned with each institution’s strategic objectives
• Conduct Executive Business Reviews (EBRs) and Strategic Success Reviews with customer leadership teams
• Drive customer adoption, utilisation, and value realisation of the platform
• Monitor customer health, success metrics, and institutional outcomes to proactively identify risks and opportunities
• Ensure high customer retention, renewal, satisfaction, and long-term partnership growth
• Identify expansion and upselling opportunities in collaboration with Sales teams
• Provide strategic advisory support on student lifecycle management and digital transformation initiatives
• Present customer insights, usage analytics, ROI, and value reports to executive stakeholders
• Act as the bridge between customer strategy and internal Product, Implementation, Support, and Development teams
• Coordinate resolution of escalated strategic customer issues (operational support remains with dedicated Support teams)
• Capture customer feedback and advocate for product enhancements and roadmap improvements
• Develop customer champions, reference institutions, success stories, and community engagement initiatives across the SADC region
• Participate in higher education conferences, user groups, advisory boards, and strategic customer engagement activities
• For Director level: Build and lead the Customer Success function, establish scalable frameworks and processes, mentor Customer Success Managers, and define regional customer success standards and performance metrics

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Information Systems, Education, Education Technology, or a related field
• Master’s or postgraduate qualification advantageous
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in customer success, account management, enterprise software, or a similar customer-facing role
• Experience working with higher education institutions or public sector clients
• Experience in SaaS, ERP, SIS, or enterprise software environments
• Experience managing strategic customer relationships and senior stakeholders
• Certifications in Customer Success, IT Service Management, or Account Management advantageous

Skills

• Strong understanding of higher education operations, processes, and governance
• Strong knowledge of Student Information Systems (SIS) and Education ERP platforms
• Understanding of student lifecycle processes — admissions, registration, examinations, graduation, alumni management
• Strategic account management and customer success skills
• Excellent executive stakeholder management and relationship-building skills
• Strong commercial acumen — retention, renewals, expansion, upselling
• Excellent presentation, facilitation, and business communication skills
• Strong negotiation, conflict resolution, and problem-solving abilities
• Ability to influence stakeholders without direct authority
• Strong cross-functional collaboration and leadership skills
• Ability to analyse customer health, adoption, utilisation, and success metrics
• Excellent strategic thinking and decision-making abilities
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English
• Familiarity with South African and SADC higher education environments
• Additional language skills advantageous

Key Performance Indicators

Customer retention and renewal rates · Net Revenue Retention (NRR) · CSAT · NPS · Product adoption and utilisation rates · Customer health scores · Expansion and upsell revenue · Executive engagement frequency and quality · Growth in customer advocacy and reference accounts

Background Screening Conducted

• Two character references
• Criminal check
• Fraud check
• Education verification
• Pep & Sanctions – Person of interest
• ID/Passport/Visa/Work Permit verification
• NBI brain profiling