Strategic Customer Success Manager

Summary

Join Ably as a Strategic Customer Success Manager and become a trusted advisor to our most valuable enterprise technology customers, ensuring their long-term success and growth. You will own a portfolio of strategic accounts, build strong relationships, and maximize their experience with Ably’s products. Your work will directly impact retention, expansion, and customer advocacy. Day-to-day responsibilities include building partnerships, driving commercial growth, orchestrating success across teams, becoming a product expert, and guiding team members. You will leverage deep knowledge of Ably’s platform, guide customers, and stay current on industry trends. As a senior team member, you’ll guide and coach your peers in strategies for customer expansion and retention. Ably offers a remote-first and flexible work environment with various benefits.

Requirements

• Proven experience managing enterprise or strategic accounts in a Customer Success capacity, with a track record of driving retention and expansion in high-value portfolios
• Strong commercial acumen with experience in contract negotiations, understanding of SaaS pricing models, and ability to build compelling business cases that demonstrate ROI
• Experience working with technical products and developer-focused platforms, with the ability to engage credibly with both technical teams and business stakeholders
• Experience working with enterprise technology companies as customers, understanding their unique challenges, buying processes, and decision-making structures
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills, with the ability to influence and build relationships at all organizational levels, including C-suite executives
• Strategic thinking capabilities with strong analytical skills, enabling you to identify growth opportunities and design impactful account strategies
• Experience collaborating across Sales, Product and Engineering teams to orchestrate complex customer engagements and drive successful outcomes

Responsibilities

• Build and nurture partnerships with our strategic accounts. You'll manage a focused portfolio of high-value enterprise customers, developing deep relationships with key stakeholders and decision-makers. You'll lead regular business reviews, align Ably's capabilities with their strategic initiatives and act as a partner on business and technical challenges
• Drive commercial growth. You'll proactively identify, unlock and close expansion opportunities, understand pricing and packaging strategies, and work to maximize net revenue retention. You'll develop a deep understanding of customer use cases, presenting art-of-the-possible scenarios, and demonstrating how Ably can support their needs
• Orchestrate success for our customers across teams. You'll partner closely with Sales, Product and Engineering to ensure successful implementations, renewals and expansions. You'll act as the central point of coordination and be a champion for your customers, ensuring internal alignment to deliver exceptional outcomes
• Become a product expert. You'll leverage deep knowledge of Ably’s realtime platform to guide customers through successful implementation and growth. You’ll stay current on developer trends, best practices and the modern technology landscape to position Ably as their preferred partner
• Guide and coach members of your team. As a senior team member, you’ll work across the customer organisation, you’ll guide and coach your peers in strategies for customer expansion and retention. Your approach, opinion and results will be integral to driving success strategies for Ably customers, regardless of segment

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct experience with real-time messaging, streaming, or API infrastructure products
• Experience in a high-growth technology company where you've helped scale Customer Success operations and methodologies

Benefits

• A remote-first and flexible work environment
• Equity. We’re a growing start-up and we want all team to members to share in the success of the company through our EMI share options programme
• Enhanced holiday allowance. Our policy provides Ablyans with 28 days of paid annual leave (27 regular days, plus a day off to enjoy your birthday)
• Enhanced parental leave package, so that you can take the time you need to get to know your new family member, rest and recover
• Home workstation budget of £500 on joining (and £150 p/a thereafter), so that your home office is set up to serve you well and that you have everything you need to work comfortably
• Personal learning and development budget of £1000 annually, and 5% L&D time during working hours to focus on improving your skillset
• Private healthcare with BUPA
• Medical cash plan to cover a range medical and dental costs
• Mental wellbeing coaching and counselling from Self Space
• Monthly wellbeing budget via Juno
• Life assurance and income protection
• Access to Tech & Cycle to Work schemes
• Weekly snack allowance for our end-of-week “Need To Know” meeting
• A fully-paid one-month sabbatical after five years with Ably