Director, Customer Retention

Role overview

This opening is being handled on behalf of a partner employer, which will manage all applications and the remaining hiring steps. The partner is seeking a Director, Customer Retention in the United States.

This is a senior leadership position focused on designing and expanding a high-performing retention organization in a rapidly growing SaaS business. The role is centered on turning customer care and support into a proactive function that protects revenue and improves long-term customer value. You will lead the strategy and delivery of customer lifecycle programs that strengthen activation, lower churn, and increase customer lifetime value. Success in this role requires operational discipline, strategic leadership, and the ability to guide large distributed teams. You will work closely with Product, Customer Success, Support, Marketing, and Sales to create a smooth customer journey and drive ongoing value realization. The role has significant visibility and directly affects retention performance, revenue growth, and customer experience at scale.

Key responsibilities

• Direct and grow several customer care and retention teams that focus on proactive outreach, churn prevention, and helping customers realize value.
• Rebuild the customer care function into a more structured retention and de-escalation operation centered on protecting revenue.
• Create and implement retention frameworks, playbooks, and workflows that improve activation, reduce friction, and raise product adoption.
• Own the early customer journey so that new customers reach value within the first 90 days through organized onboarding and engagement efforts.
• Use behavioral and usage data to identify customers at risk and put proactive intervention plans in place to reduce churn.
• Work across Product, Customer Success, Support, Marketing, and Sales to improve the full customer experience.
• Turn insights from frontline customer interactions into product recommendations and broader business decisions.
• Define and monitor retention KPIs such as NRR, GRR, churn, activation milestones, and escalation resolution performance.
• Develop scalable operating models, SOPs, and forecasting approaches that improve visibility and predictability around retained revenue.
• Lead workforce planning, capacity modeling, and team design for retention operations.

Requirements

• At least 12 years of experience in customer success, retention, support, or lifecycle management in SaaS or fast-growing technology companies.
• At least 5 years of experience managing managers and leading large, multi-level customer-facing teams.
• Demonstrated success in improving Gross Revenue Retention and Net Revenue Retention through structured retention initiatives.
• Background in shifting reactive support or care teams into proactive, revenue-oriented retention organizations.
• Strong grasp of customer lifecycle measures, including activation, onboarding outcomes, and time to value.
• Experience creating de-escalation models, churn reduction initiatives, and early adoption programs.
• Solid operational capability in SOP creation, process improvement, and scalable service delivery design.
• Strong analytical ability with the skill to convert data into practical retention actions.
• Proven leadership and coaching ability with experience developing effective managers.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills across functions.

Benefits

• Competitive base pay of $114,000 to $194,000 per year.
• Flexible remote-first setup across global teams.
• The chance to build a retention organization from the ground up.
• A high-impact leadership role with direct influence on revenue retention and customer growth.
• A collaborative, fast-moving SaaS environment with strong alignment across teams.
• Access to modern tools, systems, and automation efforts that support better customer outcomes.
• A full benefits package, including healthcare and standard employee support programs, with specifics shared during hiring.
• Opportunities for career growth in a rapidly expanding global organization.

Additional information

The partner employer manages hiring decisions, including interviews, assessments, and final selection. Applications are reviewed through an AI-assisted matching process intended to rank candidates against the role’s core requirements and send a shortlist to the hiring company. The final hiring decision is made by the employer’s internal team.

Data privacy notice

By applying, you consent to the processing of your personal data for candidate evaluation and sharing relevant information with the hiring employer. This is based on legitimate interest and pre-contractual measures under applicable data protection laws, including GDPR. You may request access, correction, deletion, or objection rights at any time.

AI in hiring

AI tools may be used to assist with parts of the recruitment workflow, such as screening applications, reviewing resumes, assessing responses, or flagging inconsistencies in submitted materials. These tools support the recruitment team but do not replace human review. Final hiring decisions are made by people. If you want more information about data handling, you can contact the hiring team.