Customer Success Titles and Responsibilities

The world of Customer Success is growing quickly, and with it comes a wide range of job titles and responsibilities. From Customer Success Managers to Strategic Account Directors, each role carries different expectations, career paths, and compensation ranges.

If you're unsure how these roles compare or where you fit within the Customer Success ecosystem, that’s no surprise. The variety of titles can be confusing, especially since responsibilities often overlap or change depending on the company.

Learning about the most common Customer Success titles, their key responsibilities, and typical salary ranges is essential for making informed career decisions. Whether you're just entering the field or looking to take the next step, understanding the landscape will help you identify opportunities and focus your development.

This guide will walk you through the most common roles in Customer Success, from entry-level to leadership. You'll learn what each role involves and how it contributes to a successful Customer Success strategy.

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Chief Customer Officer (CCO)

The Chief Customer Officer (CCO) is a senior executive responsible for leading customer-focused strategy across the organization. As the voice of the customer at the executive level, the CCO ensures that the company delivers consistent, valuable experiences that build long-term loyalty and retention.

Job description

The CCO role is highly strategic, with a focus on driving business growth by enhancing customer relationships. This leader works closely with the executive team to design programs that improve the end-to-end customer experience. Key responsibilities include developing loyalty initiatives, refining service models, and ensuring that employees are equipped to deliver on customer expectations.

Key responsibilities

Achieving revenue goals‍

The CCO uses a customer-first lens to influence revenue outcomes. They seek to balance what benefits the customer with what drives profitability for the business.

Solving customer problems‍

A critical part of the role involves identifying long-standing customer pain points and addressing them through internal collaboration. The CCO works to turn solutions into a competitive advantage.

Advocating for the customer across the business‍

The CCO ensures that the customer's perspective informs decision-making at every level of the business. This alignment helps improve customer lifetime value and overall satisfaction.

Ensuring consistency across touchpoints‍

Maintaining a unified customer experience is essential. The CCO leads efforts to align service, communication, and support across departments.

Average salary

According to recent data, the average salary for a CCO in the United Kingdom is £144,608 and ranges between £84,000 to £155,000. 

Customer Success Director (or VP of Customer Success)

The Customer Success Director, sometimes titled Vice President of Customer Success, is a senior leader responsible for managing the entire post-sale customer journey. From onboarding to renewal, their goal is to ensure customers achieve meaningful outcomes and maximize value from the company’s products or services.

This role requires strong leadership, strategic thinking, and the ability to collaborate across departments to drive customer satisfaction and retention.

Job description

Customer Success Directors oversee the vision, strategy, and execution of the Customer Success function. They lead teams, develop scalable programs, and ensure the organization is aligned around customer outcomes. Their work is crucial to reducing churn, increasing adoption, and supporting long-term revenue growth.

Key responsibilities

Developing Customer Success strategy‍

They define the vision, goals, and roadmap for Customer Success, aligning the function with overall business objectives.

Leading and scaling CS teams‍

They hire, coach, and manage Customer Success Managers and team leads to build a high-performing department.

Promoting customer-centric culture‍

By staying close to key stakeholders and decision-makers, they ensure that customer feedback and needs are heard and acted on across the company.

Overseeing onboarding and adoption‍

They ensure a smooth onboarding process and drive early product adoption to set customers up for long-term success.

Monitoring customer health‍

They use customer health scores, usage metrics, and sentiment data to identify risks and proactively address challenges before they lead to churn.

Driving cross-functional collaboration‍

They partner with sales, product, marketing, and support teams to ensure a consistent and customer-focused experience across the lifecycle.

Average salary

The average salary for a Customer Success Director in the United Kingdom is £106,215 per year, but typically ranges between £73,000 and £108,000. 

Customer Success Manager (CSM)

The Customer Success Manager (CSM) plays a hands-on role in building long-term customer relationships and driving retention. CSMs ensure that customers see value in the product, achieve their desired outcomes, and remain loyal over time.

This role bridges the gap between customers and internal teams, making it essential for renewal, expansion, and satisfaction.

Job description

CSMs are responsible for managing assigned accounts and guiding customers through their post-sale journey. They support onboarding, monitor adoption, address product-related concerns, and act as a trusted advisor. Their success is often measured by customer satisfaction, usage metrics, and renewal rates.

Key responsibilities

Building strong customer relationships‍

CSMs serve as the primary point of contact for their accounts. They develop trust, address questions, and maintain consistent communication to ensure customers feel supported.

Driving product adoption‍

CSMs help customers use the product effectively. This includes onboarding, feature education, and identifying areas where customers can get more value from their investment.

Becoming a product expert‍

To guide customers effectively, CSMs must deeply understand the company’s offerings. They act as advisors who can demonstrate capabilities, offer tips, and recommend best practices.

Collaborating across departments‍

CSMs coordinate with Sales, Support, Product, and Billing teams to resolve issues quickly and ensure a smooth, integrated experience.

Acting as the voice of the customer‍

CSMs surface customer feedback, pain points, and feature requests to internal teams (especially Product and Engineering), helping shape future development.

Focusing on retention and growth‍

Retention is a core responsibility. CSMs identify upsell opportunities, prevent churn, and ensure that the account is positioned for long-term success.

Average salary

The average salary for a Customer Success Manager in the United Kingdom is £50,678 per year but also ranges between £34,000 to £55,000. 

Customer Success Operations Manager (CS Ops)

The Customer Success Operations Manager plays a behind-the-scenes but critical role in enabling the Customer Success team to work at scale. This role focuses on improving internal processes, managing tools, and using data to drive performance and efficiency.

CS Ops also serves as a connector across teams, working closely with Sales, Marketing, and Revenue Operations to align strategies and improve the overall customer experience.

Job description

CS Ops Managers are responsible for operational excellence within Customer Success. They build and optimize processes, manage the team’s tech stack, and analyze data to support better decision-making. Their work ensures that the CS function is not just reactive, but proactive, scalable, and aligned with business goals.

Key responsibilities

Analyzing Customer Success data‍

CS Ops collects and interprets data related to customer health, product usage, and retention. These insights support strategic decisions, help diagnose issues, and guide process improvements.

Managing tools and workflows‍

They oversee the Customer Success tech stack, ensuring tools are configured correctly and scalable as the business grows. CS Ops also standardizes workflows and updates internal processes to boost team efficiency.

Forecasting and planning‍

CS Ops contributes to revenue and retention forecasting by identifying patterns in customer behavior. They help leadership plan strategies to improve outcomes across accounts and tiers.

Coordinating key customer touchpoints‍

This role helps orchestrate seamless onboarding, renewal, and success planning processes. By tracking product usage and customer lifecycle data, CS Ops supports adoption and helps prevent churn.

Average salary

The average salary for a Customer Success Operations Manager in the United Kingdom is £45,642 per year, but also typically ranges between £36,000 to £58,000. 

Onboarding Manager

The Onboarding Manager plays a key role in helping new customers get started with a company’s product or service. Their main goal is to ensure a smooth, structured onboarding experience that leads to early product success and long-term satisfaction.

This role sits at the intersection of Customer Success, Sales, Support, and Product. It requires strong communication, project management, and customer relationship skills.

Job description

Onboarding Managers guide customers through the early stages of their journey. They design onboarding programs, lead interactive sessions, and coordinate with internal teams to ensure that each customer is set up for success. Their efforts directly influence retention, product adoption, and customer satisfaction.

Key responsibilities

Creating and executing onboarding strategies‍

They develop structured onboarding plans that help new customers understand how to use the product, navigate key features, and achieve their goals.

Working with cross-functional teams‍

Onboarding Managers collaborate with Sales, Support, Product, and Customer Success to align efforts and deliver a consistent experience across teams.

Leading onboarding sessions‍

They conduct training sessions and walkthroughs to introduce customers to the product’s core value, best practices, and key features.

Providing hands-on support‍

Throughout onboarding, they act as a primary point of contact. They troubleshoot issues, answer questions, and ensure customers stay on track.

Measuring onboarding success‍

Onboarding Managers track customer progress and satisfaction using metrics and feedback. These insights help refine onboarding programs over time.

Representing the voice of the customer‍

They gather feedback from new customers and share it with internal teams to ensure the onboarding experience and product roadmap reflect real user needs.

Average salary

The average salary for an Onboarding Manager in the United Kingdom is £36,228 per year, but also typically ranges between £27,000 to £48,000. 

Customer Success Representative (CSR)

The Customer Success Representative is an entry-level role that serves as the first point of contact for customers. CSRs are responsible for supporting users, answering questions, and helping customers get value from the product early in their journey.

This role requires excellent communication skills, strong problem-solving abilities, and a deep understanding of how to deliver an exceptional customer experience.

Job description

CSRs guide customers through onboarding, assist with technical issues, and help build long-term relationships. Their goal is to ensure that customers are satisfied, supported, and successful from the very beginning. By advocating for customer needs and resolving problems quickly, CSRs play a key role in both retention and product adoption.

Key responsibilities

Providing customer support‍

CSRs respond to incoming questions, resolve basic issues, and ensure customers feel heard and helped throughout their experience.

Building customer relationships‍

They develop rapport with users, understand their goals, and act as approachable advisors who guide them through the customer journey.

Supporting onboarding and implementation‍

CSRs help new users get started with the product by guiding them through setup and explaining key features.

Collaborating with other departments‍

They work closely with teams like Sales, Marketing, and Product to ensure alignment and share customer feedback that could improve the product or messaging.

Monitoring customer health‍

CSRs track engagement metrics and satisfaction scores. They flag potential risks and identify customers who may benefit from more attention.

Escalating complex issues‍

When customer needs go beyond the scope of their role, CSRs escalate problems to managers or specialized teams to ensure fast and effective resolution.

Average salary

The average salary for a Customer Success Representative in the United Kingdom is £31,034 per year and ranges between £23,000 to £35,000.

Understanding the nuances of Customer Success salaries

Customer Success salaries vary widely based on several key factors. Whether you're negotiating a new role or benchmarking your current position, it's important to understand what influences compensation in this field.

Role and level of responsibility

Salaries often reflect the scope of the role. For example, executive positions like Chief Customer Officer (CCO) are compensated at a much higher level than entry-level roles like Customer Success Representative (CSR). Each title carries different responsibilities, seniority, and salary expectations.

Years of experience

Experience is a major driver of salary. Professionals with several years in Customer Success often command higher compensation due to their domain expertise, strategic capabilities, and proven results. Entry-level roles offer a lower starting point, but clear paths for growth.

Company size and stage

Larger organizations typically offer higher salaries, along with structured benefits packages and advancement opportunities. Smaller startups may pay less but offer more flexibility, broader responsibilities, or equity incentives. In early-stage companies, a CSM might manage both onboarding and renewals, whereas mature companies often segment these roles more distinctly.

Geographic location

Location has a significant impact on Customer Success compensation. Urban centers and tech hubs tend to offer higher salaries due to cost of living and competition for talent. Rural areas or smaller cities may fall below average ranges. The salary benchmarks in this article reflect UK averages and may differ based on your country or region.

Total compensation and perks

Base salary is only part of the picture. Many Customer Success roles also include bonuses, equity options, professional development budgets, health benefits, and flexible work arrangements. These perks contribute to your total compensation and should be considered during salary negotiations.

How to research compensation benchmarks

If you're looking for location-specific salary data, platforms like Glassdoor or Payscale can help. You can also connect with peers in your network to gain a better sense of market expectations in your area.

Understanding these salary drivers helps you make informed decisions about your Customer Success career. Whether you're negotiating a new offer or planning your next move, consider your role, experience, location, and the full scope of benefits available.

Conclusion

Customer Success covers a wide spectrum of roles, from entry-level positions such as Customer Success Representatives to senior executive roles like Chief Customer Officers (CCOs) and Customer Success Directors. Each role contributes to ensuring customer satisfaction, improving retention, and building long-term value.

Responsibilities and salary ranges vary based on factors such as experience, company size, and geographic location. Senior roles like CCOs and Customer Success Directors earn higher salaries due to their strategic leadership, while entry-level roles focus on execution and relationship building.

The Customer Success industry continues to grow and evolve. Staying informed about industry trends, best practices, and salary benchmarks will help you make smarter career choices and identify opportunities for advancement. With the right skills and mindset, you can position yourself to thrive in this dynamic and fast-growing field.