Manager, Customer Success (SMB)

Job description

ABOUT NOOKS.AI http://Nooks.ai: Nooks is an applied AI lab building the Agent Workspace for GTM. We design AI agents that operate across the full sales action set, from account strategy to prospect research and outreach. Building 0→1 has never been easier, but selling at the speed of the market remains the last frontier for AI. Our mission is to 10x every seller by automating the busywork so they can focus on what humans do best: closing deals. Today, over 1,500 customers run on Nooks, including Notion, HubSpot, Cursor, and Rippling. We’ve raised $70M+ from top VCs like Kleiner Perkins, which made its first sales-tech investment in over a decade with us. Since then, we’ve tripled ARR each year for 3 years running and grown a high-caliber team turning the art of sales into a scalable science. THE ROLE Our SMB segment is one of the fastest-growing parts of Nooks, and we're looking for a Manager of Customer Success to lead and scale the team behind it. Each CSM on this team owns a portfolio of ~150 accounts, running a high-velocity, scaled motion that spans onboarding, adoption, renewals, and upsells — all with a strong data-driven foundation. This role is for a builder and a coach. You'll be responsible for hiring and developing a team of SMB CSMs, designing the systems and playbooks that make the scaled motion work, and owning the team's retention and expansion performance. You'll set the standard for what great looks like — from how we use data to identify risk and opportunity, to how we run customer conversations at scale. This is a player-coach role. You'll carry a team quota and be close to the work — in customer escalations, in deal reviews, and in the metrics that drive the business. RESPONSIBILITIES Team Leadership & Development - Hire, onboard, and develop a growing team of SMB Customer Success Managers - Coach CSMs on the skills that matter most in a scaled motion: proactive outreach, data interpretation, commercial conversations, and efficient execution - Conduct regular 1:1s, call reviews, and performance conversations — translating metrics into clear development priorities for each CSM - Build a team culture that balances urgency, ownership, and continuous improvement Scaled Motion & Operations - Own and continuously improve the playbooks, workflows, and tooling that enable CSMs to manage 150 accounts each without sacrificing customer outcomes - Define and monitor the KPIs that matter: CDR, GRR, time-to-value, adoption rates, renewal conversion, and expansion pipeline - Use customer health data and usage analytics to build early warning systems that keep churn low and expansion high - Partner with RevOps to ensure the team has the reporting, tooling, and automation it needs to operate at scale Customer Outcomes - Serve as the senior point of contact for escalated customer situations, setting the standard for how complex issues are resolved - Drive a renewals process that starts early, is grounded in ROI, and consistently hits retention targets - Build cross-functional alignment with Sales on expansion motions, ensuring CSMs are identifying and progressing upsell opportunities within their book Strategy & Voice of Customer - Translate team-level patterns — churn signals, adoption gaps, friction points — into actionable product and process feedback for internal stakeholders - Partner with the VP of Customer Success on segment strategy, team structure, and capacity planning as the SMB business scales - Represent SMB customer needs in cross-functional forums, ensuring the scaled segment gets the resources and product investment it deserves REQUIREMENTS - 5+ years of Customer Success experience in B2B SaaS, with at least 2 years managing or leading a CS team - Experience with high-volume, scaled CS motions — you've managed teams handling large account portfolios and know what it takes to make that work operationally - Strong data literacy: you're comfortable pulling, interpreting, and acting on usage metrics, health scores, and retention analytics — and you coach your team to do the same - Proven track record of hitting or exceeding NRR/GRR targets as a team leader - Experience in the sales tech or outbound sales space is strongly preferred — you understand the world your customers operate in - Hands-on familiarity with CS tooling (Gainsight, Totango, ChurnZero, or similar) and sales tech (Outreach, Salesloft, HubSpot, Salesforce) - Excellent communicator — you can adapt from a coaching conversation with a direct report to a C-suite escalation call without breaking stride - A builder mentality: you're energized by creating structure where there isn't any, and you've shipped playbooks, processes, or programs that outlasted your direct involvement - Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, early-stage environment where priorities evolve and the playbook is still being written We offer competitive compensation because we want to hire the best people and reward them for their contributions to our mission. We pay all employees competitively relative to the market. On top of this, we offer equity, generous perks, and comprehensive benefits. EEOC Nooks is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce. We believe in providing equal employment opportunities to all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Nooks does not discriminate in hiring, promotion, compensation, or any other employment practices, and we are committed to ensuring a workplace that is free from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. We encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply and join our team. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT Nooks is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce. We believe in providing equal employment opportunities to all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Nooks does not discriminate in hiring, promotion, compensation, or any other employment practices, and we are committed to ensuring a workplace that is free from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. We encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply and join our team.