Client Success Manager

Client Success Manager

Founded in 2018, Bakkt, Inc. is a regulated financial technology company building infrastructure for the future of finance. Bakkt's platform serves financial institutions, fintechs, and consumer finance products — providing the compliance, security, and scale required to deliver trusted financial services at a global level. Through its core business pillars, Bakkt powers institutional-grade trading capabilities, AI-enabled programmable finance, and cross-border payment infrastructure.

As a Client Success Manager (CSM), you will be part of the Client Success team, reporting directly to the Head of Client Success and Partnerships. This role serves as the bridge between clients and internal teams, facilitating communication to ensure the client's needs are effectively met. The role is organized around two core areas: client coverage and internal collaboration and coordination.

This role will have clearly scoped, well-supported responsibilities, and the Client Success Manager can expect to support many aspects of the client relationship, including growing client relationships. Success in this role will involve helping to assess client needs, following established priorities and processes, supporting alignment internally and externally, and keeping client information organized and up to date. Future opportunities may include expanding client relationships and driving sales growth.

Client Coverage

Externally, the CSM serves as a day-to-day point of contact for an assigned group of trading and payments clients, maintaining regular communication to understand their evolving needs and ensure they achieve value from Bakkt's product and/or services. The CSM will support the Client Success lead in preparing for and running quarterly business reviews (QBRs) for their assigned clients. They also help conduct onboarding sessions to guide new clients through setup and adoption, offer training to empower new users, and host frequent check-ins (e.g., weekly meetings) to review progress toward goals. When challenges arise, the CSM takes a proactive approach, addressing concerns promptly and working to prevent churn. They also demonstrate the product's return on investment (ROI) in partnership with the Head of Data & Analytics through detailed reports, ensuring clients see the value of their partnership.

Internal Collaboration

Internally, the CSM collaborates closely with sales, product development, and various support teams. A CSM will work with the sales & onboarding team during the client handoff process, ensuring a smooth transition from prospect to active client while fully understanding the client's goals and expectations. Additionally, the CSM provides product teams with valuable insights derived from client feedback, helping to shape features and enhancements that align with client priorities. Regular coordination with support teams ensures that client issues are resolved promptly and consistently, enhancing overall satisfaction.

The CSM's role requires a delicate balance between advocating for the client externally and aligning with the company's objectives internally. While they champion client needs, the CSM also manages expectations, ensuring requests are realistic and align with the company's capabilities. By effectively communicating client priorities internally and explaining company constraints to clients, the CSM fosters transparency and trust on both sides.

Key Responsibilities

• Client Relationship Management: CSMs are responsible for establishing and nurturing strong relationships with clients, including building trust and rapport, maintaining consistent communication, and acting as the client's advocate within the organization. By developing a deep understanding of the client's needs, CSMs ensure that clients feel heard and valued, fostering long-term partnerships.
• Goal Alignment: CSMs work closely with clients to align their business goals with the company's offerings. This includes understanding the client's objectives and creating tailored success plans that outline specific milestones and timelines. By doing so, they ensure that the client's desired outcomes are achieved effectively.
• Proactive Support: CSMs play a proactive role in monitoring client usage and health metrics. By analyzing key performance indicators, they identify potential issues or opportunities and address them before they escalate. They also regularly demonstrate the product's value to the client, ensuring the relationship remains strong and beneficial.
• Advocacy and Escalation Management: Acting as the voice of the client, CSMs represent client interests within the organization, ensuring that client needs are prioritized in product and service development decisions. They also help address client issues, escalating more complex concerns to senior team members to maintain trust and satisfaction.
• Upselling and Renewals: CSMs help identify opportunities for upselling and cross-selling additional products or services, flagging them to the wider team. They support client usage and contract renewals by helping demonstrate ongoing value and return on investment.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: CSMs work with the Sales Team to ensure a smooth handoff from sales to client success and share client insights with product teams to inform development. They also coordinate with support teams to deliver a consistent and unified client experience.
• Continuous Improvement: CSMs are committed to staying informed about industry trends, product updates, and competitive offerings. They use this knowledge to provide relevant insights to clients and refine their own workflows and best practices, ensuring they deliver the highest level of service.

Qualifications

• Strategic & Forward-Thinking: Driven by an optimistic vision for modern financial systems and eager to contribute to their evolution.
• Clear Communicator: Dedicated to transparent, articulate oral and written communication across all stakeholders.
• Agile Problem-Solver: Comfortable operating in ambiguous environments, quickly identifying bottlenecks, and implementing effective solutions.
• Feedback-Driven & Continuous Learner: Actively seeks and delivers constructive feedback while rapidly absorbing new concepts and adapting to shifting strategic goals.
• Proactive & Resilient: Maintains a high-energy, results-focused mindset to overcome challenges and advance organizational objectives.

Candidate Profile

• Passion and interest in the digital asset and/or payments industries and Bakkt's product/solution offering required.
• 2-3 years in client success management or a similar client-facing role, or a strong interest in starting a career in client success; startup experience a plus.
• Digital asset and traditional market infrastructure knowledge preferred (trading, clearing, settlement).
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and interpersonal skills.
• Analytical mindset with the ability to synthesize complex data and make data-driven decisions.
• Strong organizational and time management skills with the ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Experience working for a startup and in cross-functional teams.
• Experience using various Client Success Management and AI tools such as Claude, Hubspot, Jira, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.

Bakkt is devoted to having diversity in its workforce and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Bakkt does not make any employment decisions based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, veteran status, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by law. Must successfully pass a post-offer background check and drug screen.