Customer Success Manager - Core (Sales & Service) Clouds (Chicago)

To get the best candidate experience, please consider applying for a maximum of 3 roles within 12 months to ensure you are not duplicating efforts.Job CategoryCustomer SuccessJob DetailsAbout SalesforceSalesforce is the #1 AI CRM, where humans with agents drive customer success together. Here, ambition meets action. Tech meets trust. And innovation isn’t a buzzword — it’s a way of life. The world of work as we know it is changing and we're looking for Trailblazers who are passionate about bettering business and the world through AI, driving innovation, and keeping Salesforce's core values at the heart of it all.Ready to level-up your career at the company leading workforce transformation in the agentic era? You’re in the right place! Agentforce is the future of AI, and you are the future of Salesforce.The Customer Success Manager (CSM) is a versatile expert responsible for ensuring high-value customers who purchase the Signature Success Plan achieve a significant return on their investment with our platform. This role functions as an extension of the customer’s workforce and a trusted advisor, providing guidance and advice to customer organizations. The CSM is responsible for identifying and addressing both technical and business concerns, aligning them strategically with customer priorities, projects, and problems.We are looking for candidates who have experience supporting customers in one or more of the following industries:Technology Media Telecommunication (TMT) – Works with technology companies, telecommunications providers, media organizations, and high-tech firms to accelerate innovation, improve customer success outcomes, and drive platform adoption at scale (Direct experience with Media Cloud strongly preferred).This is an Individual Contributor position.Your ImpactCustomer Accountability and Value AlignmentServe as the single point of customer accountability responsible for the delivery of all Signature deliverables, the overall customer experience, and renewal and expansion.Coordinate all deliverables the customer is entitled to, overseeing the experience throughout the Signature lifecycleApply the correct processes to address customer needs and ensure value is delivered through the Signature offer.Successfully align with and manage both Business and Technical Stakeholders, focusing on aligning Business Value and Technical Goals to the Signature offer.Prioritize the most urgent work activities, organize tasks to avoid missing key steps, and create basic plans to focus time, taking responsibility for assigned tasks.Use internal resources to increase effectiveness and rely on managers or mentors for guidance on priority problems.Conduct enablement sessions on opportunity and case management, forecasting, pipeline hygiene, knowledge creation, and omni-channel routingShare best practices for sales and service process optimization, data quality, and customer experienceStrategic Advisory and Stakeholder ManagementDrive adoption of Sales and Service Cloud features with reps, agents, managers, supervisors, and ops teamsTrack usage metrics (opportunity updates, activity logging, forecast submissions, report usage, case resolution times, knowledge article usage, channel adoption, and CSAT scores)Develop and maintain strong relationships at key stakeholder levels, including cultivating executive-level relationships within customer IT and business leadership.Act as a trusted advisor by gaining trust through mutual goals, understanding the customer’s business model, and applying proven solutions to their problems.Solidify partnership commitments and drive innovation aligned with customers' business challenges.Increase customer engagement with products and services and identify major political barriers to customer success.Partner with more experienced team members to solve complex problems and develop strategic success plans when needed.Conduct quarterly reviews of feature usage to drive adoption of tools like Journey Builder or Commerce Promotions, ensuring platform stability and performance.Identify underutilization of contracted entitlements (e.g., messaging volume or GMV tiers) and align platform features with customer priorities to increase throughput.Technical Health, Adoption, and Risk ManagementAI Literacy: Proficiency in using AI agents to automate routine tasks such as meeting summaries, QBR data collection, and initial health monitoring.Prompt Engineering Basics: Ability to use natural-language commands to guide AI agents in retrieving accurate customer data and generating first drafts of success plans. AI Engagement Monitoring: Using AI-driven sentiment and intent analysis to flag early customer concerns for human intervention. Collaborative Learning: Actively seeking out Agentblazer training and certifications to stay current on autonomous agent capabilities.Learning & Development: Apply product knowledge and expertise to address technical concerns, use this knowledge to ask effective diagnosis questions , and align platform features with customer priorities and roadmaps.Proactively monitor and conduct quarterly reviews, identify trends, and provide tailored release recommendations to ensure stability, performance, and feature enhancement.Serve as the primary interface for major incidents (e.g., checkout failures or email deliverability drops) to protect peak revenue.Forge strong multidisciplinary relationships with Sales, Engineering, and Product Management to lead and coordinate customer relationships for success and revenue opportunities.Form a clear plan for client engagements, communicate clearly and proactively with collaborators, and keep the customer goal central to decision-making.Escalate complex automation, data model, routing, or integration questions to technical resourcesMinimum RequirementsExperienced business professional, preferably with 3+ years of relevant industry expertise in Customer Success, Salesforce, SaaS platform use, or related fields. Strong consulting skills and demonstrated ability to drive business value, facilitate discussions, handle objections, and influence C-level conversations.Possess industry-relevant expertise and begin honing skills in a relevant functional area. Should understand the broad impact of the industry on the customer’s business.Excellent communication skills to articulate technical issues to diverse audiences and the ability to translate technical concepts into business terms.Actively seek out relevant learning activities, approach obstacles as growth opportunities, and seek experienced mentors to accelerate personal developmentCloud/Platform Requirements: Along with the above. 3-4 years experience supporting customers using Sales Cloud and Service Cloud.Working knowledge of core features:Sales Cloud: Leads, Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, Forecasting, Reports & DashboardsService Cloud: Cases, Knowledge, Queues, Service Console, Omni-Channel routingUnderstanding of Sales (lead-to-cash, opportunity management, pipeline management) and Service (case management, escalation, SLA management) processes.Familiarity with Sales Cloud automation (workflows, process builder, flows for sales processes) and Service Cloud automation (email-to-case, web-to-case, case assignment rules, macros)Ability to demonstrate Lightning Sales/Service Console and mobile appKnowledge of common sales (territory management, lead assignment, opportunity stages) and Services (case deflection, knowledge management, multi-channel support) use cases.Preferred RequirementsSales Cloud Consultant and Service Cloud Consultant certificationsAdditional Salesforce product certifications are a plus (AI Associate, Administrator, Advanced Administrator, Platform App Builder, Data 360 Specialist, Agentblazer).Experience with Einstein for Sales (lead scoring, opportunity insights, activity capture) and Service (case classification, article recommendations, next base actions).Understanding of how Sales Cloud integrates with marketing automation and service tools and how Service Cloud integrates with telephony, chat, messaging, and self-service portals.Note: this role is office-flexible, and the expectation is to be in-office a minimum of three (3) days per week.Unleash Your PotentialWhen you join Salesforce, you’ll be limitless in all areas of your life. Our benefits and resources support you to find balance and be your best, and our AI agents accelerate your impact so you can do your best. Together, we’ll bring the power of Agentforce to organizations of all sizes and deliver amazing experiences that customers love. Apply today to not only shape the future — but to redefine what’s possible — for yourself, for AI, and the world.AccommodationsIf you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please submit a request via this Accommodations Request Form.Please note that Salesforce uses artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help our recruiters assess and evaluate candidates’ resumes and qualifications throughout the recruiting process. Humans will always make any candidate selection and hiring decisions. Please see our Candidate Privacy Statement for more information about how we use your personal data and your rights, including with regard to use of AI tools and opt out options.Posting StatementSalesforce is an equal opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non-discrimination with all employees and applicants for employment. What does that mean exactly? It means that at Salesforce, we believe in equality for all. And we believe we can lead the path to equality in part by creating a workplace that’s inclusive, and free from discrimination. Know your rights: workplace discrimination is illegal. Any employee or potential employee will be assessed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications – without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, transgen