Principal Customer Success Manager - ACI Worldwide

Job Purpose

The Customer Success Team is at the heart of ACI customer experience. From initial onboarding to ongoing roll-out, adoption, and expansion, we guide ACI Customers through their payments journey while ensuring they achieve their desired outcomes. We understand our customers' goals as a trusted advisor and recommend solutions to the challenges they face.

The Principal Customer Success Manager (Principal CSM) guides customers through their journey, ensuring they feel supported, informed, and confident. The Principal CSM will be responsible for maintaining and growing revenue for a large book of business that includes high value, strategic accounts. Principal CSMs focus on building customer loyalty and developing close, long-term client relationships. They are responsible for ensuring that customers are successful in using our products and services.

Principal CSMs success metrics align with the success of our customers. Senior CSMs constantly seek ways to maximize the value customers derive from our offerings. This role develops strong connections with the customers, understanding their unique needs, pain points, and aspirations. The role also works closely with internal parties to maintain and grow customer relationships including customer support, solution consulting, data center operations, sales, onboarding, finance and leadership. Reporting to the Director of Customer Success, Principal CSMs play a crucial part in ensuring our customers' satisfaction and long-term success. Beyond the initial sale, Principal CSMs champion ongoing value. Principal CSMs educate customers on new features, best practices, and industry trends. By demonstrating how ACI's solutions evolve to meet their changing needs, Principal CSMs foster loyalty and long-term partnerships.

A successful Principal Customer Success Manager at ACI will demonstrate consistent growth/predictability in their assigned book of business. Moreover, they will create brand advocacy within the client base, positively influence ACI's market reputation, and utilize their knowledge and client feedback to influence ACI's P&L. A Principal CSM is an individual who is recognized as a thought leader in the payments industry and/or segment vertical both internally (within ACI) and externally (in the segment).

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

• Responsible for growing revenue for a book of business that includes, top tier, strategic accounts and/or has direct impact on ACI's P&L and market reputation
• Demonstrates consistent growth/predictability in assigned book of business
• Drive success for ACI customers with fast, simple, and secure payments, from around the world.
• Consult customers on their journey to optimize their payments program through adoption/renewal/expansion of ACI solutions.
• Communicate/negotiate commercial and high-level technical interactions to deliver positive outcomes.
• Understand customers' business challenges and industry trends to consult on how ACI can support their objectives and influence their roadmap.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to customers establishing, maturing, and executing their payment strategies.
• Function as a customer's single point of contact with ACI, while coordinating/collaborating within ACI teams to deliver on customer commitments and experience.
• Maintain accuracy of customer data in internal systems (e.g. Salesforce, Gainsight) required to support audit functions and provide a holistic view of the customer.
• Build/execute account plans in a self-directed manner and within segment strategy.
• Influence segment strategy by synthesizing account level ground truth into actionable insights.
• Develops deep relationships with decision makers of key accounts, creating brand advocates.
• Has proven track record of creating brand advocates
• Maintain accurate revenue forecasting.
• Acquire, manipulate, and analyze payment data, identify trends, and conduct follow-up research to solve or address issues identified.
• Advocate for customer's needs and collaborate with internal teams to ensure customer satisfaction.
• Negotiate contract renewals through successful execution with clear close plans with a view to customer retention and revenue growth.
• Meet and exceed ACI primary objectives for revenue recognition, revenue growth, and customer retention
• Identify upsell and cross sell opportunities and work with sales teams to expand account value
• Recognized as a thought leader in the payments industry and/or segment vertical both internally (within ACI) and externally (in the segment)
• Understand and adhere to all corporate policies to include but not limited to the ACI Code of Business Conduct and Ethics.

Education / Certifications

• BS/BA degree or equivalent experience
• Minimum of ten years of related experience.
• Experience in payments required; experience in vertical preferred
• Externally recognized expert level Payments/Vertical knowledge

Skills and Other Abilities

• Ability to present and facilitate discussions with payments decision makers and working teams
• Successfully integrated with and proficient presenting to C-Suite/ Board level
• Successfully presents to/for industry events/panels
• Self-starter who works well independently and in a team.
• Ability to negotiate complex, high value contracts, including renewals
• C-suite presence, both internally and externally
• Leading strategic meetings
• Resolution of complex scenarios, requiring alignment of internal and external stakeholders
• Solves complex problems and generates ideas to enable customers to succeed and grow their assigned book of business; additionally generates ideas to optimize the CSM Function and/or ACI Solutions, to benefit the ACI corp. strategy
• Self-directed planning & interactions with some direction on complex issues
• Ability to build and utilize internal network
• Consistently & successfully navigates ambiguity and creates clarity in ambiguous situations

Work Environment:

• Standard Office Environment.
• Work From Home / Full or Partial Telecommuting.

Physical demands:

Majority of time spent on PC. - -