Senior Client Success Manager - Chicago

This position will consist of remote work and client site visits within the Chicago metro area.

PURPOSE  

This position on the client success team is focused on our managed tier of clients. The senior client success manager will- 

• Serve as the primary client contact for assigned set of Ascend's mid-tier client base.   Provide coordination between the client and our operations team and owns the overall client success and satisfaction. 
  
  

Responsibilities  

The primary responsibilities of the Senior Client Success Manager include:  

• Provide Senior Level Account Management for assigned clients: 
• Develop consistent long-term partnerships with customers to ensure mutual success and value realization.  
• Understand short and long-term customer goals and objectives and recommend technical solutions and/or Ascend services. 
•  Work with the appropriate team members to coordinate the planning, design, and systems engineering work necessary to build and address client requirements. 
• Communicate, and report on issue resolution serving in the “communicator role” as part of the Major Incident Process  
• Engage assigned accounts on an ad-hoc basis and on a defined schedule for status updates, operational review, growth discussion, and relationship building.  
• Identify and communicate systemic issues to the operations team for remediation and resolution.  
• Understand business needs and requirements of existing clients and help turn goals into projects and proposals. 
• Maintain structured account plans that detail short- and long-term IT plans to include the construction and ongoing maintenance of a technology roadmap for each assigned client. 
• Act as the primary client liaison on behalf of Ascend. 
• Work with clients to renew contracts ahead of termination dates and align to latest service agreement templates with use of sales calculators.   
• Communicate, and report on issue resolution and billing or agreement questions from assigned clients.   
• Drive the development/enhancement of Ascend methodologies, processes, and approaches to enhancing the client experience.  
• Stay current with the Ascend service line offerings utilizing the latest Marketing and Sales tracks. 
• Able to connect and communicate with key executives at each client with the purpose of representing the Ascend value story to ensure the client relationship remains healthy. 
• Provide operational oversight to assure service delivery quality and compliance with contractual commitment. 
• Able to manage c-Level expectations displaying a level of business acumen with this level of the leadership team. 
• Collaborate with security and operations teams to ensure clients’ assets are protected. 
• Optimize the client's technology spend (CAPEX and OPEX) considering the overall growth, investment and profitability goals by participating in the annual budget cycle with the client. 
• Serve as the technical translator to the non-technical audience relaying the business impact for making (or not making) certain technology investments. 
• Working efficiently to track hours against client agreements to maintain agreement profitability.  
• Participate in internal account reviews with the Ascend executive team- biannually 
• Ability to stay up to date with the latest technology trends. 
• Schedule and facilitate XBRs with each client. 
• Own the 70% response rate for the client NPS. 
• Contract management- business level discussions to manage expectations of what is and is not included in the agreements. 
• Other Responsibilities as assigned by management. 
  
  

Minimum Skills, Education, And Experience  

• Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, MIS, Business, or similar degree. 
• 4 total years of progressively responsible roles relating to technical services and client-facing in the consulting or managed services industry. 
• Strong analytical, problem solving, and quality experience. 
• Excellent organizational, verbal, and written communication skills that encompass various levels of people.  
• Effective communication skills to be able to work with clients and present to C-level executives. 
• Thoroughly and accurately understand issues and analyze the problem in a systemic fashion. 
• Situational awareness- Ability to know when it's time to escalate, time to push harder for either the client or Ascend. 
• Technical aptitude to facilitate a project and/or support the conversation on a technical topic with engineers to ensure the anticipated outcome is achieved. 
• A professional of high integrity and follow through. 
• Strong time management skills, self-directed.  
• Able to work efficiently in ServiceNow, Salesforce and Microsoft suite solutions to include SharePoint.  
  
  

Preferred Skills, Education, And Experience  

• Experience estimating project work and cost. 
• Base understanding of infrastructure and application development technologies, including Microsoft Operating Systems, O365, VMWare and Citrix virtualization technologies, networking knowledge, storage and backup solutions, anti-virus programs and experience supporting third-party applications. 
• Strong negotiation skills to assist with vendor management situations on behalf of the client as well to help move the technology agenda forward. 
• CCIO, CISM, ITIL 4 MP, CITP, CEGEIT, Lean six sigma, PMP, CDP 
  
  

Starting Salary: $88,000/year

At Ascend Technologies we firmly believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion are not only fundamental values but also powerful drivers of innovation, growth, and success. We are committed to fostering an environment where every individual feels valued, respected, and empowered. 

CORE VALUES 

We are seeking highly motivated individuals who have the willingness and ability to demonstrate Ascend core values:   

• Committed to Client Success: Our actions and our words always align with the best interest of the client. 
• One Team: We work collaboratively to overcome challenges with humility and respect and do what it takes to find innovative solutions. 
• Integrity: We are unquestionably committed to doing the right thing even when it is hard. 
• Accountability: We hold ourselves and each other accountable for keeping our commitments to our clients, our communities, and one another. 
• Transparency: We create open lines of communication with each other and our clients, fostering relationships founded on candor and trust.