Open to opportunities

Jonathan Davies

@jonathandavies

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Customer Success and Retention leader building growth, adoption, and satisfaction-driven SaaS teams.

United Kingdom

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What I'm looking for

I’m looking for a SaaS leadership role where I can build value-led Customer Success and Retention programs—aligning teams, processes, and analytics to drive adoption, measurable growth, and a culture that keeps customer and internal teams performing at their best.

I bring nearly 20 years of leadership experience in B2B SaaS across marketing, research, and mobile tech—specialising in building high-performing teams and processes that consistently exceed targets on retention, growth, adoption, and satisfaction. I enjoy challenges and focus on problem-solving that delivers tangible change, from day-to-day operations to long-term strategy.

In my current role as Head of Customer Success & Head of Retention (March 2025–Present), I’m embedding tools, processes, and people to drive proactive value for customers. I evolved Customer Success from a reactive support function into a strategic, value-led, commercially aligned team focused on adoption, retention, lead creation, and customer outcome mapping—contributing to GRR increasing from 86% (’23) to 89% (’25).

I also built a clearer CS operating model across high-touch, light-touch, and tech-touch segments, including time-bound onboarding journeys, email and in-app automations, CSAT & NPS surveys, and scaled engagement motions like webinars and new customer collaterals. On the account side, I reframed customer risk management beyond usage data by adding stakeholder coverage, success planning (mapping 100% of high and 1st year customer goals), and ICP scoring—then strengthened execution through coaching programs, automated customer management tools, and AI-driven solutions to meet SLA targets.

Previously, as Head of Customer Experience (Feb 2022–Jun 2024), I spearheaded the integration of Customer Success, Support, and Professional Services at AppFollow—leading 25 staff and overseeing the customer function (6.5M ARR). I created a health scoring methodology recognized with a 2023 innovation award from ChurnZero, helped hold churn at 92% GRR in a challenging market, rebuilt renewals to eliminate delayed renewals (15–20 per quarter to zero), removed a $50K MRR backlog, and created data-driven growth initiatives that drove 45% of total revenue growth from customers.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Head of Retention

Current

AppFollow

Mar 2025 - Present (1 year 4 months)

Led the Customer Success function to drive more proactive, value-led customer outcomes, then was promoted to Head of Retention after 6 months managing both Account Management and Customer Success. Increased GRR from 86% (2023) to 87% (2024) to 89% (2025) and built scalable CS engagement motions, risk management, and AI-driven customer engagement improvements.

Customer Success Customer Retention Account Management Customer Onboarding Adoption GRR Management CSAT NPS Email Automation SLA Management Stakeholder Management ICP Scoring Success Planning Webinars AI driven Solutions

Head of Customer Experience

AppFollow

Feb 2022 - Jun 2024 (2 years 4 months)

Spearheaded the integration of Customer Success, Support, and Professional Services, leading 25 staff and overseeing the customer function (6.5M ARR) to improve CX and customer/employee experience. Built a health scoring methodology (ChurnZero innovation award), redesigned renewals and customer growth processes, improved onboarding time-to-value (90+ to 30 days), and created an App Reputation Mana

Customer Experience Customer Success Integration Professional Services Health Scores ChurnZero Renewals Management Customer Growth Upsell Cross Sell Onboarding Time To Value Customer Satisfaction Customer Engagement

VP Customer Success

Brandwatch

Mar 2017 - Feb 2022 (4 years 11 months)

Oversee brand and agency operations for ROW, managing 27 staff and 300 accounts across scaling from 10M to 27M ARR, with a focus on customer experience, retention, and growth. Exceeded GRR and NRR revenue targets, redesigned the customer journey to improve time-to-value (2 weeks to 2 days), and led initiatives including internal success workshops and a competitor acquisition/migration.

Customer Success Customer Retention Revenue Growth GRR Management NRR Management Forecasting Customer Journey Design Time To Value Optimization Onboarding Customer Engagement Internal Success Programs Upsell Cross Sell Migration Planning

Customer Success Director, EMEA & APAC

Brandwatch

Feb 2015 - Mar 2017 (2 years 1 month)

Led Brandwatch’s EMEA and APAC Customer Success teams, managing the approach to account management and supporting large accounts. Built a UK CSM team (hiring 12 CSMs), introduced executive business reviews and social listening best practices, implemented Salesforce churn reason mapping, and rolled out global brands across multiple sectors.

Customer Success Leadership Account Management Team Building CSM Executive Business Review Social Listening Dashboards Salesforce Stakeholder Management Public Speaking

Customer Success Director

Pure360

Apr 2012 - Feb 2015 (2 years 10 months)

Joined the senior management team and led a team of eight account managers while managing a portfolio of 250+ brands and personally supporting the company’s top-grossing clients. Secured a £70K email revenue deal, created the “Actionable Insights Review” methodology, and re-established a strategic partnership with Return Path to support additional revenue streams.