Todd Jacobsen
@toddjacobsen
Customer Success leader transforming post-sale chaos into measurable retention and growth.
United StatesWhat I'm looking for
I’m a Customer Success executive with 25+ years of progressive experience across enterprise SaaS and global technology platforms, spanning commercial, enterprise, and public sector environments. My career is defined by taking reactive, under-structured post-sale operations and turning them into disciplined, high-performing CS teams with clear accountability, scalable operating rhythms, and measurable retention outcomes.
I’m known for building the systems and playbooks that improve customer health, renewal readiness, and expansion performance at scale. I coach CSMs across the full experience spectrum—from early-career reps building foundational skills to seasoned ICs strengthening customer instincts—and I ensure teams operate with operational rigor and shared cross-functional alignment.
As Head of Customer Success for a private-capital SaaS platform, I built Customer Success, Professional Services, and Support from the ground up and modernized a reactive culture into a scalable, revenue-generating post-sale organization. Within the first year, I drove GRR from 75.6% to 91.2% and NRR from 75.1% to 97.5%, while maintaining Support First Response SLA above 85% and Time to Resolution above 95%. I also designed and launched a 5-point strategic initiative framework, and built an AI-powered Risk Management dashboard using Claude to synthesize signals from Salesforce, Jira, Slack, Confluence, email, and industry news into early-warning risk insights.
Previously, as Global Director, Account Escalation Management at Forcepoint, I transformed a reactive escalation program into proactive, account-level risk management—leading a global team of 20 CSMs and TAMs with managers across North America, EMEA, and India. I reduced attrition in escalated accounts by 58%, achieved 63% faster defect resolution, and earned 100% program satisfaction scores. Across roles at Zendesk, Citrix, Salesforce, Marketo, SuccessFactors (SAP), and Siebel/Oracle, I’ve repeatedly built save-and-growth motions, health scoring and governance frameworks, and structured escalation programs that protect revenue and strengthen long-term customer outcomes.
Experience
Work history, roles, and key accomplishments
Head of Customer Success
Asset Class
May 2025 - Present (1 year 2 months)
Recruited to build and lead Customer Success, Professional Services, and Support for a private-capital SaaS platform serving institutional investors and asset managers. Transformed a reactive post-sale culture into a scalable organization, improving GRR, NRR, and support response/time-to-resolution performance while implementing risk management, playbooks, and billable services.
Built and led a global account-level escalation and risk management function from a previously reactive tech-support model. Coached a global team of CSMs and TAMs to implement proactive portfolio reviews, cross-functional recovery plans, and executive visibility, reducing attrition in escalated accounts and improving defect resolution speed.
Led global risk management, strategic escalations, and CX governance for Zendesk’s enterprise customer base. Built save-and-growth and health scoring motions, managed escalations end-to-end, and partnered with CSMs and Sales to improve renewal readiness and expansion identification during organizational change.
Drove customer success strategy and cloud adoption for enterprise and public sector accounts during Citrix’s shift from on-premise licensing to SaaS and cloud delivery. Increased SaaS/cloud adoption and led executive business reviews and QBRs, connecting adoption milestones to measurable business outcomes during major platform transition.
Transformed an internal red account program into a customer-facing critical accounts escalation model for the most highly escalated enterprise relationships. Built a first-of-its-kind customer-facing program across product lines, led multi-team resolution, and launched proactive milestone management using health scores to stabilize at-risk accounts.
Director, Critical Accounts
Marketo (Adobe Marketo Engage)
May 2014 - Aug 2015 (1 year 3 months)
Launched Marketo’s first company-wide escalation management and critical-accounts recovery program. Defined escalation criteria, ownership models, and repeatable intervention processes to coordinate rapid cross-functional recovery and executive engagement.
Managed global escalation management for SuccessFactors’ cloud HCM platform during post-acquisition integration with SAP. Led structured interventions to reduce attrition risk and protected recurring revenue while maintaining strong executive relationships through regular business reviews and measurable recovery milestones.
Served as a trusted technical advisor for mid-market and enterprise customers, focusing on platform health, adoption, and long-term technical success. Provided governance and configuration/admin guidance through structured technical success reviews and proactively surfaced adoption risks ahead of renewal and expansion conversations.
Sr. Principal Technical Account Manager
Jun 2000 - Apr 2011 (10 years 10 months)
Led senior technical account relationships across Siebel CRM and through Oracle’s acquisition, providing enterprise technical leadership for multi-year customer engagements. Managed platform architecture, integrations, and production stability while maintaining customer confidence during the Siebel-to-Oracle transition.
Education
Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework
University of New Hampshire
Bachelor of Arts
Earned a B.A. from the University of New Hampshire. Field of study is not specified.
MIT Management Executive Education
Mastering Design Thinking, Design Thinking
Completed MIT Management Executive Education in Mastering Design Thinking. The program focus was design thinking.
Tech stack
Software and tools used professionally
Availability
Location
United StatesAuthorized to work in
Job categories
Skills
Interested in hiring Todd?
You can contact Todd and 90k+ other talented remote workers on Himalayas.
Message ToddGet matched with your dream remote job
Sign up now and join over 250,000+ remote workers who receive personalized job alerts, curated job matches, and more for free!
