Manager, Customer Success

We believe in the power and joy of learning

At Cengage, our employees have a direct impact in helping students around the world discover the power and joy of learning. We are bonded by our shared purpose – driving innovation that helps millions of learners improve their lives and achieve their dreams through education.

Cengage's Higher Education business, Cengage, supports learning and student success by providing materials and digital solutions to faculty and students enrolled in two-year, four-year and vocational programs. We currently serve more than 10 million of the 18 million students in US higher ed. Setting a new standard of service for our customers, we deliver quality, easy-to-use course materials from textbooks and eBooks to courseware such as MindTap and WebAssign. In the US, we offer Cengage Unlimited and Cengage Unlimited for Institutions. We help instructors be better teachers, we help institutions solve problems and we empower students to leverage the power and joy of learning to transform lives.

Our culture values inclusion, engagement, and discovery

Our business is driven by our strong culture, and we know that creating an inclusive workplace is absolutely essential to the success of our company and our learners, as well as our individual well-being. We recognize the value of diverse perspectives in everything we do, and strive to ensure employees of all levels and backgrounds feel empowered to voice their ideas and bring their authentic selves to work. We achieve these priorities through programs, benefits, and initiatives that are integrated into the fabric of how we work every day. To learn more, please see https://www.cengagegroup.com/about/inclusion-and-belonging/.

What you'll do here:

As the Manager, Customer Success, you will play a strategic and hands-on leadership role in shaping the customer experience across our digital learning platforms. You will lead a team of Customer Success Specialists who serve as trusted advisors to educators, librarians, and institutional partners throughout the customer lifecycle—from initial engagement and pre-sale consultation to onboarding, training, and long-term support.

This role is central to our mission of empowering educators and learners through innovative digital solutions. You will work closely with regional Sales Managers to align customer success initiatives with sales goals, ensuring that our platforms are not only adopted but embraced by users. Your team will be instrumental in demonstrating product value, driving engagement, and ensuring that customers achieve their desired outcomes.

You will also support and drive the implementation and scaling of customer success strategies that support our ELT, HED, and Gale businesses. This includes training frameworks, monitoring customer health metrics, and implementing proactive engagement plans to reduce churn and increase satisfaction. Your leadership will help ensure that every customer interaction reflects our commitment to excellence, innovation, and partnership.

This is a highly collaborative role that requires cross-functional coordination with Sales, Marketing, Product, and Technical Support teams. You’ll need to be both a strategic problem solver and a tactical executor—capable of inspiring your team, optimizing processes, and delivering measurable results in a fast-paced, evolving environment.

Key Accountabilities:

People Leadership

• Lead and inspire a team of Customer Success Specialists, fostering a culture of customer-centricity, collaboration, and performance excellence.
• Set clear expectations, manage performance, and support professional development to build a high performing, engaged team.
• Attract, retain, and develop top talent while promoting a positive and inclusive team environment.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Product, and Technical Support to ensure a seamless and consistent customer experience.

Pre-Sales Support

• Partner with Sales Managers to support digital sales efforts by aligning customer success activities with sales strategies.
• Guide the team in demonstrating platform capabilities, supporting onboarding conversations, and contributing to deal closure.
• Provide actionable insights into customer needs and feedback to inform sales approaches and product development.

Post-Sales Enablement & Adoption

• Be responsible for the delivery of effective onboarding and enablement plans to ensure customers are confident and successful in using Cengage digital products.
• Support and implement scalable training frameworks, resources, and success plans to drive sustained usage and engagement.
• Monitor customer health and proactively address adoption challenges or satisfaction concerns to reduce churn and enhance retention.
• Support the execution of seasonal customer engagement programs, such as Back-to-School initiatives, in collaboration with Marketing.

Analytics & Reporting

• Track and analyse customer usage data, health metrics, and feedback to identify trends, risks, and opportunities.
• Use data to inform strategy, optimize team performance, and enhance the customer experience.
• Provide regular reporting on customer outcomes, engagement, and success metrics to internal partners and senior leadership.

Skills you will need here:

• Minimum of 5 years of experience in Customer Success, Account Management, or related roles within the EdTech, SaaS, or publishing industries.
• At least 2 years of experience managing teams, with a proven track record to lead, coach, and develop high-performing individuals.
• Strong understanding of the Higher Education, English Language Teaching (ELT), and/or academic library markets is highly desirable.
• Understand how customer needs and challenges translate into opportunities.
• Demonstrated expertise in digital learning tools, customer lifecycle management, and strategies to drive user adoption and engagement.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Experience with Salesforce, customer success platforms, or Learning Management Systems (LMS) is highly desirable.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PowerBI

Travel Requirements:

• The post holder might be required to travel within the assigned territory as well as outside of the assigned territory on occasion. Travel may also take place over weekends. The post holder must possess a valid passport for travel.

Other

• The post holder will be fluent in spoken and written English (other languages desirable)
• Hold a current valid driver’s licence.

Cengage is committed to working with broad talent pools to attract and hire strong and most qualified individuals. Our job applicants are considered regardless of any classification protected by applicable federal, state, provincial or local laws.

Cengage is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities including during our job application process. If you are an applicant with a disability and require reasonable accommodation in our job application process, please contact us at accommodations.ta@cengage.com.

About Cengage

Cengage, a global education technology company serving millions of learners, provides affordable, quality digital products and services that equip students with the skills and competencies needed to be job ready. For more than 100 years, we have enabled the power and joy of learning with trusted, engaging content, and now, integrated digital platforms. We serve the higher education, workforce skills, secondary education, English language teaching and research markets worldwide. Through our scalable technology, including MindTap and Cengage Unlimited, we support all learners who seek to improve their lives and achieve their dreams through education.