Principal Customer Success Executive - Manufacturing Vertical

About the role

This senior individual contributor role within the Customer Excellence Group (CEG) carries full accountability for the commercial health and strategic growth of a portfolio of high-value US Manufacturing accounts. You will operate with the ownership mentality of a general manager at the account level, driving customer outcomes, retention, and expansion through proactive risk management, downsell prevention, and expansion motions.

Responsibilities

• Own account-level commercial performance: drive GRR, NRR, and renewal outcomes through proactive risk management, downsell prevention, and expansion motions.
• Engage at the executive level as a strategic advisor: build and maintain trusted relationships with C-suite and senior IT stakeholders in manufacturing enterprises.
• Co-develop digital transformation strategies with customer executives, positioning ServiceNow as the strategic platform partner for modernization and AI agendas.
• Translate customer strategy into a ServiceNow roadmap: map enterprise priorities—modernization, cost-out mandates, AI ambitions—to a phased ServiceNow roadmap that connects platform capabilities to measurable business outcomes.
• Run complex transformations in our largest accounts: own governance, delivery excellence, and cross-functional orchestration across multiple business units and concurrent workstreams.
• Tell the story through data: deliver compelling executive presentations—both internally and to customers—that articulate the value of ServiceNow through data-driven narratives.
• Drive AI consumption and platform adoption: own AI consumption as a strategic KPI within your accounts; design and execute adoption journeys that convert license entitlements into measurable business outcomes, with a focus on emerging agentic capabilities.
• Set success metrics and drive value realization: establish clear, measurable success metrics with each customer; regularly review progress, proactively identify risks, and refine business transformation plans to ensure milestones are met and value is realized.
• Champion the voice of the customer: synthesize industry-specific feedback, feature requests, and adoption blockers into structured input for Product Engineering and roadmap prioritization; stay current on manufacturing industry trends, regulatory environments, and digital transformation priorities shaping your accounts.
• Operationalize customer health at scale: define and manage operational KPIs for your portfolio—adoption, technical health, renewals, customer satisfaction, and expansion; deliver regular reporting on customer health, adoption trends, downsell risk, and advocacy pipeline; leverage AI-enabled tools and platforms to automate insights and drive proactive outreach.

Qualifications

• Experience: 10–15 years in management consulting, enterprise SaaS, senior customer success, or technology-enabled business transformation roles.
• Strategic account ownership: demonstrated experience operating as the primary post-sales customer success executive—owning commercial outcomes, adoption trajectory, and renewal health; drive long-term commercial strategy with a deep understanding of how to grow and protect strategic relationships.
• Transformational leadership expertise: demonstrated success running large-scale, strategic account transformations and exceeding business objectives; proven ability to build repeatable processes for scalable execution while maintaining a hands-on approach to ensure critical tasks are completed.
• Business acumen: exceptional commercial instincts; think in portfolio economics, understand the interplay between adoption, consumption, and revenue, and translate customer outcomes into business impact narratives that resonate with Finance, Sales leadership, and executive sponsors.
• Executive presence and C-suite engagement: proven ability to engage at the C-suite level—both with customers and internally; direct experience partnering with CIOs and senior IT executives to co-develop digital transformation strategies; bring gravitas, credibility, and the ability to influence without relying on positional authority.
• Data storytelling: ability to translate complex adoption metrics, value realization, and portfolio performance into executive-level narratives that drive decisions.
• Cross-functional collaboration: strong track record building productive relationships across Sales, Presales, Delivery, Product, and Enablement in matrixed, fast-paced environments; lead through influence, not org-chart authority.
• Customer centricity and industry awareness: deep understanding of how manufacturing enterprises operate, what drives their priorities, and where friction lives; orient around the customer’s outcomes—anticipate concerns, remove barriers to satisfaction, and ensure every interaction reinforces ServiceNow’s position as a trusted partner.
• Platform knowledge: experience overseeing technical account health—adoption telemetry, integration health, platform upgrades, and solution expansion; background with AI/ML platform products or driving AI adoption programs is a significant differentiator.
• AI driven: experience leveraging or critically evaluating how to integrate AI into work processes, decision-making, or problem-solving (e.g., using AI-powered tools, automating workflows, analyzing AI-driven insights, or exploring AI’s potential impact on the function or industry).
• Educational background: BA/BS or equivalent required; MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• Adaptability and travel: ability to thrive in a high-velocity, high-accountability environment; willingness to travel domestically to strategic customer sites as required.