Director of Customer Success (Workday Product)

About the Role 

The Director of Customer Success – North America is responsible for leading and scaling the Customer Success function across the North American region, driving customer retention, adoption, advocacy, and long-term value realization across Kainos' Workday Products portfolio. 

Reporting to the Chief Customer Officer, the role leads a team of Customer Success Managers and is accountable for ensuring customers achieve measurable business outcomes, realise value from their investment, and remain engaged advocates of Kainos. The Director will partner closely with Sales, Professional Services, Support, Product, and Customer Operations to deliver a seamless customer experience and predictable retention outcomes. 

This is a strategic leadership role that combines people leadership, customer engagement, operational excellence, and commercial accountability. 

Key Responsibilities 

Customer Retention & Value Realisation 

• Own Gross Revenue Retention (GRR) and customer health outcomes across the North America portfolio. 

• Drive a proactive, outcome-focused customer success strategy that identifies and mitigates renewal and adoption risks early. 

• Ensure customers achieve measurable business value through structured success planning, executive engagement, and value realization programs. 

• Lead regional renewal readiness and retention planning in partnership with Account Directors and Customer Operations. 

Customer Success Leadership 

• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing team of Customer Success Managers. 

• Establish clear goals, performance expectations, and development plans aligned to business objectives. 

• Foster a culture of customer obsession, accountability, continuous learning, and collaboration. 

• Create succession plans and talent development pathways to support organizational growth. 

Customer Engagement & Advocacy 

• Build executive-level relationships with strategic customers across the region. 

• Sponsor key customer escalations and lead recovery plans where required. 

• Support the development and execution of Customer Advisory Boards, customer communities, advocacy programs, and executive briefings. 

• Act as a customer champion across the business, ensuring customer feedback influences product and service decisions. 

Operational Excellence 

• Drive consistent adoption of customer success methodologies, playbooks, lifecycle management processes, and customer health frameworks. 

• Leverage customer intelligence, health scoring, and data insights to prioritize investments and actions. 

• Partner with Customer Operations to improve reporting, forecasting, segmentation, and customer lifecycle management. 

• Use automation and AI-enabled capabilities to increase scale and efficiency while preserving customer outcomes. 

Cross-Functional Leadership 

• Partner with Professional Services, Support, Product, Sales, and Marketing leaders to deliver joined-up customer outcomes. 

• Align customer success activities with broader growth, expansion, and product adoption objectives. 

• Provide insight and recommendations to senior leadership on retention trends, customer sentiment, risks, and opportunities. 

What We're Looking For 

Essential Experience 

• Proven experience leading Customer Success teams within a SaaS, subscription, or product-led technology business. 

• Demonstrated success driving customer retention, adoption, and value realization at scale. 

• Experience managing managers and leading geographically distributed teams. 

• Strong track record of executive customer engagement and relationship management. 

• Experience implementing customer success methodologies, health models, and customer lifecycle frameworks. 

• Commercial understanding of subscription revenue, renewals, retention, and expansion motions. 

• Strong analytical and data-driven decision-making capabilities. 

Skills & Attributes 

• Customer-centric leader with a passion for delivering measurable outcomes. 

• Strategic thinker who can translate vision into operational execution. 

• Strong coaching and leadership capability. 

• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and influencing skills. 

• Comfortable operating in a fast-growing, evolving environment. 

• Highly collaborative with a bias for action and continuous improvement. 

Desirable 

• Experience within the Workday ecosystem. 

• Experience with customer success platforms such as Gainsight. 

• Knowledge of enterprise HR, payroll, workforce management, or compliance solutions. 

• Experience leading AI-enabled or digital customer success initiatives.