Senior Program Manager - Customer Success Operations

Job Summary

The Customer Success Operations Senior Program Manager is an experienced individual contributor responsible for leading and executing complex, high-impact operational programs across the Customer Success organization and its cross-functional partners. Reporting to the Customer Success Operations Senior Manager, this role operates with a higher degree of autonomy than a Program Manager, owning more complex program portfolios, driving strategic improvement initiatives, and providing informal guidance to less experienced team members.

The Senior Program Manager is a subject matter authority on how Customer Success operates, using that expertise to design better processes, elevate reporting quality, and drive cross-functional alignment across Global Tech Ops, Financial Services, Data Analytics, and Business Operations. This role is accountable for ensuring that the programs it owns deliver measurable outcomes and that the operational standards they produce are adopted, embedded, and sustained across the organization.

Key Responsibilities

Senior Program Ownership & Execution

• Own end-to-end execution of a portfolio of complex operational programs, managing scope, milestones, dependencies, risks, and deliverables with a high degree of independence.

• Lead programs that span multiple functions, regions, or workstreams, maintaining clarity on priorities and driving timely resolution of blockers and risks.

• Anticipate issues before they escalate; develop and execute mitigation plans and bring recommendations rather than just problems to the Senior Manager.

• Serve as a senior point of continuity for programs, ensuring context, history, and progress are well-documented and transferable.

• Contribute to the definition of program scope and objectives, not just execution of defined plans.

Process Design & Operational Standards

• Design, build, and improve core operational processes, playbooks, SOPs, and governance frameworks for assigned program areas, with a focus on scalability and long-term adoption.

• Identify patterns across programs and functions that point to systemic process gaps; propose and lead improvement initiatives that address root causes, not just symptoms.

• Ensure process documentation is accurate, accessible, and actively used rather than archived; lead periodic reviews to keep materials current.

• Act as a senior voice in shaping how Customer Success standardizes its ways of working, contributing to decisions that affect the broader team.

Reporting, Governance & Insights

• Produce high-quality operational reporting for assigned programs, including performance metrics, risk summaries, trend analysis, and actionable insights for leadership.

• Lead preparation of Monthly Operating Review (MOR) materials and other governance inputs, ensuring pre-reads are data-accurate, narrative-strong, and decision-ready.

• Identify opportunities to improve the quality, consistency, and efficiency of reporting across the team; bring recommendations to the Senior Manager.

• Track and drive cross-functional action items through to closure, maintaining accountability at the right levels and escalating delays with context and proposed resolution.

Cross-Functional Coordination & Influence

• Lead cross-functional working groups and coordination forums for assigned programs, driving decision-making, clear ownership, and follow-through.

• Build trusted working relationships with counterparts in Global Tech Ops, Financial Services, Data Analytics, and Business Operations; use those relationships to remove friction and accelerate outcomes.

• Represent Customer Success Operations credibly in cross-functional discussions, bringing both operational knowledge and strategic context to the conversation.

• Identify misalignments between functions early and work to resolve them proactively, escalating to the Senior Manager where needed.

Enablement & Team Contribution

• Develop and maintain onboarding materials, training content, and learning paths for CS roles, ensuring content reflects current processes, tools, and standards.

• Provide informal guidance and support to Program Managers on their programs, sharing expertise and helping less experienced team members develop their skills.

• Lead the rollout of new processes and tools within the team, including preparing enablement materials, running sessions, and tracking adoption.

• Contribute to the broader team's ways of working, bringing ideas for improvement and supporting a culture of continuous learning.

Customer-Facing & Executive Support

• Lead preparation of customer-facing reporting packages and QBR inputs for assigned programs, ensuring materials are consistent, data-backed, and aligned with agreed KPIs.

• Support CS leaders and SDMs in preparing for customer operational forums and executive briefings, providing accurate operational context and analysis.

• Contribute to operational updates presented at leadership and customer level as directed, with the ability to present independently where appropriate.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Operations, Information Technology, or a related discipline (or equivalent experience)

• 10+ years' experience in program management, operations, or service delivery roles within complex, matrixed organizations

• Demonstrated ability to independently manage complex, cross-functional programs from initiation through to closure with measurable outcomes

• Experience designing and implementing operational processes, governance frameworks, and reporting standards at scale

• Strong working knowledge of ITIL practices or structured service delivery frameworks

• Proficient in program tracking tools, reporting platforms, and productivity suites (e.g., Excel/Sheets, PowerPoint, project management tools)

• Strong written and verbal communication skills; experienced in preparing governance materials and presenting to senior stakeholders

• Comfortable operating with autonomy and making sound judgments in ambiguous situations

Preferred Experience

• Experience in transit, payments, public-sector technology, or high-availability managed services environments

• Familiarity with FinOps concepts, cost-to-serve analysis, or P&L reporting in a services context

• Exposure to CRM platforms (e.g., MSD CRM), service management tools (e.g., ServiceNow), or BI/data visualization platforms

• Experience supporting or operating within a Centre of Excellence (CoE) model

• Background working across NAM, EMEA, and APAC teams in a global organization

Personal Attributes

• Deeply organized: manages a complex program portfolio without losing precision on details, deadlines, or follow-through.

• Proactive and solutions-oriented: identifies risks and improvement opportunities early and brings structured recommendations to resolve them.

• Collaborative and credible: builds strong cross-functional relationships and earns trust through consistent, high-quality execution.

• Clear communicator: writes and presents with structure and confidence; adapts easily from working-level to executive audiences.

• Accountable and outcome-focused: takes ownership of results, not just tasks, and drives programs through to meaningful closure.