Job Description
Position: Customer Success Manager (SaaS, Higher Ed)
Location: New York
The short version
You like people. You like solving problems. You like being trusted to just get on with it.
As a Customer Success Manager at Gecko, you’ll own a portfolio of college and university customers and make sure they’re genuinely successful with our platform; not just renewing, but genuinely getting value from it.
You’ll build strong relationships, run renewals and expansions, support customers with day-to-day questions as part of broader account ownership, and spot opportunities before they turn into problems. You’ll be the person customers trust, and the person internally who actually knows what’s going on in their accounts.
You’ll be commercially aware and comfortable owning renewals and expansion conversations, without losing sight of what’s best for the customer.
Internally at Gecko, this role is called Customer Success Executive (CSE).
Working pattern
- This role works broadly in line with East Coast hours, so we’re looking for someone based in the Eastern or Central time zones.What you’ll actually be doingOwning customer relationships
- Being the main point of contact for a group of universities, from onboarding onwards.
- Getting to know your customers properly: their goals, pressures, politics, and pain points.
- Running regular check-ins, reviews, and QBRs that are genuinely useful, not just going through the motions.
- Visiting customers on campus at least once a year, and more often where it adds value. Keeping customers with us (because they want to stay)
- Owning renewals end to end; planning ahead, showing value, and keeping things on track.
- Watching usage and engagement so you can spot risks early and do something about them.
- Making sure customers feel supported, heard, and confident in what we’re building. Growing accounts in a sensible way
- Taking ownership of retention and growth across your accounts, including identifying and progressing expansion opportunities.
- Spotting where Gecko could add value across teams, departments, or use cases, and being confident opening those conversations.
- Leading expansion conversations from discovery through to close.
- Running demos and account reviews that connect outcomes to product value and commercial impact.
- Keeping Salesforce up to date so account history, risks, and opportunities are easy for others to follow. Supporting customers day to day
- Acting as a first point of contact for customer issues, owning them through to resolution with support from the wider team, not as a ticket-only function.
- Balancing reactive support with proactive account management (yes, we know that’s a skill). You’ll know you’re doing well when…
- Customers renew on time and don’t need chasing.
- They’re actually using the platform - and telling us (and others) why it’s valuable.
- You’ve built relationships where people are open and honest with you.
- Risks don’t come as a surprise.
- Your accounts are well-run, well-documented, and calm most of the time. This role is probably for you if…
- You’re comfortable with commercial responsibility and understand how retention and expansion drive a SaaS business.
- You’ve worked in an account manager or client-facing role in SaaS, Higher Ed, or something similar.
- You’re comfortable balancing customer advocacy with commercial ownership.
- You’re confident running meetings, demos, and reviews with different types of people.
- You’re curious by default; you ask questions, dig into problems, and keep learning.
- You like owning things and don’t need someone checking your homework.
- You’re organised enough to juggle multiple accounts without dropping the ball.
- You’re happy to travel within the US for customer visits and sector events, and very occasionally to the UK. And why Gecko?
We build software that helps universities better engage and support students, and we care a lot about how we work while doing it. We value ownership, pace, and people who get stuck in without creating unnecessary process.
- At Gecko, you’ll get:
- Work-Life Balance: 33 days of holiday and flexible working.
- Remote first: Home office setup, Mac Book, and headphones of your choice.
- Work from elsewhere: Our workation policy gives you flexibility to work away from home at points through the year.
- Comprehensive…
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