VP of Client Relationships

Cayuse

6h•Remote

About The Position

Cayuse is seeking a Vice President, Client Relationships to lead its strategic account organization and own renewals, account planning, and retained and expanded revenue from the existing customer base. This high-impact leadership role manages Customer Success Managers and Strategic Account Managers, carries an expansion quota, and is accountable for Gross Revenue Retention (GRR) and Net Revenue Retention (NRR). The VP serves as the customer's ultimate advocate and strategic advisor, guiding clients through platform optimization, expansion, and multi-year adoption lifecycles. The role calls for an executive-level relationship builder who can influence C-suite stakeholders, coordinate a broad internal matrix, and lead a team to measurable client outcomes. Responsibilities span team development, executive account governance, renewals and expansion, customer health and risk management, value realization, platform adoption, and cross-functional collaboration. The position requires travel of 30–50% for customer on-sites and executive reviews. Cayuse describes the work environment as remote.

Requirements

12+ years of experience in enterprise software sales, customer success, strategic client delivery, or key account management.
5+ years leading managers or multi-level, highly matrixed enterprise account teams, including hiring, coaching, and developing Customer Success Managers and Strategic or Key Account Managers.
Proven experience steering Tier 1 SaaS/cloud deployments, such as enterprise research administration, ERP, HCM, SCM, or financial suites.
Demonstrated record of meeting or exceeding GRR/NRR and expansion quota targets, and building customer health management programs.
Advanced executive presence, masterful negotiation, critical thinking, and communication skills, with a record of influencing C-suite decisions under pressure.
Understanding of global IT ecosystems, implementation lifecycles, global system integrators, and enterprise governance models.
Financial data literacy, including comfort with SaaS financial metrics, forecasting, data analytics, and performance KPIs.
Willingness to travel 30–50% for customer on-sites and executive reviews.
Comfort operating in a fast-moving environment where priorities, opportunities, and resource needs can shift.
Proficiency with CRM platforms; Salesforce is preferred.
Bachelor’s degree in Business, Information Systems, or a related technical discipline.

Nice To Haves

Experience selling into higher education, healthcare, research organizations, or similarly complex enterprise environments.
MBA or equivalent advanced degree.
Certifications such as MEDDPICC, Challenger, GAP Selling, PMP, or Workday Deployment Methodologies.
Familiarity with modern sales methodologies such as MEDDPICC, Challenger, and GAP Selling.

Responsibilities

Lead, coach, and develop Customer Success Managers and Strategic Account Managers; establish portfolio, coverage, and performance expectations.
Build the team’s hiring, onboarding, and career-development plans, and retain top talent.
Establish operating rhythms for account planning, forecast reviews, customer health reviews, and business-at-risk reviews.
Oversee tools and processes to optimize team reach and performance.
Serve as executive sponsor for the largest enterprise accounts and build trusted relationships with executive sponsors in Enterprise Research Administration.
Lead Customer Business Reviews, Steering Committees, and multi-year technology roadmap sessions focused on business outcomes and ROI.
Guide enterprise customers through platform and landscape updates, aligning their corporate strategy with Cayuse’s product roadmap.
Own GRR and NRR for the strategic account portfolio and carry an expansion quota for cross-sell, upsell, and renewal growth.
Own contract renewals, including forecasting, timing, pricing, terms, and negotiation, in partnership with Finance and Legal.
Build and manage the expansion pipeline with Revenue Operations, providing accurate leadership forecasts and maintaining CRM hygiene.
Lead escalations and recovery plans for Business-at-Risk accounts.
Ensure every strategic account has a documented plan covering goals, stakeholders, adoption, risks, and expansion opportunities; regularly review plans with the team.
Define customer health scoring and early-warning signals across adoption, engagement, support trends, and sentiment, and ensure the team follows playbooks for at-risk and expanding accounts.
Use account health reviews to drive renewal, risk, and expansion plans.
Partner with client business units after implementation to maximize feature adoption and subscription value.
Advise clients on operational readiness, change management, and governance best practices to sustain user engagement.
Establish, track, and interpret adoption and engagement metrics to proactively address customer friction points.
Coordinate Product Management, Delivery Consultants, and Elite Support teams to resolve escalations.
Capture client feedback, telemetry, and capability gaps and share them with Product and Engineering to influence the roadmap.
Contribute to go-to-market planning, including retention and expansion targets, coverage models, and pricing and packaging input.