VP, Customer Sucess

Alethea•Washington, DC

3d•$150,000 - $360,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Alethea is hiring a VP of Customer Success to take our client/account management function out of its 0-1 build phase and into a scaled, senior-led discipline, with a specific mandate to deepen our credibility and win rate with the communications, corporate affairs, and public affairs buyer. You'll inherit a working operating CS model built over the last year, and your job is to professionalize it, train and enable the CSMs on it, and personally own the C-suite relationships that make or break our renewals and expansion. This is a builder's role. You should have scaled a customer success function in an emerging market or category-creating company. You thrive in the early stages of standing something up – creating structure where there's ambiguity, and shaping a function as it grows rather than inheriting one that's already fully built. You're passionate about our customers and energized by driving this function forward, out in front of them as much as behind a dashboard

Requirements

10+ years in customer-facing leadership roles (customer success, account management, or client services), including building / scaling a category defining company beyond just implementing a playbook at a mature company in a well defined market.
Experience and comfort as a player / coach. You’ll own key accounts, but you’ll also get the opportunity to train, mentor, and teach others to lead.
Deep, credible experience with the communications, corporate affairs, or public affairs buyer – ideally from working inside, or selling into, comms/PR, issues management, crisis communications, or corporate reputation functions. Can walk into a room with a CCO, Chief Public Affairs Officer, or Head of Issues & Crisis Management and hold your own.
Demonstrated experience managing C-level relationships and high-stakes, high-visibility accounts.
Curiosity – have the humility to ask questions of everyone to learn the context you’ve never had to think about before.
Have fire in the belly – you want to be out meeting customers, not just managing dashboards from behind a desk, and you're energized by building a function from scratch rather than maintaining one that already runs itself.
A run toward the fire attitude – comfortable in running toward the problem, figuring out how to build and scale a company. If you like finding and organizing the chaos, leaning into ambiguity to define the goals for your team and lead the organization through execution, this role is a great fit.
Strong communicator with high EQ – someone who builds trust, navigates ambiguity and complexity, and handles high-stakes situations with calm and clarity.
Willing to raise your hand, speak up, and spot / solve problems proactively – a skilled operator who keeps trains running on time, sees around corners, and ensures flawless execution across a growing team, not just a single book of business.

Nice To Haves

Spent time in strategic communications consulting, a PR agency, or a broader consulting/advisory environment.
Experience in narrative intelligence, threat intelligence, social listening, or a related security/comms-adjacent SaaS or managed-service category.
Familiarity with the comms/PR industry ecosystem and its practitioner networks (e.g., IPR, the Arthur W. Page Society, PRovoke, PRWeek).
Experience managing a book that spans both SaaS/technology accounts and managed-service/advisory accounts side by side.

Responsibilities

Scale the Function: Upskill and train the team, Recruit and promote the right talent, Enable the organization to act, Leverage technology.
Own the Comms / Corporate Affairs Buyer Relationship: Serve as primary senior point of contact for comms-led accounts, Educate and counsel on product adoption, operationalization, and leveraging the Alethea solution, Own key customer relationships.
Coach & Mentor the Team: Coach and develop junior and mid-level CSMs, Build training and enablement.
Retention, Expansion & Risk Management: Own the renewal motion and expansion pipeline, Run the early-warning system.
Cross-Functional Leadership: Close the loop between customer feedback and Product/Engineering, Partner with sales and marketing.

Benefits

Salary and stock options are negotiated based on experience.
Total compensation range for this position is $150,000 to $360,000 (base+commission) per year.
Eligible for a stock option grant.
Healthcare at the gold-tier level, dental, and vision is fully funded by the employer.
50% of dependent coverage is provided by the employer.
Employer provided life and AD&D insurance.
Employee Assistance Program with a variety of services, including generous Mental Wellbeing support.
Flexible vacation, sick leave, including office closure between Christmas and New Year’s.
Employer sponsored 401k, after their 6-month anniversary, with a 3% match.
Health Savings (HSAs) and flexible spending accounts (FSAs) are also offered.