Customer Success Manager (B2B SaaS, Higher Ed)

Build Partnerships That Universities Wouldn’t Want to Lose

Help universities get more from Gecko by building trusted relationships, delivering real value and driving long-term growth!

Make Every Account Matter

Great Customer Success is not about keeping people happy on a quarterly call.

It is about understanding what matters to a partner, earning trust across the institution, proving value, spotting risk early and knowing when there is a genuine opportunity to grow the relationship.

That is what this role is.

As a Customer Success Executive at Gecko, you will own a portfolio of Higher Education partners across the UK and internationally. You will be responsible for their success, retention and growth, from day-to-day relationship management through to renewals, expansion and senior stakeholder conversations.

You will spend time with partners on campus, represent Gecko at sector events and build the kind of relationships that are difficult to create through a screen alone. You will also carry commercial responsibility, with clear ownership of renewal and expansion targets.

We are looking for someone who can combine strong account management with commercial confidence. Someone who understands complex organisations, can navigate multiple stakeholders and is comfortable moving from a success conversation into a commercial one when the opportunity is right.

What You’ll Actually be Doing

Own Your Partner Portfolio

• Take full ownership of a portfolio of university partners.

• Understand their goals, priorities, challenges, usage and future plans.

• Build trusted relationships with everyone from day-to-day users to senior sponsors.

• Create strong, multi-threaded relationships across departments and teams.

• Develop success plans and account strategies that connect Gecko to meaningful outcomes.

• Keep a clear view of partner health, risk and opportunity at all times.

Lead Renewals and Growth

• Own renewals from early planning through to agreement.

• Make sure partners can clearly see the value they are getting from Gecko.

• Identify opportunities to expand into new teams, departments and use cases.

• Lead expansion opportunities from discovery through to negotiation and close.

• Carry renewal and expansion targets and maintain an accurate pipeline.

• Run account reviews that connect partner outcomes to future opportunities.

• Keep Salesforce useful, current and honest.

Build Relationships in Person

• Visit partners regularly on campus across the UK.

• Use face-to-face time to deepen relationships and uncover what is really happening inside an account.

• Represent Gecko at Higher Education conferences, exhibitions and partner events.

• Travel internationally, including to the US, where partner needs and opportunities require it.

• Balance in-person and remote engagement in a way that works for each partner.

Make Things Happen

• Act as the main point of contact for your partners.

• Own issues through to resolution, bringing in the right internal teams when needed.

• Work closely with Commercial, Product, Support and Enablement.

• Deliver confident demos, account reviews, presentations and commercial conversations.

• Provide support cover where required, while keeping your focus on proactive account management and growth.

• Follow through. If you say you will do something, it gets done.

What Success Looks Like

In your first year, we would love to see:

• Strong retention and renewals completed on time.

• Expansion targets met or exceeded.

• A healthy, credible pipeline across your portfolio.

• Clear, well-managed account plans with no hidden surprises.

• Strong relationships across multiple levels within each institution.

• Partners using Gecko well and achieving meaningful outcomes.

• Regular, valuable face-to-face engagement.

• Confident account reviews that lead to clear decisions and next steps.

• Partners who trust your judgement and see you as someone who gets things moving.

Who You Are

• You have experience managing customer accounts in a B2B SaaS business.

• You have owned renewals, expansion or commercial growth.

• You are comfortable managing complex or strategic accounts with multiple stakeholders and longer decision cycles.

• You can build genuine relationships without losing commercial focus.

• You are confident talking about pricing, value, revenue and next steps.

• You know how to uncover an opportunity and progress it properly.

• You can lead meetings, demos, executive reviews and negotiations.

• You are organised, proactive and comfortable managing a portfolio, pipeline and regular travel.

• You ask good questions, listen properly and do not wait to be told what to do.

• You care about the wider team and will share what you know.

Experience in Higher Education or EdTech would be useful, but it is not entirely essential. We care more about your ability to manage complex relationships, deliver commercial growth and understand what matters to our partners.

A Word on Travel

Travel is a meaningful and regular part of this role.

You will spend time visiting university campuses across the UK, attending sector events and meeting partners in person. There may also be international travel, including visits to the US.

We are a remote-first company, but this is not a remote-only relationship role. You need to enjoy getting out, meeting people and building trust face-to-face.

And Why Gecko?

We build software that helps universities connect with and support students in ways that actually work.

More than 150 institutions around the world use Gecko across student recruitment, communications, events and engagement. We are a team of around 40 people, so your work will be visible, your decisions will matter and good ideas will not disappear into layers of approval.

You will get:

• Real ownership: You will be trusted to run your accounts and make decisions.

• Commercial impact: Your work will directly influence retention, expansion and growth.

• A 34-hour week: With flexible working and the option to compress your hours across four days.

• 33 days’ holiday: Plus the opportunity to work from another location through our Workation policy.

• Remote-first working: With a brilliant home office set-up, MacBook Pro and headphones of your choice.

• Proper benefits: Private healthcare, pension, life insurance, EAP and Perkbox.

• A small, ambitious team: Good people who are collaborative, direct and low on bureaucracy.

• Room to shape things: Customer Success at Gecko is evolving, and you will help influence what comes next.

• Connected virtual culture: We’re fully remote, but collaborative by default. Our virtual office is a big part of how we stay connected, solve problems quickly, and keep work feeling human.

Ready to Join the Gecko Team?

We're looking for someone who can build trust, lead commercial conversations and take real ownership of partner growth.

You will care deeply about partner outcomes, but you will not shy away from targets, negotiation or asking where Gecko could add more value.

If that sounds like you, we would love to hear from you!

You can find out more about working with us here ⬅️

A Note on Using AI in Your Application

At Gecko, we encourage thoughtful use of AI tools to strengthen your application, but authenticity matters.

Use AI to help organise or refine your thinking, not to invent experience or replace your own voice. We want to understand what you have actually done, how you think and what you could bring to Gecko.

For more on responsible AI use in job applications, visit our AI guidance page 👈

*Please note that we can only accept applications from UK-based applicants who already have a valid right to work in the UK.

**Agencies, we kindly ask that you read this Hiring Notice before getting in touch.