Partner Success Manager

Smarsh | Sales/Customer Success/Key Account Management | SaaS and digital communications compliance

Remote In-Country

Full Time

South Africa

450k - 550k ZAR/yr

Who are we?

Smarsh empowers its customers to manage risk and unleash intelligence in their digital communications. Our growing community of over 6500 organizations in regulated industries counts on Smarsh every day to help them spot compliance, legal or reputational risks in 80+ communication channels before those risks become regulatory fines or headlines. Relentless innovation has fueled our journey to consistent leadership recognition from analysts like Gartner and Forrester, and our sustained, aggressive growth has landed Smarsh in the annual Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing American companies since 2008.

About the Role

The Partner Success Manager (PSM) is responsible for protecting and retaining recurring revenue across the partner channel ecosystem, ensuring high partner health, successful renewals, and long-term value realization.

This role is primarily focused on renewals (90% partner renewals / 10% customer renewals in 2026) and acts as the quarterback of the renewal process, leading structured execution across the renewal lifecycle.

The PSM operates as a retention and adoption-focused partner to the business, working closely with Channel Account Managers (CAMs) and Partner Enablement Managers (PEMs) to ensure clarity of ownership and disciplined execution. The role is operationally rigorous and data-driven, with a strong emphasis on forecasting, governance, and risk mitigation.

What will you do?

Renewal Ownership & Revenue Protection
Own the end-to-end renewal process for partner-managed recurring revenue (base ARR), ensuring high retention and predictable outcomes.

Lead renewal orchestration and execution, including 120-day pre-renewal planning cycles
Build and maintain accurate renewal forecasts and risk visibility
Ensure on-time renewal completion and revenue protection
Manage self-provisioning partner book of business
Drive structured renewal governance and accountability across stakeholders

Partner Health & Risk Management
Establish proactive partner health management to identify and mitigate churn risk.

Define and operationalize partner health scoring frameworks
Monitor adoption, usage, and value realization signals
Identify early indicators of risk and execute mitigation strategies
Lead QBR cadence and governance processes to maintain partner alignment

Partner Engagement & Value Realization
Act as a trusted advisor to partners, ensuring they achieve measurable value from Smarsh solutions.

Drive adoption strategies and success plans aligned to partner outcomes
Support legacy agreement transitions and contract normalization
Lead escalation management and coordinate internal resources to resolve issues
Ensure consistent engagement across the partner lifecycle, particularly approaching renewal

Cross-Functional Alignment
Operate as a central coordination point across Channel functions.

Partner with Channel Account Managers on expansion signals, pricing alignment, and commercial strategy
Collaborate with Partner Enablement Manager to ensure enablement readiness and product adoption
Engage Channel Account Manager when expansion opportunities, pricing changes, or competitive risks arise
Maintain clear role boundaries to support the broader channel operating model

Role Scope & Boundaries

Owns:

Renewal orchestration and forecasting (base ARR)
Partner health, risk identification, and retention strategy
Governance processes and QBR coordination
Adoption and value realization

Does Not Own:

Net new partner acquisition
Expansion quota or pipeline generation
Heavy commercial negotiation
Partner onboarding or training delivery

This role is focused on revenue protection, not revenue creation.

What will you bring?

Retention & Operational Excellence

Proven experience managing renewals, retention, and recurring revenue models
Strong forecasting discipline with the ability to manage risk and ambiguity
Structured operator with a process-driven mindset

Partner & Customer Success Leadership

Experience working within partner channel ecosystems
Ability to build trust and influence partner stakeholders at multiple levels
Strong focus on value realization and adoption strategy

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Experience working in matrixed environments across Sales, Operations, and Enablement
Ability to navigate role boundaries and drive aligned execution
Strong communication and stakeholder management skills

Qualifications

5-10 years in Customer Success, Partner Success, Account Management, or similar roles
Experience in SaaS or recurring revenue environments
Strong understanding of renewal processes, forecasting, and retention strategies
Experience with CRM platforms (e.g., Salesforce) and data-driven decision making
Analytical, structured, and execution-focused

R450 000 - R550 000 a year

The above salary range represents Smarsh's good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible base compensation at the time of posting. Any applicable bonus programs will be discussed during the recruiting process.

The salary for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to, internal equity, experience, education, location, specialty and training.

Local cost of living assessments are done for each new hire at the time of offer.

About our culture

Smarsh hires lifelong learners with a passion for innovating with purpose, humility and humor. Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do. We work closely with the most popular communications platforms and the world’s leading cloud infrastructure platforms. We use the latest in AI/ML technology to help our customers break new ground at scale. We are a global organization that values diversity, and we believe that providing opportunities for everyone to be their authentic self is key to our success. Smarsh leadership, culture, and commitment to developing our people have all garnered Comparably.com Best Places to Work Awards. Come join us and find out what the best work of your career looks like.

Required Skills

crmsaassalesforce

Required Languages

🇬🇧 English

Key competency: Sales/Customer Success/Key Account Management