Customer Success Architect - Two Chicks With A Side Hustle

Employer: Zuora

THE ROLE

A Customer Success Architect (CSA) serves a critical role within Zuora’s Sales and Customer Success teams.

In the Presale capacity, the CSA works with the sales teams to determine and drive the technical sales strategy, approach for how to tackle the most challenging customer technical and functional complexities and how Zuora’s overall solution can be incorporated within the Customer’s ecosystem and address the customer business initiatives and issues. The CSA reviews and analyses Customer use-case to determine how Zuora’s platform will address these use cases. The CSA works with the presale team, Zuora Partner’s and the customer to drive and define a phasing approach to implementation, estimating the project timeline and efforts to execute the project, drafting/outlining Scope of Work, and contract negotiation.

In the Post Sale capacity the CSA supports customers with tailored technical, product, and architectural guidance, best practices and solutioning such that the customer continues to realize success and value from the Zuora platform. The CSA collaborates cross functionality across the sales, global services and the customer success groups to drive continued customer value of the Zuora platform through global initiatives, process improvements and consistent delivery.

Primary Responsibilities:

Lead and provide guidance for Zuora Billing and Revenue sales & post go live activities both tactically and strategically.

Draw upon experience working at the enterprise level to deliver multiple moderate to complex solutions and successfully drive the engagement team towards an optimal solution.
Responsible and accountable for gathering and analyzing Customer business use cases with the Sales Engineering, perform gap identification, frame scope of work, establish timeline, and determine cost of deployment
Engage with customers and the Zuora account team during the pre-sales phase to determine how to structure the Zuora solution and implementation for ongoing success and post implementation to ensure customer is realizing value from the Zuora Products

Effectively position Global Services and the value of the Zuora platform related solutions as part of the overall sales proposal
Present GS as a differentiator to the Customer,
Deliver value focused / results-oriented proposals and solutions

Effectively evaluate customer’s process gaps and IT challenges to carve out Zuora’s value proposition
Conduct scoping sessions to determine project scope, price and phasing deployment plan
Present Zuora implementation proposals to customer

Facilitate large group meetings with diverse sets of project stakeholders.
Translate customer requirements into solutions and review and critique both functional and technical designs.
Develop collateral, best practices and solutions to be leveraged across the CSA community

Work cross-functionally to provide product and continuous process improvements.
Develop estimates for work, proposals, solutions for customers and prospects
Provide technical and architectural product expertise, best practices and solutioning to the Zuora Sales organization, Zuora’s prospects, partners and customers

Skills:

Hands-on experience building strong relationships and skills to bridge gaps in functional and technical areas / solutions.
In-depth knowledge of Zuora products

Strong communication, relationship building, presentation, customer service, negotiating, listening and writing skills.
Excellent analysis, design, requirements gathering and crafting solutions to secure customer approval
Software proficiency preferred: SFDC, NetSuite, PSA, MS Office Suite.

ERP knowledge preferred: Oracle, PeopleSoft, NetSuite, SAP
Order to Revenue / Cash knowledge (including strong background in billing and CPQ)
Revenue knowledge: US GAAP, IFRS

Strong team orientation, presence, and organizational acumen.
Strong negotiation skills to use for large strategic and enterprise deals
Thrives in a fast pace and changing environment.

Experience:

At least 12 years of senior professional services experience (or 15 years depending on the job requirements and the skills/education of the candidate)
Hands on knowledge of company proprietary software Zuora Central, Billing, and Revenue

Education: