Customer Success Manager

About Kernel

Kernel gives enterprise RevOps teams confidence in their CRM data.

We've raised a $14M Series A from top VCs and operators at Plaid, OpenAI, Slack and others to build the AI-native alternative to Dun & Bradstreet's entity and hierarchy data.

RevOps teams at Gong, Navan, Zip, Remote and GoCardless use Kernel to clean, enrich and complete their CRM data at enterprise scale, eliminating duplicates, fixing hierarchies and restoring trust in the foundation that powers forecasting, territory planning and AI initiatives.

Our platform combines entity-level intelligence with mass-action tooling to give RevOps teams the data quality and control needed to plan confidently and deploy AI successfully.

The Role

We are looking for a battle-tested Customer Success Manager to own the post-sales journey for our growing enterprise customer base. You will move our CS motion from reactive support to proactive partnership, managing a book of business worth $2M+ ARR across multiple high-value clients.

This is a foundational hire (you will be the second member of our CS team). Unlike a standard CSM role where you step into an existing machine, here you will help build the machine. We are looking for an operator who has seen "what good looks like" at scale and can implement those standards at Kernel.

This is a commercial and technical role. You won't just be "checking in". You will be speaking the language of RevOps, using data to prove value, and identifying early opportunities for expansion. You will work directly with the founders, commercial leadership, and product team to ensure our customers rely on Kernel as mission-critical infrastructure.

What You'll Be Doing

• Own the Strategic Relationship: Manage a portfolio of enterprise accounts (approx. $2M ARR), acting as the strategic advisor to VP-level stakeholders from onboarding through to perpetual renewal.

• Drive Net Revenue Retention (NRR): Own the commercial number. You will proactively identify churn risks, spot expansion opportunities (upsell/cross-sell), and lead renewal negotiations to ensure it is easy for the client to say "Yes."

• Deliver Measurable Value: Move beyond "feeling good" to "proving value." You will run data-driven QBRs and success plans that demonstrate hard ROI (time saved, revenue protected) to customer stakeholders.

• Enablement & Adoption: Drive incremental adoption across your accounts. You will work with customers to expand usage step-by-step, starting with core modules and progressively unlocking advanced features as they mature.

• Voice of the Customer: You are the ear to the ground. You will aggregate product feedback and friction points, channeling them directly to Product and Engineering to shape our roadmap.

What You Bring

• B2B SaaS Experience: 4+ years of experience managing a book of business in B2B Enterprise SaaS. You have navigated complex enterprise renewals and have a track record of hitting NRR targets.

• Commercial Fluency: You have a "customer shareholder" mentality. You understand the commercial levers that drive customer success and work closely with Account Managers to identify expansion opportunities and support renewal conversations.

• Operational Mindset: You don't just execute tasks; you build processes. You have previously helped refine playbooks (e.g., onboarding flows, risk frameworks) in a previous role.

• High EQ & Resilience: You can read a room (or a Zoom call). You know when to push, when to listen, and how to navigate uncomfortable situations without shying away from hard questions.

It is a plus if you also have:

• You are comfortable discussing CRM hierarchies, data hygiene, and API integrations with technical RevOps teams.

• Experience in data infrastructure, CRM, or API-first products.

• Previous experience at a Series B/C startup where you saw a CS team scale from chaos to structure.

This role may not be for you if you:

• Prefer a "Support Ticket" approach: If you wait for the customer to email you with a problem rather than proactively analyzing their usage, you will struggle here.

• Are intimidated by technical stakeholders: Our customers are RevOps pros. You need to be willing to learn the intricacies of CRM data and hierarchies.

This role is definitely not for you if you:

• Prefer consensus over action: This role requires making calls quickly and adjusting course when needed, rather than waiting for perfect clarity.

• Struggle with transparency around risks: We need someone who surfaces challenges early rather than trying to resolve them quietly.

What We Offer

We will do our best to offer you a ride of a lifetime. It will not be easy, but it will be thrilling.

Salary: £70,000 - £100,000 + equity

24 days holiday per year + bank holidays + 2 weeks work-from-anywhere

Pension plan

Top-spec equipment and central London office

Dinner provided when working past 6 pm

Team events and dinners when we hit weekly targets

A fast-paced ride in the early innings of a new technology wave

Team

You'll work directly with the founders and founding CSM, alongside commercial and product leads, to build and execute the CS playbook.

Visas & Relocation

We are unable to sponsor visas or offer relocation for this position. Candidates must have the right to work in the UK.

Interview Process

• Stage 1 – First interview (30 min): Deep dive into your CS experience and commercial methodology with Dominik.

• Stage 2 — Case interview (60 min): Present a take-home customer scenario shared in advance

• Stage 3 – Values interview with Founders (45 min): Meeting with Founders to assess cultural fit

If there is mutual fit, we move to references and offer.

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