Principal Customer Success Manager

Thrive is a leading behavior change technology company founded by Arianna Huffington in 2016 with the mission to end the stress and burnout epidemic. Thrive helps individuals and organizations improve well-being, performance and mental resilience with its AI-powered behavior change technology platform. Thrive’s Microsteps – small, science-backed steps to improve health and productivity – have been adopted by employees at more than 125 organizations in over 140 countries, from frontline and call center workers to executives at multinational companies.

This Principal CSM role sits at the center of one of Thrive's most strategically important growth areas: health/pharma partnerships. A key priority of this role will be  executing against complex deliverables and managing cross-functional stakeholders (both internal and external.) What distinguishes this role is scope: you will also take on work beyond typical CSM territory — in addition to managing the customer relationship and deliverables, you will be responsible for creating communications plans, activation timelines, program management, and executive-facing roadmaps, often starting from a high-level directive rather than an established template, in close collaboration with our executive leadership team.

You are, first and foremost, an experienced Customer Success professional: diligent, detail-oriented, and fluent in account and program management. The communications-adjacent work builds on that foundation; it does not replace it. This is a senior, high-trust individual contributor role reporting directly to the VP of Revenue & Customer Success, reflecting both the scale of the work and the degree of executive exposure the role carries.

How You'll Contribute

• Own strategic customer relationships end to end. Serve as the primary Customer Success owner for Thrive’s work across strategic health and pharma accounts, building strong relationships with senior stakeholders and ensuring priorities and workstreams stay on track.
• Lead complex customer programs. Translate customer goals into clear strategies, plans, and programs, partnering across Thrive to drive execution and deliver a high-quality customer experience.
• Partner with executive leadership. Collaborate with Thrive leaders on strategic customer initiatives, executive communications, and high-visibility moments throughout the partnership.
• Lead renewal and expansion strategy. Own renewal and expansion planning for high-value, complex accounts, partnering closely with Sales and Leadership to identify opportunities, demonstrate value, and forecast accurately.
• Serve as a trusted executive advisor. Lead executive-facing QBRs and long-term partnership discussions, bringing a strategic point of view and driving alignment across large, multi-stakeholder customer organizations.
• Anticipate and mitigate risk. Proactively identify customer needs, challenges, and risks, and mobilize the right internal partners before they impact the relationship.
• Thrive in a fast-paced environment. Navigate changing priorities, collaborate effectively with senior stakeholders, and respond to feedback with adaptability and a focus on delivering excellent work.

Success Looks Like

• Strong retention and expansion on a complex, high-value account.
• Lead complex cross-functional project management, coordinating stakeholders across teams to align priorities, manage dependencies, and ensure initiatives are delivered on time and against key objectives.
• Deep executive trust with senior customer stakeholders and with internal executive leadership.
• Consistently high-quality strategic deliverables produced with minimal rework.
• Clear, measurable contribution to how Thrive delivers value on its most strategically important health/pharma accounts.

Qualifications & Skills

• BA/BS degree or equivalent relevant experience
• 8–12+ years in Customer Success, account management, or client delivery — this is the non-negotiable core of the role
• Experience owning enterprise, multi-stakeholder accounts with significant complexity and deal size.
• Demonstrated experience creating structured, executive-ready plans (roadmaps, communications calendars, rollout timelines) from ambiguous or evolving direction — not just executing against an existing template or playbook.
• Strong communication, analytical, problem-solving, and program management skills.
• Communications/PR fluency is a plus, not a requirement — comfort with communications concepts and terminology is important, but deep expertise is not expected.
• Familiarity with regulated-industry review processes (e.g., MLR/PRC-style approval steps) is a plus.
• Experience using Salesforce, G Suite, Microsoft products, and Zoom; familiarity with Coda, Looker, or similar tools is a plus.

Who You Are

• You've built your career on being genuinely excellent at account management and client delivery, and along the way you've developed the range to take on work that goes beyond a standard CSM job description. Given a high-level ask, you can independently shape a first version and refine it with feedback, rather than requiring a template.
• A proven, strategic customer success leader experienced with complex, high-revenue engagements.
• Highly skilled at aligning executive and administrative stakeholders to drive renewals, expansion, and referrals.
• Comfortable operating autonomously in ambiguous environments, with strong prioritization and anticipation of needs.
• Comfortable giving and receiving compassionately direct feedback.
• A confident, optimistic, solutions-oriented operator who brings both rigor and heart to the work.
• Passionate about well-being, performance, and the human impact of technology.

✨ What We Offer:

🌍 Mission-Driven Impact: Be part of a company that’s truly making a difference in people’s lives around the world.

🚀 Career Growth: Develop within the company and help shape our growth strategy.

💙 Human-Centric Culture: Thrive in a supportive environment with a range of wellness perks and benefits.

💰 Competitive Compensation: Enjoy a comprehensive and rewarding total compensation package.

🩺 Health & Financial Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision coverage plus a 401(k) program with company match.

🌴 Time to Recharge: Generous paid time-off programs designed to help you rest, reset, and recharge — including Thrive Time, a benefit unique to Thrive that gives employees additional paid time off after major projects or intense periods of work to truly recharge and recover.

Compensation:

Base compensation for this role will likely fall in the $136,000-$165,000 range.

• Please note: We provide a competitive mix of salary, performance bonus, and equity. The final offer amount will depend on factors like experience, expertise, and may differ from the range above. This range also excludes additional benefits, such as 401(k), and medical, dental, or vision insurance.

Thrive is deeply committed to creating a safe and welcoming work environment free of discrimination and harassment so that all employees can bring their whole selves to work.

Thrive is proud to ensure equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, genetics, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, family or parental status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law.

Thrive is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. Please inform Thrive’s Recruiting team if you need any assistance completing any forms or to otherwise participate in the application process.