We're looking for a seasoned Director of Customer Success & Onboarding — an experienced people leader and strategic operator who can own the full post-sale function, develop a high-performing team, and drive measurable customer outcomes at scale.
This is a leadership role reporting directly to the CEO, based in our NYC office (3x/week in-person). You'll bridge company strategy and day-to-day CS and Onboarding execution, and this is a true player-coach role: you'll personally own strategic accounts while elevating how the team operates in a fast-moving, high-pressure environment; You know how to automate the repeatable work without making customers feel like they're talking to a bot.
Success means smoother go-lives, stronger retention, and customers who stay and grow because Sauce has become essential to their business.
What You’ll Own
Own team-level NRR/GRR, activation, time-to-value, and product adoption.
Lead and develop CSM and Onboarding teams as their primary people manager — writing performance reviews, setting goals, and defining OKRs.
Build and own the customer health scoring system from the ground up.
Ensure every customer follows a clear, well-supported journey from contract to "Sauce is indispensable."
Maintain, refine, and document onboarding and success playbooks.
Personally manage a portfolio of strategic, complex, or at-risk accounts.
Join at-risk calls, churn prevention efforts, and high-stakes pitches where senior presence adds leverage — including after-hours when the business needs it.
Model persistence, positivity, and outcome-oriented problem-solving.
Build your own dashboards, health-score systems, and automations — self-sufficient, without relying on R&D resources.
Prototype, deploy, and iterate yourself — don't hand it off.
Maintain clean health scores, workflow tracking, and task management across the CS platform/CRM.
Define and track SLAs for onboarding, activation milestones, and ongoing engagement.
Use data to find bottlenecks and opportunities — test improvements and iterate.
Align with Sales on clean handoffs and standardized customer expectations.
Partner with Product to surface customer insights and drive continuous improvement.
Keep communication open across functions so teams move in sync.
Team & Customer Outcomes
Build + Do (Player-Coach)
AI & Automation (Hands-On)
Process & Tooling
Cross-Functional Collaboration
What Success Looks Like
Develop a clear understanding of current CS and Onboarding workflows and identify friction points.
Build strong relationships with the team, cross-functional stakeholders, and a portfolio of strategic accounts.
Ship at least one self-built automation or dashboard that removes manual work from the team.
Deliver more predictable onboarding timelines and smoother go-lives across all segments.
Improve logo retention and NRR across the managed book of business.
Define and establish the CS & Onboarding function's long-term operating model.
Become a trusted partner to the CEO, Sales, and Product leadership.
First 90 Days
First Year
What You Bring
6–8 years in Customer Success and/or Onboarding, with 4–6 years leading teams including other managers.
Experience with SMB customers in a high-pressure, fast-moving operational environment — restaurant, food delivery, or food tech strongly preferred; other high-pressure industries acceptable. SaaS-only backgrounds without operational intensity are not a fit for this role.
Proven experience building customer health scoring systems from scratch.
Comfortable operating at both the detail level and the strategic level.
Data-driven — every initiative measured and guided by numbers.
Self-sufficient builder — builds your own dashboards, automations, and tools without relying on engineering resources.
Genuine comfort with after-hours, high-stakes operational demands.
Hands-on AI builder — personally built and shipped automations, not just sponsored them.
Strong SQL skills — you write and run your own queries.
Track record of scaling a customer function's output without scaling headcount linearly - you solve for leverage, not just more people.
Experience with restaurants or other local SMBs.
Startup mentality — has worked at an early-stage, fast-moving company.
Track record of bringing former team members along to new roles.
Must-Have
Ideal
Why Sauce
You'll inherit a function with real ownership, report directly to the CEO, and build the systems that scale as the business grows. If you thrive under pressure, love building your own tools, and want meaningful ownership in a high-urgency environment, this role will feel energizing.
At Sauce, we move quickly, communicate openly, persevere through challenges, and help each other succeed.
What We Offer:
- Strong & Competitive Compensation Package, Including Equity
- Company-Sponsored Insurance Package (Health, Dental, Vision, Mental Health)
- Paid Parental Leave
- Flexible Work Environment
- Responsible Paid Time Off Policy
