CoLab Software
Strategic Customer Success Manager (Aerospace & Defense)
CoLab Software, Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60290
Strategic Customer Success Manager (Aerospace & Defense)
About CoLab
At CoLab, we help engineering teams bring life-changing products to the world years sooner. Our platform is the world’s first Design Engagement System (DES) — a category-defining product that engineering teams use to engage in meaningful, productive design conversations, catch preventable mistakes, and get to market faster. Our customers include the largest engineering organizations in the world spanning from industrial equipment, consumer products, automotive, aerospace & defense, and shipbuilding industries.
About the role
As a
Strategic Customer Success Manager , you will serve as a trusted advisor to our most complex, global Aerospace & Defense customers. You will lead the post-sale customer journey, driving business transformation and ensuring customers effectively adopt CoLab to achieve measurable ROI. You’ll drive executive alignment, identify and mitigate risks, surface expansion opportunities, and collaborate cross-functionally to maximize customer value.
You will collaborate with Sales partners to support growth and retention and work closely with a team of Solutions Engineers to enable customer teams on CoLab’s capabilities. Your role is to execute a customer success strategy that drives retention, value realization, and long-term growth.
In-person customer engagement is a key part of this role’s success. On-site visits have consistently driven higher adoption, deeper relationships, and better business outcomes for our customers. We recognize personal travel constraints may arise and we expect Strategic CSMs to proactively plan for and prioritize in-person opportunities.
Twice annually we bring together all CoLabers at our HQ in St. John’s, Newfoundland (typically in June and December), to participate in company Team Week.
What you'll do
Own gross revenue retention (GRR) across your portfolio, with strong influence over net revenue retention (NRR) and strategic expansion within global A&D accounts
Define and execute a customer success strategy aligned with long-cycle aerospace programs, engineering milestones, and CoLab's broader expansion motion
Lead executive engagement, stakeholder mapping, and success planning to drive measurable business outcomes
Conduct executive-level business reviews that connect CoLab adoption to quantifiable impact such as reduced engineering change cycles, improved program velocity, or supplier collaboration efficiency
Translate customer insights, usage data, and feedback into actionable strategies that accelerate time-to-value and showcase ROI
Partner cross-functionally with Sales, Product, and Solutions Engineering to deliver adoption outcomes, manage risk, and uncover new growth opportunities
Coach customer champions to build internal advocacy and communicate success stories that drive organizational buy-in and expansion
Lead customers through change management and workflow optimization, helping them embed CoLab into critical engineering and manufacturing processes
Identify risk signals early, define mitigation plans, and escalate with urgency when required
Contribute to the evolution of CoLab's Customer Success playbooks and frameworks, raising the standard for strategic execution and operational excellence across the team
Act as a cross-functional leader, modeling accountability, ownership, and clarity in a fast-paced, scaling environment
What we're looking for
7+ years in Customer Success, Strategic Consulting, or Enterprise Account Management, preferably with exposure to aerospace, defense, or complex engineering/manufacturing environments
All applicants must be eligible for the necessary authorizations to access information or technology governed by export control and defense compliance programs (ex: ITAR, EAR, or Canada’s Controlled Goods Program)
Proven track record driving enterprise transformation and measurable outcomes for global manufacturing or defense-industry customers
Comfortable navigating compliance, procurement, and security requirements common in A&D (ex: ITAR, export control, multi-site governance)
Experience with customer journey orchestration and success planning in a high-ACV SaaS environment
Track record of partnering with Sales to shape and execute multi-threaded expansion strategies in large, complex organizations
Familiarity with navigating complex procurement, security, and compliance processes in enterprise accounts
Strong executive presence and communication skills
Comfortable operating in fast-paced, high-growth environments
Highly organized, data-driven, and accountable
Ability to travel up to 25% of the time
Nice to have
Experience supporting engineering or manufacturing customers (CAD, PLM, or technical tools)
Familiarity with land-and-expand SaaS motions
Background in vertical SaaS (especially A&D, shipbuilding, heavy industrial sectors)
You’ll thrive at CoLab if you:
Excel at translating product functionality into customer value in a technical domain
Take ownership of customer outcomes and internal clarity
Thrive in a fast-paced, evolving environment where processes are still being shaped
Are energized by solving complex customer challenges
Lead strategic conversations with confidence and clarity
Excel at cross-functional collaboration, even in ambiguous territory
Operate with urgency and proactively mitigate risk
Translate product signals into actionable customer strategy
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At CoLab, we help engineering teams bring life-changing products to the world years sooner. Our platform is the world’s first Design Engagement System (DES) — a category-defining product that engineering teams use to engage in meaningful, productive design conversations, catch preventable mistakes, and get to market faster. Our customers include the largest engineering organizations in the world spanning from industrial equipment, consumer products, automotive, aerospace & defense, and shipbuilding industries.
About the role
As a
Strategic Customer Success Manager , you will serve as a trusted advisor to our most complex, global Aerospace & Defense customers. You will lead the post-sale customer journey, driving business transformation and ensuring customers effectively adopt CoLab to achieve measurable ROI. You’ll drive executive alignment, identify and mitigate risks, surface expansion opportunities, and collaborate cross-functionally to maximize customer value.
You will collaborate with Sales partners to support growth and retention and work closely with a team of Solutions Engineers to enable customer teams on CoLab’s capabilities. Your role is to execute a customer success strategy that drives retention, value realization, and long-term growth.
In-person customer engagement is a key part of this role’s success. On-site visits have consistently driven higher adoption, deeper relationships, and better business outcomes for our customers. We recognize personal travel constraints may arise and we expect Strategic CSMs to proactively plan for and prioritize in-person opportunities.
Twice annually we bring together all CoLabers at our HQ in St. John’s, Newfoundland (typically in June and December), to participate in company Team Week.
What you'll do
Own gross revenue retention (GRR) across your portfolio, with strong influence over net revenue retention (NRR) and strategic expansion within global A&D accounts
Define and execute a customer success strategy aligned with long-cycle aerospace programs, engineering milestones, and CoLab's broader expansion motion
Lead executive engagement, stakeholder mapping, and success planning to drive measurable business outcomes
Conduct executive-level business reviews that connect CoLab adoption to quantifiable impact such as reduced engineering change cycles, improved program velocity, or supplier collaboration efficiency
Translate customer insights, usage data, and feedback into actionable strategies that accelerate time-to-value and showcase ROI
Partner cross-functionally with Sales, Product, and Solutions Engineering to deliver adoption outcomes, manage risk, and uncover new growth opportunities
Coach customer champions to build internal advocacy and communicate success stories that drive organizational buy-in and expansion
Lead customers through change management and workflow optimization, helping them embed CoLab into critical engineering and manufacturing processes
Identify risk signals early, define mitigation plans, and escalate with urgency when required
Contribute to the evolution of CoLab's Customer Success playbooks and frameworks, raising the standard for strategic execution and operational excellence across the team
Act as a cross-functional leader, modeling accountability, ownership, and clarity in a fast-paced, scaling environment
What we're looking for
7+ years in Customer Success, Strategic Consulting, or Enterprise Account Management, preferably with exposure to aerospace, defense, or complex engineering/manufacturing environments
All applicants must be eligible for the necessary authorizations to access information or technology governed by export control and defense compliance programs (ex: ITAR, EAR, or Canada’s Controlled Goods Program)
Proven track record driving enterprise transformation and measurable outcomes for global manufacturing or defense-industry customers
Comfortable navigating compliance, procurement, and security requirements common in A&D (ex: ITAR, export control, multi-site governance)
Experience with customer journey orchestration and success planning in a high-ACV SaaS environment
Track record of partnering with Sales to shape and execute multi-threaded expansion strategies in large, complex organizations
Familiarity with navigating complex procurement, security, and compliance processes in enterprise accounts
Strong executive presence and communication skills
Comfortable operating in fast-paced, high-growth environments
Highly organized, data-driven, and accountable
Ability to travel up to 25% of the time
Nice to have
Experience supporting engineering or manufacturing customers (CAD, PLM, or technical tools)
Familiarity with land-and-expand SaaS motions
Background in vertical SaaS (especially A&D, shipbuilding, heavy industrial sectors)
You’ll thrive at CoLab if you:
Excel at translating product functionality into customer value in a technical domain
Take ownership of customer outcomes and internal clarity
Thrive in a fast-paced, evolving environment where processes are still being shaped
Are energized by solving complex customer challenges
Lead strategic conversations with confidence and clarity
Excel at cross-functional collaboration, even in ambiguous territory
Operate with urgency and proactively mitigate risk
Translate product signals into actionable customer strategy
#J-18808-Ljbffr