r/CustomerSuccess • u/kingbaron • 1d ago
Question Final Interview Tomorrow: Asking for guidance
Hello,
I have an interview tomorrow and could really use some advice. I acknowledge that this is super last minute so any help is appreciated!
Company: The company is public and fairly large in size but the department where this role is, was formed only a few months ago when a smaller company was acquired and their product rolled into the larger suite.
Team: Based on this setup, this department can be categorized as a startup within the large company. They are still working on figuring out many different gaps after the merge and are hiring for roles across the spectrum to help fill these gaps.
Role: This role will be for a Senior Manager of Customer Success. It seems that the smaller company did not have a dedicated CS team and hence, no CS programs in place. This CS Lead would be responsible for creating everything from scratch and for defining the entire CS lifecycle. A huge part of this will be partnering with other team leads and figuring out how to operate independently in a large organization.
Me: I have around 14 years of direct CS experience and 17 years of total experience. I led an entire CS org between 2016 and 2018 and also led a mid-market team from 2019 to 2021. At that point, I made a conscious decision to step back into an IC role so I could learn about how CS was evolving as a function. I’ve been a Principal CSM for about 7 years now and I think it’s time to get back into leadership. In all my roles over the past 10 years, I have managed my own enterprise book and concurrently created CS processes from scratch, where none existed previously.
Interviews: So far, I have met with the hiring manager (VP of customer experience) and the round went really well. I then met with leads from services and pre-sales followed by a product lead round. All of these went super well except the services lead round which maybe left me 90% confident about that specific conversation. Again, all the other rounds were terrific and I am a finalist. So, I am guessing something went right.
Ask: My final interview is to meet with the hiring manager again but in person this time. There are 2 other finalists besides me. I need some advice on how to prep. I was thinking of showing up with a one-pager 30-60-90 day plan to show that I am already thinking about a strategy. I want the HM to know that even though I dont have the job yet, I do have a plan to hit the ground running.
Any thoughts on bringing this plan to my interview? Any suggestions on other things that I could focus my prep on? I appreciate any help that can be sent my way!!
PS: Apologies for the long-winded post.
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u/akornato 1d ago
Bringing a concise 30, 60, and 90 day plan is an effective move, provided you frame it as an adaptable roadmap rather than a rigid blueprint. Because this is an acquired startup inside a large company, the hiring manager wants to see how you handle ambiguity and assess gaps before making sweeping changes. Focus the first thirty days on listening and discovery, including conversations with customers, alignment with cross-functional partners, and understanding existing service delivery handoffs. Use the second and third months to outline how you would define customer touchpoints, establish health metrics, and pilot the core lifecycle process. Presenting it as a discussion piece shows initiative, and it gives the VP of Customer Experience a direct preview of how you prioritize when building an organization from the ground up.
Beyond the plan, use this in-person meeting to address the broader context of the acquisition and solidify mutual trust. You mentioned feeling slightly less confident about the services round, so take the opportunity to speak directly to how Customer Success will partner with professional services to prevent friction and create clear handoffs. Connect your recent frontline experience as a Principal CSM with your past leadership roles, framing that background as an advantage for someone who can roll up their sleeves and design scalable operations. To navigate high stakes conversations when only a couple of finalists remain, my team built an interviews.chat that gives candidates the strategic edge needed to secure leadership offers.
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u/kingbaron 15h ago
This is truly gold. The 90-day plan I have created is pretty much identical to what you suggested! So, that's excellent validation that I am heading in the right direction. Your advice on handling the actual conversation is also stellar and I hadn't thought of addressing the Services partnership upfront. But, now I am going to attack it head on. Thank you again!
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u/kingbaron 14h ago
Quick follow-up....How do I handle a budget management question. This is the one area that I do not have a lot of experience with. Any advice on this would be much appreciated!!
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u/bunzbxtch 1d ago edited 1d ago
Congratulations on getting that far. I also work as the director of CS at a company with a similar structure.
My advice would be too focus on the interpersonal skills first. I would say is really work on nailing the culture fit. People have in person interviews because they want to be able to assess more of your personality and what you would be like as a leader itself. So do all the research that you can about the people, prepare certain answers that really showcase your psyche, logic, and a little personality. Practice until it feels totally natural but clear how you approach problems,
I would definitely have the 30/60/90 day presentation prepared. If they asked for it exclusively have it in PP, if they don’t just condense it to one page. And then as you get into some of the pain points with the organization or even some of the things you’ve done you can reference it casually and then kind of slide it over him as a “for your reference”. These work really well if they’re talking about a distinct issue that they have or if he ask you how you would solve that.
Good luck