Associate Customer Success Manager

Sonatype is the software supply chain security company. We provide the world’s best end-to-end software supply chain security solution, combining the only proactive protection against malicious open source, the only enterprise grade SBOM management and the leading open source dependency management platform. This empowers enterprises to create and maintain secure, quality, and innovative software at scale.

As founders of Nexus Repository and stewards of Maven Central, the world’s largest repository of Java open-source software, we are software pioneers and our open source expertise is unmatched. We empower innovation with an unparalleled commitment to build faster, safer software and harness AI and data intelligence to mitigate risk, maximize efficiencies, and drive powerful software development.

More than 2,000 organizations, including 70% of the Fortune 100 and 15 million software developers, rely on Sonatype to optimize their software supply chains.

Sonatype is privileged to work with customers who rely on us to improve the quality, security, and speed of their software development lifecycle. Customer Success at Sonatype is outcomes-driven, technically credible, and growth oriented.

As an Associate Customer Success Manager, you will engage a portfolio of customers through a scaled engagement model, using structured lifecycle motions and data signals to prioritize the right outreach at the right time. Your goal is to accelerate time-to-value, drive adoption and measurable outcomes, increase renewal confidence, and surface growth opportunities in partnership with the broader account team.

This role is not intended to be reactive “shadow support.” You will be expected to deliver proactive, outcomes-driven guidance—knowing when to pull in deeper subject matter expertise—while maintaining disciplined execution and consistent customer leadership.

A defining expectation of this role is reflexive GenAI usage. You are expected to use GenAI tools as a thought partner to improve the quality, clarity, and strategic rigor of your analysis, planning, and communication—while validating outputs and applying sound judgment.

Key Responsibilities: Customer Outcomes and Value Realization

• Lead structured customer motions to accelerate onboarding success, adoption, and time-to-value.
• Help customers connect Sonatype capabilities to their desired outcomes and success criteria, translating intent into clear next steps and measurable progress.
• Provide proactive guidance on best practices, common pitfalls, and practical steps to improve customer success with Sonatype solutions.
• Maintain a clear view of customer health and progress, identifying risk signals early and driving mitigation actions in partnership with internal teams as needed.
• Bring strong product and domain credibility to guide best practices and prevent pitfalls, while engaging Support and Services appropriately—staying focused on outcomes, value realization, and forward momentum rather than becoming a reactive Q&A channel.
• Scaled Engagement and Signal-Driven Execution
• Operate in a scaled engagement model, prioritizing actions based on telemetry, usage signals, customer intelligence, and lifecycle milestones.
• Execute repeatable plays and engagement patterns that increase consistency and impact across a portfolio.
• Document key insights, actions, and outcomes to ensure continuity, clarity, and effective internal coordination.
• Retention & Growth Support
• Increase renewal confidence by ensuring customers are realizing value, stakeholders are aligned, and risks are surfaced early with mitigation plans in motion.
• Surface expansion signals and surface Customer Success Qualified Leads (CSQLs) in partnership with the broader account team.
• Support opportunity progression by providing customer context, value hypotheses, and stakeholder insights that help move growth motions forward.
• Identify and cultivate advocates and referenceable moments, and coordinate with Advocacy/Marketing motions as appropriate (e.g., reviews, references, stories, customer proof points).
• Cross-Functional Collaboration
• Partner effectively with Sales, Sales Engineering, Support, Product, and Services to orchestrate the right expertise at the right time—without creating unnecessary escalation churn.
• Serve as a voice of the customer by capturing and sharing patterns, feedback, and friction points that improve product experience and customer outcomes.

This role focuses on post-sale customer experience. Commercial discussions, pricing, and contract matters are managed by the appropriate sales and contracting teams and are outside the scope of this role.

Reflexive GenAI Usage as a Standard

Use GenAI reflexively as a thought partner to improve the quality, clarity, and strategic rigor of analysis, planning, and communication, while validating outputs and applying sound judgment.

Apply GenAI to accelerate high-leverage work such as customer preparation, follow-up quality, success planning, messaging, and internal summaries—so you spend more time driving outcomes and less time on manual overhead.

Follow company guidance on responsible AI usage and data handling.

What Success Looks Like: Customers reach value faster and demonstrate measurable adoption and outcomes.

Engagement is proactive and structured—not dominated by reactive troubleshooting.

Renewal confidence increases through value evidence, stakeholder alignment, and early risk mitigation.

Expansion signals and CSQLs are consistently surfaced and shared with credible customer context.

Advocacy and referenceability increase through identified champions, proof points, and coordinated customer storytelling.

Execution is high-quality and repeatable, enabling scale across a broader portfolio.

Qualifications: Experience in Customer Success, Technical Account Management, Solutions Consulting, Support Engineering, or similar customer-facing roles in B2B SaaS.

Technical aptitude and credibility within modern software development lifecycles (DevOps, CI/CD, artifact management, OSS governance/security).

Strong customer-facing communication skills with the ability to educate, influence, and lead structured conversations.

Comfort operating in an environment that requires prioritization, focus, and consistent execution across a portfolio.

Demonstrated ownership, bias for action, and ability to manage multiple priorities with disciplined execution.

Strong GenAI fluency and a demonstrated habit of using AI tools to improve execution quality and speed.

Preferred: Familiarity with software supply chain, open source governance, application security, or developer enablement workflows.

Experience supporting enterprise developer tools or DevSecOps platforms.

Working Model / Travel: Periodic collaboration across global teams and occasional travel as needed.

Things that we are proud of: 2024 Built In Best Places to Work: Sonatype was named to the Washington DC 100 Best Places to Work list.

• European Enterprise Awards 2023: Sonatype has been named a winner of the European Enterprise Awards in the Best Enterprise SaaS Provider
• Constellation AST Shortlist: Sonatype has been listed on the Constellation Shortlist for Application Security Testing for 2024
• Data Breakthrough Awards: Sonatype was announced as a 2024 winner in the "Open-Source Data Solution of the Year"
• SD Times: Best in Show Security
• Fast Company Best Workplaces for Innovators 2024
• The Herd Top 100 Private Software Companies 2024
• 2023 Leader in Forrester-Wave for Software Compensation Analysis
• 2023 Gartner's Magic Quadrant

Company Wellness Week - We shut down company operations for a week to enable all employees to spend time pursuing personal growth and enjoying much needed and deserved rest.

• Diversity & Inclusion Working Groups
• Parental Leave Policy
• Paid Volunteer Time Off (VTO)

At Sonatype, we value diversity and inclusivity. We offer perks such as parental leave, diversity and inclusion working groups, and flexible working practices to allow our employees to show up as their whole selves. We are an equal-opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please do not hesitate to let us know.