Implementation Lead
Owns end-to-end SaaS implementations for higher-education customers, from discovery and solution planning through predictable go-live and Customer Success handoff. The role requires 4–8 years of implementation or project delivery experience, strong stakeholder management, and fluency with CRM or marketing automation deployments.
About the job
Responsibilities
Go-live delivery ownership
- Own implementation delivery from kickoff through go-live and transition to Customer Success.
- Build and manage project plans covering milestones, dependencies, decisions, and weekly execution rhythms.
- Drive accountability across internal teams and customer stakeholders to keep timelines on track.
Discovery, solution direction, and decision-making
- Lead structured discovery to clarify goals, workflows, stakeholders, constraints, and measurable success criteria tied to customer outcomes.
- Translate requirements into a phased implementation approach and realistic timeline.
- Partner with Integrations Architecture and Product on complex design decisions.
Launch readiness and risk management
- Maintain go-live checklists covering UAT completion, data readiness, approvals, training coordination, and communications.
- Identify risks such as scope creep, stakeholder misalignment, and data delays, and implement mitigation plans.
- Control scope and make tradeoffs transparently when needed.
- Ensure go-live criteria include technical readiness and alignment with intended customer outcomes.
Outcome validation and value alignment
- Ensure the configured product supports customers' primary use cases and defined success criteria.
- Validate that key workflows and capabilities are live, usable, and aligned with customer goals.
- Confirm readiness for both go-live and post-launch value realization.
Cross-functional coordination and customer experience
- Lead customer working sessions and executive updates with confidence and clarity.
- Coordinate with Adoption & Enablement and Integrations specialists to ensure workstreams land cleanly.
- Clearly communicate how implementations support customer goals, including gaps, risks, and dependencies.
Requirements
- 4–8 years of experience in SaaS implementation, project delivery, or customer onboarding, such as project management, implementation management, professional services, or technical program management.
- Proven ability to run multiple implementations simultaneously with strong stakeholder management.
- Comfort working with technical and non-technical audiences, including enrollment operations, IT, and leadership.
- Excellent project discipline across timelines, risks, communication, and follow-through.
- Familiarity with CRM or marketing automation implementations.
Nice-to-haves
- Higher education experience.
- Experience working in a scaling environment.
Success Measures
- Early value realization signals, such as initial usage, workflow adoption, or goal alignment within the first 30–60 days.
- On-time go-live rate and predictable delivery outcomes.
- Implementation cycle time without quality tradeoffs.
- Quality of risk management, with fewer avoidable delays and escalations.
- Handoff quality, as confirmed by Customer Success.
- Customer experience, including post-implementation CSAT and stakeholder confidence.
Skills
Saas Implementation, Project Management, Customer Onboarding, Stakeholder Management, Risk Management, User Acceptance Testing, CRM, Marketing Automation, Solution Design, Data Readiness
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