Retention Project Manager

The Customer Retention & Renewal Manager plays a critical role in driving loyalty, reducing churn, and securing on-time renewals for our Medium Product stack. This strategic leader designs and executes innovative retention strategies, leverages data-driven insights, and fosters strong customer relationships to maximize Annual Licence Fee (ALF) retention rates and accelerate ARR growth.

As a highly collaborative and dynamic self-starter, you will lead and inspire a high-performing team, oversee proactive engagement initiatives, and manage the end-to-end renewal process with customers, business partners, and distributors. Your mission is simple yet powerful: keep our customers happy, loyal, and growing with us—while ensuring operational excellence and measurable business impact.

Location - 3 days per week out of our Johannesburg office.

**Key Responsibilities**

Retention Strategy & Customer Experience
- Design and implement innovative, data-led strategies to boost customer loyalty and retention.
- Anticipate churn risks and act proactively to resolve concerns, deliver exceptional customer experiences, and maintain strong business relationships.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure strategies are aligned with business objectives and market trends.
- Partner with sales to develop targeted upsell, cross-sell, and migration offers addressing customer pain points.

Operational Excellence & Process Leadership
- Oversee proactive renewal campaigns, ensuring timely contract negotiations with customers, BPs, and distributors.
- Monitor and analyse retention metrics, churn trends, and customer behaviour to refine strategies.
- Manage projects related to system and process enhancements for Payroll and Accounting products.
- Develop and manage processes for early churn detection, customer engagement, and structured offboarding where necessary.

Team Leadership & Performance Management
- Lead the retention & renewal team with clear goals, measurable KPIs, and a culture of high accountability.
- Provide coaching, feedback, and mentorship to elevate team performance.
- Ensure meetings with customers, BPs, and distributors are conducted at a high professional standard.
- Foster a high-performance culture built on integrity, collaboration, and customer-first values.

Reporting & Forecasting
- Accurately forecast renewals and retention rates, managing expectations with the Payroll ALF team.
- Produce clear, actionable reports on customer behaviour, churn analysis, and team performance.
- Translate insights into actionable plans for continuous improvement.

Risk & Contingency Planning
- Identify potential challenges in the renewal process and implement proactive mitigation strategies.
- Ensure renewal processes run smoothly despite unforeseen obstacles.

Skills & Competencies
Must-Have
- Minimum 5 years’ experience in a similar customer retention/renewals leadership role.
- Proven ability to transform customer conversations into high-value relationships while prioritizing customer goals.
- Strong leadership skills with the ability to inspire, influence, and drive change.
- Strategic thinker with strong commercial acumen and a continuous improvement mindset.
- Exceptional communication, stakeholder management, and report writing skills.
- Strong analytical and organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects.
- High emotional intelligence, resilience, and the ability to work under pressure.

Preferred
- Experience working with internal systems and identifying opportunities for process optimisation.
- Background in retention, sales, implementation, or support of Sage Solutions.
- Experience working with distributors, channel partners, and business partners.
- Relevant professional training or certifications in customer success, retention, or leadership.

Why This Role Matters
In this role, you are the difference between a customer staying or walking away. You will not only protect revenue but actively grow it by building lasting partnerships, championing the customer’s voice, and ensuring every renewal is a success story. If you thrive in a high-energy environment, love solving problems before they arise, and are passionate about customer success—this is your opportunity to make a measurable impact.

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