Chief Customer Officer (CCO)
Executive Customer Leadership • Growth & Partnerships • Promise Protection
Role Purpose
The Chief Customer Officer is UC’s senior customer- and partner-facing executive responsible for strategic customer acquisition and growth, referral and partner development, and protecting the customer promise by aligning commercial commitments with delivery reality.
This is a “face of the company” role: a diplomat, executive representative, and deal leader who makes sales, marketing, partnerships, and internal execution work in harmony—focused on what produces clear results and eliminating wasted effort.
Operating principle: Sell what we can deliver. Deliver what we sold. Collect proof. Promote proof. Repeat.
What Success Looks Like
- New customer acquisition accelerates (more qualified pipeline, higher win rate, more new logos).
- Referral and partner-sourced revenue grows through a repeatable relationship engine.
- Strategic customers experience clarity, confidence, and executive-level professionalism.
- UC’s customer promise becomes more consistent as deal size and complexity increase.
- Retention and expansion improve because customers choose to standardize on UC.
- Managed services / recurring revenue grows through outcome-driven adoption (not just attach).
- UC runs a consistent enterprise rhythm: QBRs, account plans, health signals, escalation discipline.
- OEM/distributor economics improve (rebates, MDF, funded headcount, deal support) because UC is execution-credible and customer-proven.
- UC operates a disciplined feedback loop based on customer truth—measured, prioritized, and implemented on a cadence.
Core Responsibilities
1) Executive Customer & Market Leadership
- Own executive relationships with UC’s most important customers and target accounts.
- Lead executive communication in high-stakes moments (risk, change, recovery, expansion).
- Establish strategic account rhythms: QBRs, annual plans, roadmap alignment.
- Build a “reference-ready” portfolio through consistent outcomes and satisfaction.
Outputs: stronger retention, more expansion, more references, higher strategic account value.
2) Growth: Sales, Business Development, Referrals, and Campaigns
- Drive strategic customer acquisition through relationship-based selling, referrals, and targeted campaigns.
- Build and maintain a strong local presence (Houston): networking, customer visits, partner meetings, project site visits.
- Co-sell and close key opportunities with Ryan and the sales team.
- Align sales and marketing execution so effort converts into measurable results.
- Set priorities, run experiments, measure outcomes, and stop activities that don’t work.
Outputs: more qualified pipeline, higher conversion, more partner-sourced deals, faster growth.
3) Commercial-to-Delivery Alignment (“Promise Protection”)
- Ensure what UC sells is deliverable, supportable, and margin-positive.
- Shape pursuit strategy on strategic deals where execution risk threatens trust and long-term value.
- Maintain disciplined filters: right customers, right scope, right expectations, right standards.
- Partner with delivery owners to ensure UC consistently delivers at the level this role represents.
Outputs: fewer bad-fit deals, fewer escalations, stronger margins, more predictable customer experience.
4) OEM, Distributor, and Industry Partner Leverage
While customer-first, the CCO strengthens UC’s partner leverage by being the executive voice of what customers are standardizing on and what works at scale.
- Build executive alignment with priority OEMs and distributors based on customer adoption and execution performance.
- Support and/or lead negotiations and program alignment to secure:
- VIRs / incentive rebates
- Dollar-one / growth rebates
- MDF
- Funded / co-funded headcount
- Strategic pricing advantages and deal support
- Align UC’s offer strategy to partner roadmaps in ways that improve win rate and delivery success.
Outputs: better economics, stronger OEM support, improved competitiveness driven by customer proof.
5) Voice of the Customer & Internal Improvement Loop
- Establish mechanisms to capture and act on customer truth: wins/losses, escalations, adoption friction, renewal drivers.
- Identify systemic issues that break predictability and help prioritize fixes with the owners.
- Reinforce a culture of clarity, ownership, and continuous improvement.
- Raise the bar for how UC presents itself internally and externally as the company scales.
Outputs: faster learning cycles, stronger standards, higher organizational confidence.
6) Apply general best practices based on recent experiences at a competitor
- Make strong recommendations for financial and operational discipline based on non-proprietary knowledge around best practices learned from recent roles held.
Outputs: Generate a recommendation document, educating the company on those selected by the board or senior leadership for adoption
Success Metrics (Illustrative)
- New logos, qualified pipeline, win rate, sales cycle efficiency (strategic deals)
- NRR / GRR, renewal rate, expansion revenue in priority accounts
- Partner/referral contribution: partner-sourced pipeline and closed revenue
- Customer signals: CSAT/NPS (or equivalent), reference participation, escalation rate/severity
- Deal quality: gross margin on strategic deals, change-order hygiene, rework reduction (strategic accounts)
- OEM/disty value captured: rebates, MDF, funded heads, pricing advantages tied to adoption and performance
Ideal Profile
- Executive presence; trusted with enterprise customers and partners.
- Strong commercial instincts; knows what to promise, what not to promise, and how to protect long-term value.
- Capable negotiator and partner influencer, backed by customer outcomes and proof.
- Understands delivery realities and how execution impacts trust, margin, and growth.
- Disciplined operator: prioritizes what works, measures outcomes, and eliminates wasted effort.
- High integrity, clear communication, and strong internal leadership.
What This Role Is Not
- Not the day-to-day owner of delivery/operations.
- Not “Customer Success only.”
- Not vendor management as an administrative function—partner leverage is earned through customer proof and performance.
This role owns customer and partner relationships and commercial outcomes; delivery leaders own execution— the CCO ensures the promise and the reality stay aligned.
