Client Success Manager - Local SEO & Google Ads

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY: If you've spent a few years managing SEO and Google Ads accounts at an agency, you've probably developed opinions about how the work could be better. You know which reports leave business owners confused, which problems keep coming back, and where a little more attention would make a real difference. At Sustain Media, you'll have room to act on those ideas. You'll own relationships with home service business owners, work directly with our strategy team, and help improve how we onboard, communicate, and keep commitments as we grow. This is an ownership role. You'll run your own pod of businesses. Whether they stay, grow, and trust us is on you, and your pay grows as they do. We're a small, fast-growing agency. Not every system is in place yet, but nothing is broken, and your input will play a big role in how we build the rest. You'll have tools, defined responsibilities, and experienced people to work with. We also expect you to investigate problems, make recommendations, and help improve a process when you see something that isn't working. If you need an SOP for every step before you can do the job, this role probably isn't for you. This role is a good fit for someone who enjoys earning a business owner's trust, takes pride in figuring things out, and wants their judgment to matter in the company they work for. ABOUT SUSTAIN MEDIA Sustain Media runs local SEO and Google Ads for home service businesses, including plumbers, HVAC companies, electricians, roofers, restoration companies, and auto shops. We work with growing owner-operated companies through $50M+ businesses with large teams and serious growth goals. Our services are month to month, and clients own the websites, profiles, and ad accounts we build and manage. Even so, our monthly churn runs under 2%. Some agencies with 100+ clients lose around 10 a month. More of our new clients are larger, multi-location companies with bigger budgets and higher expectations. We're adding another Client Success Manager so the businesses we work with continue to get personal attention as we grow. You'll work alongside our client success team, Head of Strategy & Delivery, channel specialists, developers, and tech operations team. WHAT YOU'LL OWN Your pod. Own a book of businesses from kickoff through the life of each account. Know how each one is doing, which ones are at risk, and what you're doing about it. Client relationships. Be the primary day-to-day contact across calls, email, Slack, and reporting videos. Learn the owner's goals, concerns, and expectations well enough to have useful conversations and catch problems early. Onboarding. Own the follow-through from kickoff through collecting access and getting the team what it needs to begin work. Track start dates, missing information, and next steps. Follow up before a missing login becomes a missed deadline. Business context. Know which jobs the business wants, which markets matter, how seasonality affects demand, and whether leads are turning into useful opportunities. Keep that information current for the team. Reporting and calls. Explain results, completed work, problems, and upcoming priorities in plain language. Connect marketing performance to qualified leads, booked jobs, and revenue where the data supports it. Problem-solving. When an owner says the leads are bad or the marketing isn't working, ask questions, review the available information, and work with the right specialist on a response. Stay responsible for keeping the owner informed and following through. Commitments. Record requests, decisions, owners, and due dates in Airtable. Follow up internally, flag delays, and keep the business informed until the issue is resolved. Retention and account growth. Catch changes in expectations, engagement, or performance early. Coordinate a response with strategy and leadership. When an additional service fits the business's goals, make the case and lead the conversation. Better ways of working. Help improve onboarding, reporting, client records, and AI workflows. Bring a specific recommendation, help put it into practice, and check whether it made the work better. HOW YOU'LL WORK Our Head of Strategy & Delivery and channel specialists own technical strategy and execution. You'll contribute the business context, ask good questions, challenge recommendations when something doesn't add up, and help the owner understand what we're doing and why. When you need help, bring the context, what you've checked, and your recommended next step. You'll have support with difficult situations and stay involved in the follow-up. You'll start by learning our services, reviewing account history, and shadowing calls before taking over relationships. New clients here are some of our biggest, so you don't have to work your way up from the smallest accounts. Your starting pod includes established businesses, some of them among our larger accounts. They move to you in stages over your first 30 to 45 days, and new businesses join your pod as they sign. Most pods run 25 to 30 businesses after ramp-up instead of the 50 to 70 a lot of agencies hand you, and 35 is a hard cap. That number comes down as our clients get bigger. We'll discuss the account mix, communication schedule, and support behind that workload during the interview process. We don't use screen trackers or check what you did in the last hour. You're expected to answer clients and the team from 9 to 5 Eastern on weekdays. As long as you do that and your businesses are taken care of, how you run your day is up to you. AI is part of our daily work. You'll use it to prepare for calls, review account history, analyze information, and draft updates. You are responsible for checking the facts and making sure anything shared with a business owner is accurate and useful. WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE Messages receive a useful response or acknowledgment within one business hour during your working hours. If the answer takes longer, the business knows when it will hear from you next. Weekly updates, short reporting videos, and live calls happen on each account's agreed schedule. Reporting videos typically take 4-10 minutes and explain progress, what matters, and what's next. Calls end with clear decisions and next steps. Those commitments get tracked and completed. Business owners hear about meaningful problems and delays before they have to ask. At-risk accounts have a documented concern, a response plan, and a next check-in. Businesses in your pod stay with us, add services when it makes sense, and refer other owners. We're looking for monthly churn under 2% across your pod. The team has the information and approvals needed to keep work moving. You can point to improvements you helped make and explain how they helped the businesses or the team. WHO WE'RE LOOKING FOR 3+ years in agency account management, client success, or digital strategy, with direct responsibility for client relationships and retention on SEO and Google Ads accounts. Customer success at a software company alone won't be enough. Hands-on SEO and Google Ads experience is a must. Our specialists do the execution here, but you've worked in these accounts closely enough to explain performance, recognize a questionable answer, and ask useful follow-up questions. You should understand Google Business Profiles, Map Pack rankings, website SEO, budgets, cost per lead, conversion tracking, and lead quality. Confidence leading conversations with business owners and marketing leaders, including when results need to improve or expectations need to be reset. You can take a technical report and explain it to a plumbing shop owner in plain language. A reliable way to manage a busy portfolio and keep promises without someone checking every step. Evidence that you've solved a problem or improved a process on your own initiative. Be ready to walk us through what you noticed, what you did, and what changed. The confidence to raise a concern or disagree respectfully, along with the judgment to change your view when new information warrants it. Clear writing and comfort recording short screen-share videos. Practical experience using AI and an interest in learning better ways to do the work. Home service experience is a MAJOR plus. So is experience managing accounts with multiple locations, several decision-makers, or retainers above $5,000 a month. COMPENSATION AND GROWTH $85,000 base salary + monthly pod performance pay, plus upsell pay. Pod performance pay is a monthly share of the recurring fees Sustain collects from the businesses in your pod. A full pod brings in about $125,000 to $170,000 a month in recurring fees. Your share on each business goes up the longer it stays with us. Tenure counts from the day the business joined Sustain, so accounts you inherit keep their history. A business starts earning you a share after six months with Sustain. Pod performance pay starts your first full month and phases in over six months, so you're at the full amount by month six. There's no cap. When a business in your pod adds a service or its fees go up, your pay goes up with it. You also earn a one‑time bonus, with no waiting period, when you find and close a new service for a business in your pod. We expect year-one earnings of $90,000‑$100,000 while your pod and pay ramp up. By year three, an established pod of long‑term businesses earns $130,000 or more. We'll walk through the exact schedule, your starting pod, and the math during the hiring process. This role can grow. If you take on training, leadership, or ownership of part of client success, we'll review your role and pay separately. Fully remote, with availability during Eastern Time business hours Unlimited PTO, with planned coverage for your accounts Direct access to leadership and strategic support A say in how we improve the work as the company grows