Senior Manager , Onboarding & Activation (12 month FTC)

Join Vonage and help us innovate cloud communications for businesses worldwide!

Vonage is a global cloud communications leader that helps businesses accelerate their digital transformation through our fully programmable Unified Communications, Contact Center Applications, and Communications APIs.

Why this role matters:

The Senior Manager, Onboarding & Activation, is responsible for designing, implementing, and optimizing the end-to-end journey for new customers, ensuring they quickly achieve their "aha!" moment and become activated, engaged, and successful. This role involves a strategic blend of process design, content creation, team leadership, and data analysis to drive product adoption, reduce time-to-value, and prevent early-stage churn. The Senior Manager will work cross-functionally to refine the initial customer experience and scale best practices.

Please note this is a 12 month fixed term contract, with us looking for someone who ideally could join immediately. 

Your responsibilities;

• Strategy & Program Design:
• Develop and continuously optimize the onboarding and activation strategy for various customer segments, aligned with overall business goals (e.g., retention, usage, upsell).
• Design and map out the ideal customer journey from initial sign-up/purchase through to full product adoption and first value realization.
• Identify key milestones, success metrics, and potential friction points within the onboarding process.
• Oversee the creation and implementation of scalable onboarding programs, including automated workflows, personalized communications (email, in-app messaging), educational content (tutorials, guides, webinars), and structured touchpoints.
• Team Leadership & Management (if applicable):
• Recruit, train, mentor, and lead a team of Onboarding Specialists / Activation Managers
• Set performance goals, conduct regular performance reviews, and foster a culture of continuous improvement and customer-centricity within the team.
• Allocate resources effectively to manage onboarding caseloads and ensure efficient delivery.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration:
• Partner closely with Sales to ensure a smooth and effective handoff from pre-sales to post-sales.
• Collaborate with Product and Engineering teams to influence product roadmap development based on onboarding insights, identify opportunities for in-product activation, and reduce technical barriers to adoption.
• Work with Marketing to align messaging, content, and campaigns that support activation and engagement efforts.
• Interface with Customer Success Managers (CSMs) to ensure a seamless transition from onboarding to ongoing relationship management and to share insights that inform long-term success plans.
• Data Analysis & Optimization:
• Define, track, and analyze key onboarding and activation metrics (e.g., time-to-revenue, activation rates, feature adoption, early churn rates, customer health scores).
• Utilize data to identify trends, diagnose issues, and pinpoint areas for improvement within the onboarding journey.
• Conduct A/B testing and experimentation on onboarding flows and content to continuously optimize performance.
• Report on the effectiveness of onboarding and activation initiatives to senior leadership and cross-functional teams, providing actionable insights and recommendations.
• Content & Tooling:
• Oversee the development and maintenance of high-quality, user-friendly onboarding content (knowledge base articles, video tutorials, in-app guides, welcome kits).
• Leverage and optimize onboarding and customer success platforms (e.g., Gainsight, Salesforce, HubSpot, Intercom, Gong) to automate, personalize, and scale activation efforts.
• Voice of the Customer:
• Gather and synthesize customer feedback related to the onboarding experience through surveys, interviews, and direct interaction.
• Act as an advocate for the customer, ensuring their initial needs and challenges are understood and addressed across the organization.

What you will bring:

• Strong background in Customer Onboarding, Customer Success, Product Management, or Growth Marketing roles
• Experience in a leadership or senior capacity, preferably within a SaaS or tech company.
• Proven experience designing, implementing, and optimizing customer or user onboarding and activation programs at scale.
• Strong understanding of customer lifecycle management and product-led growth principles.
• Highly analytical and data-driven, proficient in using analytics tools (e.g., Mixpanel, Amplitude, Google Analytics, BI tools) to derive insights and inform decisions.
• Experience with Customer Success Platforms (CSPs) and CRM systems.
• Excellent project management skills, with the ability to manage complex initiatives involving multiple stakeholders.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate complex concepts to diverse audiences.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with a proven ability to build relationships and influence cross-functional teams.
• Results-oriented, proactive, and adaptable to a fast-paced, evolving environment.
• Experience leading and mentoring a team is a plus, but not always a requirement depending on the specific organizational structure
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Computer Science, or a related field; Master's degree preferred

#LI-DHC1

There’s no perfect candidate. You don't need all the preferred qualifications to make a valuable impact on our team. Our employees and customers come from diverse backgrounds, so if you're passionate about what you could achieve at Vonage, we'd love to hear from you.

Who we are:

Vonage is a global cloud communications leader. And your talent will further help brands - such as Airbnb, Viber, WhatsApp, and Snapchat - accelerate their digital transformation through our fully programmable-based unified communications, contact center solutions, and communications APIs. Ready to innovate? Then join us today.

Note: The purpose of this profile is to provide a general summary of essential responsibilities for the position and is not meant as an exhaustive list. Assignments may differ for individuals within the same role based on business conditions, departmental need or geographic location.