Principal: Customer Success (Airlines)

Role Summary:

• The Principal: Customer Success – Airlines is a senior leadership role responsible for owning and driving the success of Cellulant’s most strategic airline customers across Africa. This is not a traditional account management role, it is a strategic partnership position that blends deep industry expertise, commercial acumen, and operational excellence to deliver measurable business outcomes for both the customer and Cellulant. In this role, you will act as the trusted advisor for airline partners, ensuring they fully leverage Cellulant’s payment ecosystem to streamline operations, optimize revenue collection, and enhance passenger experiences. You will lead the end-to-end customer lifecycle - from onboarding and integration to long-term expansion and renewal - while ensuring airline clients see tangible ROI at every stage.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Airline Partnership Management

• Serve as the primary relationship owner for a portfolio of strategic airline partners across multiple countries, ensuring alignment between airline business objectives and Cellulant’s solutions.
• Lead annual, semi-annual, and quarterly business reviews with airline executives, presenting account performance, ROI analysis, market insights, and opportunities for innovation.
• Design and execute tailored success plans for each airline, mapping Cellulant capabilities to their operational needs in areas such as ticket sales, settlements, refunds, ancillary services, and loyalty programs.
• Build and maintain multi-level relationships within client organizations from operational managers to C-suite, ensuring high visibility and trust at all levels.
• Partner with airlines’ commercial and finance teams to align product adoption with seasonal trends, route expansions, and regulatory changes

Customer Lifecycle Ownership & Value Delivery

• Oversee the entire customer journey for airline clients: onboarding, adoption, renewal, expansion—ensuring a consistent, high-quality experience at every stage.
• Create onboarding frameworks specific to airlines, covering integrations with GDS (Global Distribution Systems), ERP systems, and payment gateways.
• Continuously monitor account health metrics, product usage, SLA adherence, and payment settlement cycles, to identify both opportunities for upsell and early warning signs of churn.
• Implement proactive account engagement cadences to prevent reactive firefighting and ensure customers are realizing measurable business outcomes from Cellulant’s services.
• Track and report KPIs (CSAT, NPS, Retention, Expansion) to internal leadership, highlighting risks, successes, and trends.

Industry-Specific Insights & Thought Leadership

• Stay ahead of aviation and airline industry trends, including IATA regulations, payment innovations, and regional travel market dynamics.
• Translate these insights into actionable recommendations for both customers and internal teams, ensuring Cellulant remains a trusted partner in an evolving market.
• Represent Cellulant at industry events, forums, and working groups, strengthening the company’s position as a payment leader in the airline sector.
• Produce quarterly airline sector intelligence briefs for internal teams, ensuring go-to-market strategies and product roadmaps align with customer needs.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Product Alignment

• Work closely with Product, Engineering, Operations, and Finance to ensure customer requirements are built into development cycles and operational processes.
• Translate customer feedback into clear product requirements with measurable business value, ensuring enhancements address real-world airline challenges.
• Drive issue resolution frameworks for critical airline incidents, coordinating internal resources for rapid resolution while maintaining strong client communication.
• Participate in solution design workshops to ensure new features or integrations meet the specific needs of airline workflows.

Process Excellence & Scalability

• Develop and maintain airline-specific playbooks for onboarding, escalation management, and periodic reviews, ensuring scalability across multiple markets.
• Standardize reporting templates for airline account health, enabling faster internal decision-making and strategic planning.
• Build customer advocacy programs for airline partners, turning satisfied clients into public case studies and reference accounts.
• Continuously review internal CS processes for efficiency: introducing automation, self-service tools, and improved documentation where applicable.

Team Leadership, Coaching & Enablement

• Mentor and coach Customer Success Managers and Account Executives working on airline accounts, building deep industry knowledge and account management skills.
• Lead internal training sessions on airline industry nuances, payment flows, and partnership models to upskill cross-functional teams.
• Serve as the escalation point for airline accounts, ensuring swift resolution of high-impact issues while protecting the client relationship.
• Foster a culture of customer-first thinking within the CS team, emphasizing proactive engagement and measurable value delivery.

Executive Reporting & Advocacy

• Prepare board-level summaries for Cellulant leadership on airline account performance, revenue growth, and expansion opportunities.
• Advocate internally for resources, product improvements, and strategic initiatives that enhance the airline customer experience.
• Collaborate with Sales and Marketing to co-create success stories, whitepapers, and thought leadership content showcasing Cellulant’s airline sector impact.

What You Bring:

• Deep Airline Industry Insight: You understand the unique revenue streams, operational flows, and constraints (e.g. ticketing, reconciliation, loyalty programs) faced by airlines.
• Fintech & Payments DNA: You know how airlines integrate with technology platforms—from settlement flows to ticket reconciliation and data analytics.
• Executive Presence: You can engage airline leadership with credibility: navigating operational jargon and strategic goals.
• Strategic & Commercial Mindset: You spot value creation cycles: helping airlines grow while advancing Cellulant’s footprint.
• Leader & Teacher: You’ve developed talent, driving performance improvements across teams.

Core Metrics of Success (KPIs):

• Airline Retention Rate: Aim for 95%+ retention across strategic airline accounts.
• Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): Target 85%+ consistently among airline partners.
• Onboarding Success Rate: Achieve 95% of new integrations completing within 30 days.
• Net Promoter Score (NPS): Strive for 70+ from airlines.
• Revenue Expansion: Drive 15%+ upsell or cross-sell within airline accounts.
• Product Adoption & SLA Adherence: Ensure high usage of core features, with timely issue resolution.