Senior Customer Success Manager, SLED

Secure Every Identity, from AI to Human

Identity is the key to unlocking the potential of AI. Okta secures AI by building the trusted, neutral infrastructure that enables organizations to safely embrace this new era. This work requires a relentless drive to solve complex challenges with real-world stakes. We are looking for builders and owners who operate with speed and urgency and execute with excellence.

This is an opportunity to do career-defining work. We're all in on this mission. If you are too, let's talk.

About the role:

The Sr. Customer Success Manager - SLED role will play a critical part in the exciting growth trajectory of the Public Sector at Okta. You will report to the Regional Manager, Customer Success - Public Sector and be responsible for complementing Okta’s innovations, best practices, and capabilities with our valued customers’ business objectives and priorities. As a trusted advisor, you will shift customer mindsets, create demand for our solutions, and drive higher business value and executive alignment between Okta and our customers.

The ideal candidate embodies a high-performance mindset—consistently raising the bar, turning action into traction, thriving in change, and moving fast to simplify and repeat. Supporting State, Local, and Education (SLED) customers requires a comprehensive understanding of government and institutional processes, procurement cycles, regulations, and compliance requirements, but it also demands a leader who can navigate these constraints with urgency and an obsession for concrete outcomes. Strong problem-solving, orchestration, and consultative skills are necessary for navigating SLED challenges, finding innovative solutions, and winning as a team.

In this role, you will:

• Deliver Customer Value: Develop and nurture strong customer relationships to understand their business goals and needs, ensuring retention, happiness, and a significant return on investment. Cement yourself as a trusted and strategic advisor, translating complex technical concepts into actionable business outcomes.
• Drive for Results: Create and implement proactive customer success plans and Strategic Business Reviews (SBRs) that outline goals, potential challenges, KPIs, and timelines to turn action into traction and accelerate growth.
• Win as a Team: Act as the liaison for technical inquiries, issues, or escalations. Forge strong multidisciplinary relationships with Sales, Support, Engineering, Product Management, and other stakeholders to lead and coordinate customer success.
• Act as the voice of the customer and collect feedback to drive continuous improvement across all areas, constantly interrogating what needs to evolve to thrive in change.
• Provide insight with respect to the availability and applicability of new products and features, guiding customers into the agentic era.
• Identify renewal risk and collaborate with internal teams to remediate, ensure a successful renewal, and proactively spot expansion opportunities.

You will thrive in this role if you:

• Have 5+ years of experience in a customer success, account management, or consulting role, managing relationships with large, complex state, local, or higher education organizations with a SaaS-based technical enterprise product.
• Have a solid track record of delivering and scaling an exceptional customer experience, choosing ambition over comfort and consistently raising your own bar.
• Demonstrate strong emotional intelligence and an elite level of relationship management and executive stakeholder development.
• Understand SLED regulatory, procurement, and compliance requirements (e.g., StateRAMP, FERPA, CJIS) deeply, yet look for ways to eliminate friction and move fast within those boundaries.
• Possess exceptional presentation and communication skills, particularly when engaging with C-level executives and institutional leaders to align technical goals with business value.
• Have strong listening and analytical skills with the demonstrated ability to ask effective questions, dive deep, understand the customer’s business priorities, and anticipate their needs.
• Exhibit strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work collaboratively and cross-functionally to win as a team.
• Have good technical and problem-solving skills coupled with the ability to provide quick resolution to problems. Experience in enterprise security tools is preferred.
• Are willing to travel up to 35%.
• Hold a Bachelor's Degree (Required) and equivalent experience.
• Meet SLED-specific background requirements: Familiarity with state and local compliance standards is a bonus, and you must be eligible to clear specific state, local, or educational background checks as required by our customers. Must be a US Citizen.
• The ideal candidate will be located in Sacramento California or New York City.

#LI-Hybrid

P7223

Below is the annual On Target Compensation (OTE) range for candidates located in California (excluding San Francisco Bay Area), Colorado, Illinois, New York and Washington. Your actual OTE, which is inclusive of base salary and incentive compensation, will depend on factors such as your skills, qualifications, experience, and work location. In addition, Okta offers equity (where applicable) and benefits, including health, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), flexible spending account, and paid leave (including PTO and parental leave) in accordance with our applicable plans and policies. To learn more about our Total Rewards program please visit: https://rewards.okta.com/us.

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Okta is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, marital status, age, physical or mental disability, or status as a protected veteran. We also consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and convictions records, consistent with applicable laws.

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