Senior Director, Renewals and Retention

About this role

Senior Director, Renewals and Retention  

Role overview  

The Senior Director, Renewals and Retention is a strategic leadership role responsible for defining and leading Blackbaud’s next-generation renewals motion across a large, multi-product installed base. This leader will own retention as a business outcome and reimagine   the   customer   renewal   experience ,   moving from a fragmented set of contracts, dates, and conversations toward a simple, unified, and predictable renewal relationship.  

This role moves beyond traditional renewal management.   The Senior Director, Renewals and Retention will   design and operationalize a scalable, data-driven renewals model aligned to customer segmentation, product strategy, and long-term revenue growth .   They will also   build   and evol v e   the   capabilit ies,   strategy, standards, systems, and team   required   to support a modern renewals organization .   This role   has a   direct   impact on   recurring revenue, retention, and expansion   outcomes .  

We are looking for a transformational leader who will set the strategy, build   and develop the renewals   motion, and lead the organization through change while driving towards required business outcomes.  

What   you’ll   bring    

Transformation , strategy & execution  

• Move quickly to assess the current renewals motion and develop a new transformation strategy — then own its implementation and execution end to end.  

• Rebuild the renewals motion, team, and processes for scale and predictability ,   retaining   revenue for customers while improving churn.  

• Establish scalable processes, governance, and the standards that keep simplification disciplined.  

• Tackle partial churn directly, including changing how the organization negotiates with customers at renewal to reduce   downsell   and contract erosion.    

• Operationalize the strategy: translate it into implemented changes to team structure, tools, workflows, and customer-facing motions, and sustain the change through execution.  

• Lead organizational change with clarity and pace, evolving the motion in step with product and go-to-market shifts.  

• Build the measurement and instrumentation that show whether the transformation is working.  

Strategic leadership and renewals strategy  

• Define and lead the end-to-end renewals and retention strategy across the installed base.  

• Reimagine the customer’s renewal experience and   lead   the commercial simplification   required   to get there.  

• Shape offering, bundling, and packaging   strategy   as a driver of retention, expansion, and customer value.  

AI, data, and innovation  

• Design a next-generation motion that pairs named coverage with scaled, automated coverage for the broader base.  

• Apply AI and data science to the transformation — using them to redesign workflows, segment the base, and scale coverage, not just as reporting tools.  

• Leverage AI, predictive analytics, and data science to segment customers,   anticipate   churn risk, and surface expansion opportunities.  

• Champion automation and intelligent tooling to improve scalability, efficiency, and customer experience.  

• Continuously evaluate emerging technology to keep the motion ahead of the market.  

Revenue ownership and performance  

• Own performance against gross retention, net revenue retention, renewal rates, and expansion.  

• Deliver expansion as a single, relevant offer at renewal rather than several uncoordinated ones.  

• Personally engage   on   high-value, complex renewals and bring executive presence to close.  

• Partner with Finance to forecast recurring revenue and inform long-range planning.  

• Protect margin and commercial value while driving performance.  

Cross-functional influence and matrixed leadership  

• Build alignment and accountability across Product, Finance, Legal, Sales, and Customer Success without relying on direct authority.  

• Coordinate the motions that reach the same   customer,   so teams reinforce one another rather than compete for attention.  

• Lead cross-functional initiatives tied to retention and lifecycle optimization.  

Customer strategy and engagement  

• Engage senior customer executives on complex renewals and expansion.  

• Shape tailored renewal strategies based on customer health and strategic value.  

• Recognize when an opportunity is really an   unrealized-value   problem, and   route it to onboarding and enablement rather than to a seller.  

Team leadership and development  

• Restructure the team and organizational model to match the new motion, including roles, coverage models, and reporting lines.    

• Recruit, develop, and   retain   a strong team   and leadership bench through a period of change.  

• Set clear priorities, expectations, and accountability.  

• Build a culture of high performance, agility, and continuous improvement ,   and a   team   people want to work for.  

What   you’ll   bring  

• 12+ years of experience in renewals, customer success, revenue operations, commercial operations, account management, or related leadership roles, including ownership of recurring revenue performance, customer retention, and large-scale business transformation initiatives.  

• Transformational leadership experience in renewals or commercial organizations at scale, including oversight of thousands of customer accounts and significant recurring revenue across both named and scaled customer engagement models.  

• Proven experience rebuilding and transforming a renewals organization, operating model, or motion, with measurable improvements in GRR, NRR, retention, and churn.  

• Demonstrated success owning and improving gross retention performance, with a deep understanding of the drivers behind retention outcomes.  

• Experience   leveraging   automation, AI, and data-driven insights to segment customers,   identify   risk, and   optimize   engagement strategies at scale.

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