The posting
nTop gives engineering teams a better way to explore the design space for complex, high-performance products. Engineers use nTop to turn design intent into reusable workflows that generate and evaluate thousands of configurations, connect to the simulation tools they already use, and run at a scale that manual design can't reach. Our customers work across aerospace and defense, turbomachinery, energy, marine, automotive, and industrial applications. More and more of them are building AI and agentic engineering workflows on top of nTop.
We're a small team selling a new way of doing engineering into some of the most demanding organizations in the world. Everyone here carries real ownership, and the work each person does shows up directly in how the company performs.
The Role We're hiring a Principal Customer Success Manager to own nTop's most strategic customer relationships across the largest aerospace, propulsion, and energy organizations: airframers, engine OEMs, and power generation manufacturers. You'll own a focused book of nTop's most strategic accounts and report to the SVP of Sales and Customer Success.
Our Customer Success team runs two motions: a high-velocity motion, and a newer strategic motion focused on our largest enterprise customers. This role is part of the strategic motion. You’ll own the accounts and engagements that matter most to nTop: leading complex renewals, quarterbacking onsite engineering sprints, and turning first deployments into long-term, multi-program partnerships. nTop is a deep, technical product, and the customers using it are some of the most demanding engineering organizations in the world. Success in this role means understanding their engineering well enough to make nTop part of how they work.
This role also sits at the center of how nTop is evolving. We’re moving away from per-seat licenses towards platform and capacity-based pricing with outcome-focused engineering engagements. You’ll actively lead your customers through that shift at renewal, and help them build nTop into their AI and digital engineering roadmaps. Our strategic agreements are typically structured as 12- to 24-month programs, with defined engineering scope, deliverables, and milestones. Managing them with real program discipline is what earns the renewal, and the next program after it.
What You'll Do Own a strategic book. Be accountable for retention and growth across a focused set of nTop's most strategic accounts, with a net revenue retention target. Run every account as a program. Treat each customer agreement as a 12- to 24-month engineering program with defined scope, deliverables, and milestones. Track progress, keep both nTop and the customer accountable, and tie results to the outcomes customers care about: schedule, performance, and win rate. Every renewal should be backed by results the customer has already seen. Lead complex renewals. Forecast early, build the business case, and negotiate six- and seven-figure renewals and multi-year agreements. Lead the pricing transition. Actively move your customers from seat-based licenses to platform and capacity-based pricing, working closely with the Strategic Account Director. Quarterback onsite engineering engagements. Travel to customer sites to lead engineering sprints and services engagements, aligning customer stakeholders, nTop's Field Solutions Engineers, and the outcomes the engagement needs to deliver. Build relationships at the top and across the organization. Develop executive sponsors among engineering and program leadership, run executive business reviews, and stay close to the engineers, IT, and procurement teams who keep deployments healthy. Find and shape expansion. Identify new programs, divisions, and use cases inside your accounts, and partner with the Strategic Account Director to turn them into expansion deals. Be technically credible. Understand how your customers design and simulate well enough to diagnose adoption blockers, run workflow conversations with engineers, and bring in Field Solutions Engineering at the right moment. Lead the AI conversation after the sale. Help customers see how nTop fits into the AI and agentic engineering workflows they're building, and turn that into the next phase of the relationship. See risk early. Track account health, flag issues before they reach the renewal, and lead escalations when they happen. Work as one team. Partner closely with the Strategic Account Director, Field Solutions Engineering, Customer Success, Support, and Product. We share relationships across accounts because the goal is nTop winning, not territory. Raise the bar for strategic account management. Use AI tools to work faster, keep account health and renewal forecasts accurate in Salesforce, and help define how nTop runs its most strategic accounts.
What Success Looks Like First 6 months: You’ve set clear program plans and identified executive sponsors at each of your accounts, your renewal forecast is accurate and visible, and you've led your first major renewal and onsite engagement. First 12 months: Your book is hitting its net revenue retention target, you've moved key accounts onto platform pricing, you've sourced meaningful expansion opportunities with the Strategic Account Director, and you've helped define the playbook for how nTop runs strategic accounts.
Required Experience A track record of owning a renewal number for large enterprise SaaS accounts, with individual renewals of $1M+, typically 8+ years in customer success or strategic account management. Experience working with enterprise customers in complex, multi-stakeholder organizations. Experience in a post-sale role with engineering software (CAD, CAE/simulation, PLM, or adjacent engineering and digital engineering software such as MBSE or design automation), working specifically with engineering leaders (directors and VPs of engineering, chief engineers, and heads of digital engineering). Technical aptitude. You understand the engineering software ecosystem and how engineers move from CAD to simulation and back, and you're comfortable leading workflow conversations with engineers on a deep, technical product. Executive presence. You're as credible across the table from a VP of Engineering or program executive as you are in a working session with engineers, and you build trust with senior leaders over years, not quarters. Commercial ownership. You've negotiated large renewals and multi-year agreements yourself, not just managed the relationship around them. Program management discipline. You’ve run complex, multi-month customer engagements with defined scope, deliverables, and milestones, and you know how to manage scope, timelines, and stakeholders so commitments are delivered. U.S. Person status as defined by ITAR, due to export control requirements. At least 30% travel to customer sites, onsite engineering engagements, and industry events, with heavier stretches around key engagements.
Strongly preferred (we don't expect all of these) Experience working with airframers, engine OEMs, or energy manufacturers, and knowing how they operate: who holds budget, how programs fund tools year over year, and how procurement and export control shape a renewal. Existing relationships at companies such as Lockheed Martin, RTX/Pratt & Whitney, GE Aerospace, or Siemens Energy are a strong plus. Experience moving customers from seat-based licensing to platform, usage, or value-based pricing, or managing accounts for AI, simulation-driven, or design automation products.
Also a plus Hands-on familiarity with nTop or similar tools, enough to use the product at a high level. Active security clearance (Secret or higher). Exposure to additive manufacturing, generative design, or advanced manufacturing. Experience at a high-growth startup or scale-up. A degree in engineering, physics, applied math, computer science, or materials science.
How you work You see a renewal as the result of value delivered all year, not a negotiation that starts 90 days out. You're proactive. You raise risks and opportunities before anyone asks. You're low-ego and collaborative. You win by pulling in the right people at the right time and making the team around you better. You own your results.
Compensation Compensation: the on-target earnings (OTE) range for this role is $177,000 to $224,000 USD, plus equity and benefits. Final compensation depends on seniority and level of industry experience.
