What are the best Customer Service job titles for you and your team? You’ve got a lot (Customer Service, Customer Experience, Customer Success, Customer Care, etc.) to choose from.
I reviewed 164 Customer Service job titles searched for by candidates (and employers!) to find the best titles for you to choose from. This mini-report is the latest chapter in Ongig’s series called Job Titles: The Definitive Guide.
Below you’ll find:
- What is Customer Service? — Best practices on roles and department names.
- Customer Service Org Chart — The standard hierarchy for Customer Service department positions
- The Top 20 Most Searched-For Customer Service Titles — A pie chart of the top 20 Customer Service positions that candidates search for on Google.
- 10 Customer Service Job Titles and Descriptions — A list of the top 10 Customer Service job titles and descriptions that employers request. Plus a bonus job description: Account Manager (could be customer service, or could be considered sales, depending on the company.)
What qualifies as a customer service job?
What is customer service? Here’s a nice definition by Salesforce:
“Customer service is the support you offer your customers — both before and after they buy and use your products or services — that helps them have an easy and enjoyable experience with you. Offering amazing customer service is important if you want to retain customers and grow your business.”
Companies use many variations of “Customer Service” job titles. Here are a few examples:
- Customer Support (Workday uses)
- Customer Success (Twitter uses)
- Customer Experience (Slack uses)
- Customer Care (Lyft uses)
- Customer Happiness (Under Armour uses)
- Client Care (IBM uses)
- Client Service (Robert Half uses)
- Call Center/Call Centre (SiriusXM uses)
- Guest Services (Google uses)
- Customer Delight (Zomato uses)
- Business Relationship (Linkedin uses)
- Partner Support (Amazon uses)
The “customer service” role has evolved over the years too:
“The main difference between service today and service 10 years ago is that customers expect premium service to be built-in from the first sales or marketing interaction and carry through to the moment they ask for help, post-purchase, and back again.”
(source: What is customer service? Definition, importance & tips, Zendesk)
What is customer success?
What is the difference between customer support and customer success?
“Customer Success” titles (e.g. Customer Success Manager (CSM)) have become a widely-used title for cloud/SaaS companies. The CSM at a SaaS/Cloud company is the person who owns the account once sales has closed it. A CSM is critical because the majority of revenue from a SaaS client comes from renewals and upsells. SaaS companies using Customer Success positions include:
- DocuSign
- Adobe
- Okta
- Slack
A SaaS company might still use “customer service” as a role but it will likely be one that responds to customer request “tickets” in which a customer has a problem with the software. The customer success manager, on the other hand, will be the person having strategic calls with the client such as a quarterly business review or renewal call.
What is an account manager?
There can be a fuzzy line between customer service and account management.
For example, the role “Account Manager” is most often a sales role that hunts for new business (e.g. Lenovo uses Global Account Manager for a “Proactive Solutions Selling” position). However, Account Manager is also sometimes used as a customer service/customer success role focused on supporting and growing an existing account.
Here are a couple of Account Manager positions with a customer service/success aspect:
- Pitney Bowes uses Client Account Manager for a role that mostly supports existing customers (while also supporting the sales team)
- eBay uses Ad Solutions Account Manager for a pre- and post-sales role to cultivate sellers on its platform;
- Checkpoint Software uses Regional Account Manager to develop existing channel partnerships
To help clarify when an Account Manager is more of a sales role, a best practice is to put “Sales” in the job title. Examples:
- Google uses Sales Account Manager to develop and grow; agency relationships (part sales part retention).
- Red Bull uses Sales Account Manager for growing existing store business;
- Century Link Sales Account Manager to develop existing sales in a given territory.
Customer Service Job Titles Hierarchy
Here’s a typical org chart of Customer Service position titles.
- Chief Customer Officer (CCO) – Chief Experience Officer, Chief Client Officer, Chief Customer Service Officer
- Vice President of Customer Service – Customer Service Executive, VP Customer Experience, VP Client Services, SVP Global Customer Service
- Director Customer Service – Customer Experience Director, Director of Client Services, Director of Implementation, Voice of the Customer
- Customer Service Manager (CSM) – Customer Success Manager, Call Center Supervisor, Implementation Manager, Relationship Manager, Client Services Manager, Customer Experience Manager, Manager of Customer Success
- Individual Contributors – Customer Service Representative, Call Center Representative, Implementation Specialist, Customer Service Agent, Implementation Consultant, Customer Care Representative, Customer Trainer, Support Specialist, Customer Advocate
- Entry Level – Customer Service Assistant, Customer Success Intern, Trainee Technical Support, Customer Service Trainee
Here’s a longer list of titles by each row of the pyramid with little more texture on each:
Job Titles for Customer Service Leaders
Here are the top 10 titles I found candidates and employers using for Customer Service leaders:
- Chief Customer Officer (CCO) (Hubspot uses). Interesting note: Only 10% of companies with $20 million or more in sales uses the CCO title; source: Tomasz Tunguz
- Chief Experience Officer (CXO) (Northwell Health)
- Chief Client Officer
- Chief Customer Service Officer
- Head of Customer First (Uber uses)
- Head of Global Customer Service
- Head of Customer Success (Asana uses)
- Chief Experience Officer
- Head Global Customer Service (Wayfair uses)
- Head of Customer First (Okta uses)
VP of Customer Service Titles
Here are the top 12 titles I found candidates and employers using for Customer Service Vice President titles:
- Vice President Customer Service (eBay uses)
- Customer Service Executive
- VP Customer Experience
- VP Client Services
- Customer Operations Executive
- VP of Client Success
- Vice President of Customer Success
- SVP Client Management
- Customer Experience Executive
- Customer Solutions Executive
- SVP Global Customer Service (PayPal uses)
- Senior Vice President Customer First (Okta uses)
Director of Customer Service Titles
Here are the top 11 most used Customer Service director titles:
- Customer Service Director
- Customer Experience Director
- Director of Client Services
- Director of Implementation
- Director of Customer Service
- Voice of the Customer
- Member Services Director
- Director of Guest Services
- Customer Success Team Lead (Asana uses)
- VP Client Relationship Manager
- Senior Director Customer First (Okta uses)
Customer Service Manager Titles
There are numerous Customer Service Manager alternative titles to use. Here are the top 18 I found candidates and employers using:
- Customer Service Manager (CSM)
- Customer Success Manager
- Call Center Supervisor
- Relationship Manager
- Client Services Manager
- Relationship Manager
- Implementation Manager
- Customer Service Supervisor
- Customer Care Manager
- Guest Services Manager
- Manager of Customer Success
- Client Care Manager
- Partner Support Manager
- Services Account Manager
- Dedicated Customer Service Manager (Asana uses)
- Member Services Manager
- Regional Manager Customer Success (Linkedin uses)
- Customer Delight Manager (Zomato uses)
Individual Contributor Customer Service Titles
When you get to the individual contributor level of Customer Service positions, there is more granularity. Here are the top 25 I found candidates and employers using:
- Customer Service Representative
- Call Center Rep
- Implementation Specialist
- Customer Service Agent
- Implementation Consultant
- Customer Care Representative
- Support Specialist
- Customer Advocate
- Call Center Rep
- Client Service Associate
- Client Service Representative
- Client Advocate
- Customer Engineer
- Guest Services Agent
- Guest Services Coordinator
- Customer Service Expert
- Client Service Rep
- Customer Service Engineer (HPE uses)
- Customer Experience Specialist
- Client Care Specialist
- Customer Service Expert (Salesforce uses)
- Customer Happiness Agent
- Customer Success Architect
- Customer Experience Agent
- Customer Success Specialist (Twitter uses)
Entry-Level Customer Service Job Titles
Examples of entry-level Customer Service titles include:
- Customer Service Trainee
- Entry Level Client Service Intern
- Customer Success Intern
- Customer Service Assistant
- Customer Experience Intern
- Trainee Customer Support
Top Customer Service Job Titles (Candidates)
Below is a list of the top 20 Customer Service job titles based on Google queries we found on ahrefs.
Customer Service Representative is the #1 searched-for job by candidates and is also the #1 most requested customer service job description by employers (see Top 10 list below).
Top 10 Customer Service Job Titles and Descriptions (Employers)
Below are the top 10 Customer Service Job Description titles employers request on Google, according to ahrefs.
I’ve included a brief description for each as well as the # of job title searches per month by employers.
Customer Service Representative
A Customer Service Representative, also commonly called a Customer Service Agent or Customer Care Representative is a customer-facing employee who receives calls, manages complaints, and answers customer requests. A Customer Service Agent is also responsible for:
- Solves customer problems
- Helps achieves customer goals
- Sends customer communications
# of job title searches per month: 2,700; Customer Service Agent: 150; Customer Care Representative: 100
Customer Service Manager
A Customer Service Manager supervises a team of customer service employees. A Customer Service Manager facilitates customer growth and issue resolution. Other responsibilities of a Customer Service Manager include creating customer service procedures, documenting policies and standards, and set clear customer goals.
# of job title searches per month: 1,000; Customer Success Manager: 500; Customer Service Supervisor: 300
Call Center Representative
A Call Center Representative maintains customer databases, fields customer calls, and resolves problems. Other tasks of a Call Center Representative include:
- Troubleshooting for clients
- Adding product features for customers
- Finding solutions for clients
# of job title searches per month: 400
Relationship Manager
A Relationship Manager, popular in the banking industry, is responsible for setting up client meetings, looking for potential new customers, and staying up to date on regulations. A Relationship Manager is commonly called a Client Services Manager or Client Relationship Manager. Duties of a Relationship Manager may also include assessing customer needs, conducting customer satisfaction reviews, and document action plans.
# of job title searches per month: 400; Client Services Manager: 250; Client Relationship Manager: 150
Support Specialist
A Support Specialist is a link between a company’s service or product. A Support Specialist is tasked with:
- Managing customer complaints
- Providing technical support
- Supplying product information to clients
- Analyzing customer needs
- Opening new customer accounts
# of job title searches per month: 300
Call Center Manager
A Call Center Manager leads a staff of call center support agents. A Call Center Manager is responsible for managing the day to day operations of a call center and improving call center processes. A Call Center Manager also recruits and trains new employees, and tracks their productivity. Managing call center budgets is also a task of a Call Center Manager.
# of job title searches per month: 250; Call Center Supervisor: 200
Implementation Specialist
An Implementation Specialist or Implementation Consultant supports a customer after their purchase of a product or service. The main duties of an Implementation Specialist include:
- Managing the implementation of a product or service
- Configuring and setting up a product or service
- Managing the project schedule
- Training clients on a new system or product
# of job title searches per month: 250; Implementation Consultant: 100
Chief Customer Officer
A Chief Customer Officer leads the customer service team in an organization. A Chief Customer Officer creates systems to improve customer service and the customer’s experience. A Chief Customer Officer also develops employee training programs related to optimal customer experience. The Chief Customer Officer works with the senior management team to solve customer problems and create long term plans for customer retention.
# of job title searches per month: 150
Client Services Director
A Client Services Director leads a team of customer support representatives. Top tasks of a Client Service Manager include:
- Managing client support workflow
- Creating a customer service strategy and goals
- Auditing employee performance
- Leading client relationship meetings
# of job title searches per month: 150; Customer Service Director: 100
Customer Advocate
A Customer Advocate studies customer needs and provides support to their customers. A Customer Advocate helps satisfy customer needs and maintains an open line of communication with clients. A Customer Advocate also manages issue resolution and provides recommendations for improving customer service.
# of job title searches per month: 100
Account Manager
An Account Manager is a link between the sales and customer service teams in a company. The duties of an Account Manager are:
- Manages sales relationships with customers
- Maintains existing client relationships
- Understands customer demands
- Identifies new sales opportunities for existing clients
- Establishes client budgets
# of job title searches per month: 4,400
Creative Customer Service Job Titles
There are some quite funny job titles for Customer Service. One startup calls their Customer Support people “Consultants” and their managers “Coaches”. Here are a few other creative customer service job titles.
- Chief Chatter Call Center Manager
- Geek Squad Agent (Customer Service Agent)…Best Buy uses Geek Squad Agents to repair and upsell clients
- Genius (Customer Service Person)…Apple uses it at Apple Store
- Happiness Hero (Customer Service Representative)…Buffer
- Head of Customer Wow (Head of Customer Service)
Thank you, Customer Service Job Title Experts!
In addition to the sources cited above, special thanks to these experts on Customer Service titles:
- Swetha Ameresan’s article on What Exactly Does a Customer Service Rep Do?
- Peter Jones’ article on 6 Skills You Need to Become a Call Center Representative
- Total Job’s Relationship Manager job description
- Study.com’s article on Customer Support Specialist: Job Duties & Career Info
- Daniela Puzzo’s article on 7 Things Great Call Center Managers Do Every Day
- Steve McDonnell’s article on Implementation Specialist Job Description
- Swetha Ameresan’s article on How to Become the Chief Customer Officer (CCO)
- Nandini Jammi’s article on What Is a Customer Advocate?
- What is customer service? Definition, importance & tips (by Courtney Gupta)
- TestBox article on 18 Customer service phrases to delight your customers
Why I wrote this?
My team and I share this research on Customer Service job titles to help you optimize your own titles. This supports our mission to transform job descriptions. Check out Ongig.com to learn more.
