Client Account Services Lead

WHO WE ARE

Zinnia is the leading technology platform for accelerating life and annuities growth. With innovative enterprise solutions and data insights, Zinnia simplifies the experience of buying, selling, and administering insurance products. All of which enables more people to protect their financial futures. Our success is driven by a commitment to three core values: be bold, team up, deliver value – and that we do. Zinnia has over $180 billion in assets under administration, serves 100+ carrier clients, 2500 distributors and partners, and over 2 million policyholders.WHO YOU ARE

As a Client Account & Services Lead within the Client Implementation Services (CIS) team, you provide full software platform and business support to Zinnia's customers. You serve as a primary liaison between clients, internal delivery teams, and implementation leadership, maintaining a high degree of interaction with customers and acting as the key contact for daily operations personnel at each account.

You operate at all levels within client organizations, from individual contributors to senior management, acting as the client's champion internally to product development, sales and marketing, QA, and production support, while advocating Zinnia's policies and positions externally. You own requirements analysis, documentation, solution design, and client support across the full implementation lifecycle, manage client expectations, and deal effectively with conflict situations, all while cultivating strong, lasting client relationships.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

Client engagement & communication

Own all internal and external communications for assigned client accounts, developing a comprehensive understanding of each client's business objectives, practices, and processes

Build and maintain strong, effective working relationships with clients

Respond promptly and professionally to client inquiries via email and phone

Provide regular status reports to major accounts and to any client with open, unresolved issues or questions

Advocate Zinnia's policies and positions while managing client expectations and resolving conflicts effectively

Escalate to senior management for client escalations and for approval of professional-services scheduling within a release

Business analysis & requirements management

Analyze client business objectives, processes, and operational needs

Elicit, document, and validate business and system requirements with little to no secondary support

Define project scope and solution overview to produce a Statement of Work (SOW) and/or Software Requirements Specification (SRS), establish timeframes, and prepare all necessary documentation

Develop clear, work-specific deliverables to support successful production deployment

Review enhancement and change request requirements, ensuring clarity prior to development

Project & implementation delivery

Manage the complete project implementation lifecycle and ongoing work requests

Manage the build, configuration, testing, and deployment of new distributor/carrier platforms, covering all contracted functionality plus any additional work identified during implementation

Coordinate with cross-functional, geographically distributed teams across countries and time zones to deliver accurate, timely results

Identify and assist clients with pre- and post-launch preparation requirements

Track issues and risks through to resolution in collaboration with technical and functional teams

Support client testing of enhancements and change requests, including investigating and resolving issues

Handle multiple clients and projects simultaneously, including work requiring cross-team coordination

Testing, release & production support

Participate in smoke testing, release meetings, and deployment activities

Debug product profiles (PPfL/PPfA) and PDF forms in both test and production environments

Maintain working knowledge of Zinnia's operating systems and stay current on platform changes, assessing client impact

Maintain knowledge of client contracts; handle client billing and related inquiries

Tools, training & documentation

Manage business prioritization, deployment tracking, billing, and support activities using Zinnia tools (e.g., TFS, JIRA/Redmine)

Train clients on system usage and contribute to training material development

Prepare and maintain project and client documentation, including accurate meeting minutes with action items tracked through to closure

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Bachelor's degree in Computer Information Science or a related field; equivalent professional experience considered in lieu of a formal degree

6+ years of relevant experience, including as a B2B SaaS Account Manager or in a project management/Business Analyst capacity providing full software platform and business support to customers

Methodical, analytical, critical thinking with strong problem-solving and organizational skills

Excellent communication skills, in person, by phone, and in writing

Proven ability to independently author Business Requirements Documents (BRDs) and Software Requirements Specifications (SRS)

A solid blend of project management knowledge, experience, coursework, and/or credentials

Strong interpersonal skills and team leadership with a customer-focused, relationship-driven attitude

Strong aptitude for learning new technical skills quickly

Proficiency with Microsoft Office

• Ability to take effective meeting minutes and follow up on action items
• Mastery of scheduling and time management
• Flexibility to travel as required (up to 15%)
• Strong collaborator within a team-based, cross-functional environment
• Ability to meet established attendance, work, and performance standards
• Familiarity with XML, JavaScript, and SQL is a plus

BONUS POINTS

Experience in Life Insurance and Annuities or the broader financial services sector

Proficiency using web-based Software as a Service (SaaS) applications

Prior experience working with distributed teams across time zones

WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?

Zinnia offers excellent career progression and competitive compensation. We offer great benefits, including health/dental insurance, parental leave, 401(k), incentive/bonus opportunity, tuition reimbursement, and so much more. We’re looking for the best and brightest innovators in the industry to join our team. At Zinnia, you collaborate with smart, creative professionals who are dedicated to delivering cutting-edge technologies, deeper data insights, and enhanced services to transform how insurance is done. Visit our website at <www.zinnia.com> for more information. Apply by completing the online application on the careers section of our website. We are an Equal Opportunity employer committed to a diverse workforce. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability.

If you are resident in California, the CCPA applies to you, find the link to the appropriate privacy notice here stating how we collect and use your data in line with CCPA.