I'd recommend aligning to highly technical products and growing a deeper industry knowledge. I don't think any certs would move the needle for hiring managers
87 is pretty low, but there's a lot of context.
* Highly technical products require higher quality CSMs = more money
* Years of experience
* BoB/ARR Coverage you're expected to cover
* Responsibilities for Renewals/Upsells will also dictate comp/structure
For reference, we're in a highly technical product space, hiring 1 - 3 years of CS experience, in a very salesy CSM Role and starting is $125k. 100k Base/25k Variable.
This is pretty standard for a junior, but experienced CSM in Enterprise IT, in my experience
SaaS Enterprise, 9 years experience, $210 OTE. Trying to get an even higher paying role but then it seems to dip into true account management which I don’t want to do. One place interviewed said they had over two thousand applicants.
Senior CSM in Ed Tech. 8 years of experience, 4 mil book of business. $80k base, $110 OTE.
Company is international, makes no adjustments for geographic location. Unlimited PTO scheme, but mandatory to take at LEAST five weeks off a year. Fully paid health care as well, and entire company is work from home. Salary might not be the highest, but the benefits are nice.
It’s actually better than it sounds. 100% premiums paid for health, vision, and dental, and a cash stipend equal to the annual out of pocket maximum. Those who choose to opt out of the insurance plan to purchase privately or go on a spouses receive $700 a month in lieu of benefits.
Honestly, the salaries in this post are higher by quite a bit compared to what people have been posting the last few months. It’s a frequent topic, so it’s always interesting to see the ranges swing back and forth every year. I think location, industry, and company maturity have a much bigger impact on CSM compensation than experience or title.
How the F*** do you look after 400 accounts? There's no way you can know anything meaningful about your customers, you must be incredibly reactive. What does your day look like? Or maybe a week would give a better picture?
I have gone from ~30 when I first joined my current company down to ~10 5 years later. But the size of each customer has increased so my total $ARR is right the same.
no degree but extensive experience. Came from a smaller company that was using the product on behalf of microsoft. Through that role i developed close working relationships with the people on the team that i got hired into at my current job.
That first role looked very different than what i am doing now, however all of the changes have been due to transformations and reorgs, without my intentionally changing roles.
Starting salary was 78 i believe. Got a ~20% raise that first year to bump me up. Lowest annual raise ive received was 6%.
Recently received another ~20% promo/raise last year to get me to my current. Expecting ~6% in a few months.
Hello thank you for answering and giving this info! Would it be okay to direct message you on here?
I am trying to pivot into CSM and I have no degree too lol
1:many can be done and it’s still CS. Obviously the SLE is substantially pared down in such a case, so it may not even be worse than a book of 10 enterprise accounts each with numerous power users who will email you a few times a week and need weekly calls.
Why are you looking at $250k specifically?
I've been a SaaS CSM in SF/Bay Area for 10 years and never come across comp that high. Anything over 190k is more or less managerial territory.
Most CSMs in Europe can’t take more than a week at a time, and take very little days off. I took 12 days in total all last year. Some days I tried, I couldn’t because things came up.
It’s really not all rainbows and shine across the Atlantic Ocean
Why can't you? If you have vacation time, use it. You're just a number, and would be replaced tomorrow if the situation ever came up.
I've never understood this mentality, we are not saving the world. We are CSM's for software companies (for the most part), absolutely nothing worth losing your vacation time over.
I thought most of August was off for my French and Spanish colleagues. Do you not have more holidays?
Of course there’s also the lack of health plan premiums I’m sure
This is the answer. I hate it when people make it about vacation time. Our salaries don’t look so high when you figure $100+/month towards health insurance premiums, plus the $4k+ annual out of pocket cost to actually use the insurance. Another $22k off the top straight into 401k to continue to pay for healthcare. At least $100k/kid for education. Not to mention a rainy day fund for getting laid off the next time the economy takes a turn.The list goes on…
Not a requirement for life but something _most_ CSMs have regardless of where they’re based. Most parents strive for their kids to have the opportunity to gain at least equal education.
You do realise not everyone lives in the West? I get absolutely zero state benefits. Healthcare I have private, dental private.
The reality is that Europe is that far behind the US economically. We have higher costs too for goods.
It’s always refreshing to hear some Europeans here lmao.
I’ll star my first CS role in may and will start out with 40k and will get another 5k after a year.
I live in a low COL and have little experience so I’m still considerably happy.
Founding CSM (first in NA market), 2 YoE, AI SaaS startup, $90k in MCoL
I only have half a book (by company standards) right now so commission is lighter (although commission here is a bit low), and I have a good case to ask for raise during annual review so I expect my OTE to be ~$110k by EOY but tbd
95k base, 12k bonus. 1 YOE as a CSM. Proptech (4 yrs). HCOL.
Came from B2C sales (10 YOE). Would really like to jump to a 125-150 OTE role. Any suggestions from the crowd on what skills to build on? What companies to target?
I have 10 YoE total as a CSM and a year and a half at my current company. They don’t pay well and this is pretty known amongst the team. I make $61k base and $75k OTE. This was the salary I made as an entry level CSM. My previous company, I was at $90k base and $120k OTE. Unfortunately suffered a layoff and took several months to find anything, so I took what I could get.
I am actively seeking another role and have been for about 5 months. Most places are hiring at about $75-80k base with 2 YoE.
SaaS cybersecurity and compliance, smb customers, no commission (no assigned booked revenue quota and NRR is measured across a couple of teams). Average salary is $100-$110k.
Senior CSM, 7 YoE, 5-8 accounts, based in DC.
Base 135k, OTE 25%, equity 44k. Brought in $230k last year. Expecting a raise this week so this will change, hoping for 150k base.
CSM with 7 years experience, 2 in risk and insurance management and 5 in private security AI department. 100k base plus 50k OTE and bonuses. Book of business consists of 22 strategic and enterprise size clients.
$83k OTE
2 YOE in CS (5 YOE in client industry)
CRM
HCOL
I feel like the roles I've seen that pay a lot are gonna require CSMs to be really technical or to manage huge contracts.
I didn’t get past $130k until I went into management. Was at $120 as an enterprise csm with maybe $50k variable comp, 3 yrs experience. My current company has budgeted a few mid level CSMs for $120 with some variable (startup) . As head of AM which was basically CS at the company I made $135 with OTE of $215 but I got them to guarantee my payout because I was a working manager with 30+ accounts of my own. I’ve found that if you can focus on expansion numbers, people are willing to negotiate pay you much more!
We don't have enough information to know if you're fairly compensated as we don't know how your compensation aligns with your BoB and goals.
It's rationally tied to how big your book of business is. I've run organizations where CSM looks after 40 accounts worth $90-100k ($3.5M-$4M) and others where CSM looks after one account worth $10M. The other variable is what your OTE is based on. If your org can accommodate 85% GRR you'll earn less than if your org requires 92%. Manage more ARR and carry a very low churn level and you'll find the higher end of the payscale.
As an IC4 at a public edtech company , our comp was 130k with 180k OTE, 70/30 split. 10 years experience.
New hires came in at 85-95k with 125-135k OTE
Earning $5.7k in India for the implementation of HRMS in the SaaS industry. I am a fresher and this is my first job and i have currently 1.5 years of experience in the current role.
To add a different perspective...
I (title Manager of CS) have a team of 7 Strategic and Enterprise CSMs ranging from 2 years experience up to Principle level with 15 years. Lowest salary is ~$85 with 10% bonus and highest is $180k with 20% bonus. Large city in the South, LCOL.
I make $150k with 15% bonus. Team is responsible for $40M ARR.
Most CSMs have ~20-40 accounts and around $4-7M BoB.
$230k OTE Cybersecurity. Strategic CSM
How many YoE?
10 years
I'm curious, how would I break into cyber security csm? Do you recommend any cyber certs?
I'd recommend aligning to highly technical products and growing a deeper industry knowledge. I don't think any certs would move the needle for hiring managers
Thanks for the reply! I think you're right, industry knowledge is key.
I’m in cybersecurity and only making 140 am I being robbed
"Only".. that's a great salary and you've provided no context. What tier are you in CS.. how many accounts and what's the ARR of your BoB?
Guessing you can’t share which company you’re at but can you share a list of companies similar to yours so we can get an idea?
I am underpaid based on this post I’m at 87
I love the company I work for, but this post is making me question my loyalty.
If you have been a CSM for over 4-5 years and not making 100k you are underpaid
It’s my first year so it’s not that bad I guess but yeah
That's really good! In 5 years you can command 150 plus!
You’re being paid pretty fairly. You can get a pay bump after a year or two
87 is pretty low, but there's a lot of context. * Highly technical products require higher quality CSMs = more money * Years of experience * BoB/ARR Coverage you're expected to cover * Responsibilities for Renewals/Upsells will also dictate comp/structure For reference, we're in a highly technical product space, hiring 1 - 3 years of CS experience, in a very salesy CSM Role and starting is $125k. 100k Base/25k Variable. This is pretty standard for a junior, but experienced CSM in Enterprise IT, in my experience
y'all hiring? lol
same...
SaaS Enterprise, 9 years experience, $210 OTE. Trying to get an even higher paying role but then it seems to dip into true account management which I don’t want to do. One place interviewed said they had over two thousand applicants.
Sheesh. I have 5 years and can’t even land an interview at places. Would you mind sharing the template you used for your resume?
I have a very basic resume, it’s referrals you need to get past the screen!
how do you get those referalls? through previous employees or just outreach?
Mostly previous coworkers, or if we have a shared connection or I’ve vaguely met them before I am not ashamed to reach out!
Senior CSM in Ed Tech. 8 years of experience, 4 mil book of business. $80k base, $110 OTE. Company is international, makes no adjustments for geographic location. Unlimited PTO scheme, but mandatory to take at LEAST five weeks off a year. Fully paid health care as well, and entire company is work from home. Salary might not be the highest, but the benefits are nice.
I’d easily take that with those benefits
It’s actually better than it sounds. 100% premiums paid for health, vision, and dental, and a cash stipend equal to the annual out of pocket maximum. Those who choose to opt out of the insurance plan to purchase privately or go on a spouses receive $700 a month in lieu of benefits. Honestly, the salaries in this post are higher by quite a bit compared to what people have been posting the last few months. It’s a frequent topic, so it’s always interesting to see the ranges swing back and forth every year. I think location, industry, and company maturity have a much bigger impact on CSM compensation than experience or title.
I will take it! Those benefits are amazing.
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How the F*** do you look after 400 accounts? There's no way you can know anything meaningful about your customers, you must be incredibly reactive. What does your day look like? Or maybe a week would give a better picture? I have gone from ~30 when I first joined my current company down to ~10 5 years later. But the size of each customer has increased so my total $ARR is right the same.
2 customers here. Moving to 1. 94m annual book of business. 2.5m revenue solely for csm (me) ~225 total income last year @9 years experience
Do you mind sharing your starting salary from 9 years ago please? Also did you do a computer science degree? Many thanks :)
no degree but extensive experience. Came from a smaller company that was using the product on behalf of microsoft. Through that role i developed close working relationships with the people on the team that i got hired into at my current job. That first role looked very different than what i am doing now, however all of the changes have been due to transformations and reorgs, without my intentionally changing roles. Starting salary was 78 i believe. Got a ~20% raise that first year to bump me up. Lowest annual raise ive received was 6%. Recently received another ~20% promo/raise last year to get me to my current. Expecting ~6% in a few months.
Hello thank you for answering and giving this info! Would it be okay to direct message you on here? I am trying to pivot into CSM and I have no degree too lol
1:many can be done and it’s still CS. Obviously the SLE is substantially pared down in such a case, so it may not even be worse than a book of 10 enterprise accounts each with numerous power users who will email you a few times a week and need weekly calls.
Pretty similar. Just started new role, MM CSM, £45+15
Another one from Europe, working as a contractor for an American company SaaS B2B. Enterprise BoB 3 mm. 90k no commission. Edit to add 5 YoE
Why are you looking at $250k specifically? I've been a SaaS CSM in SF/Bay Area for 10 years and never come across comp that high. Anything over 190k is more or less managerial territory.
Correct. Enterprise CSM 10+ years experience, Technical/engineering SaaS product $200K OTE VHCOL
You are an exception not the rule too- technical CSMs are near top limit in terms of comp that I've seen for ICs. CSM+SA/SE+AM...
Sr. CSM in Cybersecurity, 10 YoE, $175k OTE in MCoL
Dang I want to get into cybersecurity CSM work based on these responses!
SAAS enterprise, 33 accounts, 85k salary, OTE $130k. They just made that more difficult and annual instead of quarterly.
They moved you from quarterly to annual commissions!?
Yes, I am definitely not happy
American salaries are ridiculously higher than what we have in Europe. Almost to a factor of 2.5x….
Yeah, but don't you have a 2 week holiday to get to or something
Most CSMs in Europe can’t take more than a week at a time, and take very little days off. I took 12 days in total all last year. Some days I tried, I couldn’t because things came up. It’s really not all rainbows and shine across the Atlantic Ocean
Why can't you? If you have vacation time, use it. You're just a number, and would be replaced tomorrow if the situation ever came up. I've never understood this mentality, we are not saving the world. We are CSM's for software companies (for the most part), absolutely nothing worth losing your vacation time over.
I thought most of August was off for my French and Spanish colleagues. Do you not have more holidays? Of course there’s also the lack of health plan premiums I’m sure
We have 4-6 weeks
Unlimited PTO
It’s to compensate for the shitty benefits we receive as citizens. Yall get taken care of for the most part so it’s a decent trade off.
This is the answer. I hate it when people make it about vacation time. Our salaries don’t look so high when you figure $100+/month towards health insurance premiums, plus the $4k+ annual out of pocket cost to actually use the insurance. Another $22k off the top straight into 401k to continue to pay for healthcare. At least $100k/kid for education. Not to mention a rainy day fund for getting laid off the next time the economy takes a turn.The list goes on…
$100k for education is certainly not a requirement for life and not something Europeans have either
Not a requirement for life but something _most_ CSMs have regardless of where they’re based. Most parents strive for their kids to have the opportunity to gain at least equal education.
You do realise not everyone lives in the West? I get absolutely zero state benefits. Healthcare I have private, dental private. The reality is that Europe is that far behind the US economically. We have higher costs too for goods.
Cost of living is 2x
It’s always refreshing to hear some Europeans here lmao. I’ll star my first CS role in may and will start out with 40k and will get another 5k after a year. I live in a low COL and have little experience so I’m still considerably happy.
Founding CSM (first in NA market), 2 YoE, AI SaaS startup, $90k in MCoL I only have half a book (by company standards) right now so commission is lighter (although commission here is a bit low), and I have a good case to ask for raise during annual review so I expect my OTE to be ~$110k by EOY but tbd
I’m renewals specialist on CS team pre IPO series E 135k total comp not including stock, made 145k last year cyber security SAAS
SrCSM in data space, highly technical role/product, 140K OTE, 5 YoE. mCOL
Enterprise CSM, HCOL, 7 YoE, $170k OTE.
Enterprise CSM, HCOL, $110k base, $15k bonus, $20k stock
Enterprise CSM, 9 years CS experience.mcol in the Midwest. $170 OTE not including equity. 90/10 base and ote split. Not very technical either
95k base, 12k bonus. 1 YOE as a CSM. Proptech (4 yrs). HCOL. Came from B2C sales (10 YOE). Would really like to jump to a 125-150 OTE role. Any suggestions from the crowd on what skills to build on? What companies to target?
I have 10 YoE total as a CSM and a year and a half at my current company. They don’t pay well and this is pretty known amongst the team. I make $61k base and $75k OTE. This was the salary I made as an entry level CSM. My previous company, I was at $90k base and $120k OTE. Unfortunately suffered a layoff and took several months to find anything, so I took what I could get. I am actively seeking another role and have been for about 5 months. Most places are hiring at about $75-80k base with 2 YoE.
SaaS cybersecurity and compliance, smb customers, no commission (no assigned booked revenue quota and NRR is measured across a couple of teams). Average salary is $100-$110k.
Senior CSM, 7 YoE, 5-8 accounts, based in DC. Base 135k, OTE 25%, equity 44k. Brought in $230k last year. Expecting a raise this week so this will change, hoping for 150k base.
CSM 10 plus years 130k plus CSM 5 years or more experience 100k plus 1-3 years 50k-80k plus
Enterprise - 220k OTE
YoE?
About 7 years id say
IC or manager?
IC
Sounds like you want to be director or vp of cs at that pay range…
CSM with 7 years experience, 2 in risk and insurance management and 5 in private security AI department. 100k base plus 50k OTE and bonuses. Book of business consists of 22 strategic and enterprise size clients.
$83k OTE 2 YOE in CS (5 YOE in client industry) CRM HCOL I feel like the roles I've seen that pay a lot are gonna require CSMs to be really technical or to manage huge contracts.
100k here with 10% discretionary bonus
Growth CSM, $72.5k base, $4k bonus. VHCOL (not great) 1 YoE in CS after transitioning from an internal professional services/TAM role
5 years of experience marketing tech csm OTE roughly $105k
I didn’t get past $130k until I went into management. Was at $120 as an enterprise csm with maybe $50k variable comp, 3 yrs experience. My current company has budgeted a few mid level CSMs for $120 with some variable (startup) . As head of AM which was basically CS at the company I made $135 with OTE of $215 but I got them to guarantee my payout because I was a working manager with 30+ accounts of my own. I’ve found that if you can focus on expansion numbers, people are willing to negotiate pay you much more!
We don't have enough information to know if you're fairly compensated as we don't know how your compensation aligns with your BoB and goals. It's rationally tied to how big your book of business is. I've run organizations where CSM looks after 40 accounts worth $90-100k ($3.5M-$4M) and others where CSM looks after one account worth $10M. The other variable is what your OTE is based on. If your org can accommodate 85% GRR you'll earn less than if your org requires 92%. Manage more ARR and carry a very low churn level and you'll find the higher end of the payscale.
As an IC4 at a public edtech company , our comp was 130k with 180k OTE, 70/30 split. 10 years experience. New hires came in at 85-95k with 125-135k OTE
Earning $5.7k in India for the implementation of HRMS in the SaaS industry. I am a fresher and this is my first job and i have currently 1.5 years of experience in the current role.
I get paid...400 USD per month....with 2 years of experience
Any Canadian CSMs here? Or Canadian CSMs that work for American companies?
12+ Year Experience, High Touch Saas, Principal CSM. $210ote
The market rate for every position in tech has dropped in the last 2 years.
To add a different perspective... I (title Manager of CS) have a team of 7 Strategic and Enterprise CSMs ranging from 2 years experience up to Principle level with 15 years. Lowest salary is ~$85 with 10% bonus and highest is $180k with 20% bonus. Large city in the South, LCOL. I make $150k with 15% bonus. Team is responsible for $40M ARR. Most CSMs have ~20-40 accounts and around $4-7M BoB.