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What is a customer development manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read

A customer development manager identifies and creates new business opportunities by studying consumer behavior and market trends. They develop strategies to improve engagement, retention, and satisfaction. They use market research to determine the needs of customers and work with teams to create or modify products accordingly. Customer development managers also collaborate with sales, marketing, and support teams to improve the customer experience. Overall, a customer development manager builds strong relationships between the company and its customers.

ScoreCustomer Development ManagerUS Average
Salary
7.2

Avg. Salary $91,979

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level
6.1

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity
2.8
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.50%

Asian 4.23%

Black or African American 9.81%

Hispanic or Latino 16.63%

Unknown 5.48%

White 63.34%

Gender

female 38.64%

male 61.36%

Age - 44
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44
Stress level
6.1

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level
8.2

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance
4.2

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

What are the pros and cons of being a customer development manager?

Pros

  • Room for creativity in developing customer engagement strategies

  • Opportunity for career growth and advancement

  • Flexibility in work schedule and location

  • Competitive salary and benefits packages

  • Opportunity for travel and networking

Cons

  • High-pressure environment with tight deadlines and expectations

  • Can be difficult to measure the success of customer development initiatives

  • May involve long hours, including evenings and weekends, to accommodate client needs

  • Can involve significant travel, which may impact work-life balance and personal relationships

  • May require working with difficult clients or stakeholders who are resistant to change or new ideas

Customer development manager career paths

Key steps to become a customer development manager

  1. Explore customer development manager education requirements

    Most common customer development manager degrees

    Bachelor's

    73.0 %

    Master's

    10.6 %

    Associate

    9.7 %
  2. Start to develop specific customer development manager skills

    SkillsPercentages
    Customer Service13.37%
    POS10.77%
    Java5.69%
    JavaScript4.67%
    HTML4.37%
  3. Complete relevant customer development manager training and internships

    Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New customer development managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a customer development manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real customer development manager resumes.
  4. Research customer development manager duties and responsibilities

    • Lead a cross-functional team to build HRIS project into the Rollins CRM system.
    • Standardize an SDLC process to better manage how projects are develop, test, and release.
    • Manage all promotions, account updates, and division sign-offs on POS, racks, shippers, etc.
    • Manage all design, front end / UI coding, marketing, and multimedia tasks, across all of the projects.
  5. Prepare your customer development manager resume

    When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your customer development manager resume.

    You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a customer development manager resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

    Choose from 10+ customizable customer development manager resume templates

    Build a professional customer development manager resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your customer development manager resume.
    Customer Development Manager Resume
    Customer Development Manager Resume
    Customer Development Manager Resume
    Customer Development Manager Resume
    Customer Development Manager Resume
    Customer Development Manager Resume
    Customer Development Manager Resume
    Customer Development Manager Resume
    Customer Development Manager Resume
  6. Apply for customer development manager jobs

    Now it's time to start searching for a customer development manager job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

    1. Browse job boards for relevant postings
    2. Consult your professional network
    3. Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
    4. Watch out for job scams

How did you land your first customer development manager job

Zippi

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Average customer development manager salary

The average customer development manager salary in the United States is $91,979 per year or $44 per hour. Customer development manager salaries range between $66,000 and $127,000 per year.

Average customer development manager salary
$91,979 Yearly
$44.22 hourly

What am I worth?

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How do customer development managers rate their job?

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Customer development manager reviews

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A zippia user wrote a review on May 2019
Cons

Working long hours


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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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