Marketo Commercial CSM org is in full tail spin -2020 - Customer Success Manager Adobe Employee Review

2.0
Feb 24, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Unlimited PTO (but strings attached to take it). Stock options (but Adobe takes their taxes out of your stock credits). Ability to work from home Wednesdays (but can be taken away on management discretion). Co-workers are all very intelligent and great Denver office. Parking and commuter benefits to office off 18th and California Well stocked kitchen with snacks, drinks and food. Lunch provided last two business days of the month. Two kegs tapped on Friday after 3 PM. $360 yearly health credit (Most people used for ski pass) ~$1k dropped into HSA for high deductible healthplan per year Pet insurance offering.

Cons

Commissions not being paid on time because "Someone left the business." Compensation plans not being delivered until a quarter of the way through the fiscal year. Sales targets are increased by 10-20% over last year with less ability to meet them. Senior management never has answers for direct questions and is not genuine or forthcoming with what's really happening from top down decision making. Same Senior Management has been promoted for the team's performance, but creates negative culture putting extreme pressure on FLMs that is then transferred to FLM to CSM relationships. There is a palpable distrust and dislike for senior management throughout the org and cross-functional teams. This makes it difficult for any other team to want to work or support the Commercial CSM org. Crying, confusion, discomfort and overall uneasiness ripples throughout the entire org regularly. Feedback is rarely asked for, and when received goes no where. Renewal team operated without a manager for almost 12 months Layers of middle management have been added. Constantly changing and broken quoting tool. Accounts have changed hands multiple times, which is well known as a major complaint from customers as to why they leave Marketo. CSMs are the catch all for almost everything related to current customers, where more responsibility is added but compensation is not raised. Asking to utilize your unlimited PTO is only approved based on your performance. Favoritism from FLMs to their favorite CSM friends. No on-boarding or mentoring for new CSMs when they join the org. No known promotion track for CSMs. Overall lack of diversity on the team with only two POC in the entire org. Competitors are catching up with Marketo in regards to pricing and functionality which is making the CSMs ability to renew or expand customer much harder. Customers are expected to spend 8% more per year with almost no additional functionality added to their subscription. Auto-renewal language added to contracts as sneaky way to make them stay with the company. Product reliability has been viewed from customer perspective as going downhill. Forcing customers to purchase Professional Services to get basic help utilizing the product. Non-existent training on Marketo product itself. CSMs are expected to "learn as they go" while being the trusted adviser for the customers marketing decision making.

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5.0
Jun 25, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Awesome manager, work life balance, great pay, good food

Cons

No head count would have loved to stay

4.0
Jun 16, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

* Refreshing focus on employee wellness * Brilliant colleagues * Compelling problems on interesting tools * Good work/life balance culture... generally (see cons) I've been at a few big tech companies and Adobe is one of my favorites. I feel empowered to make impactful changes here, I'm constantly stretching myself in fun ways, and the products we make are incredible. Product and engineering have big dreams, and all the resources we need to realize them.

Cons

* Big time crunch culture around arbitrary goals By far my biggest disappointment has been just how hard product pushes on big projects with arbitrary deadlines and difficult scope. It turns into cutting corners and delivering sub-par experiences even though we absolutely have the talent and capability to make some exceptional things if we just let the dang thing bake a few more months. I'd be more impressed with the tight clip if the goals were reasonable for good business reasons, but as far as I can tell the reason usually boils down to "some high-level manager wanted X and thought Y sounded like a good target date". * Comp growth leaves something to be desired. Raises feel pretty flat, though it's not the worst thing since stock rewards can be pretty good as appropriate for performance. Career progression is pretty good here too - I just find it odd how stale the base pay increases are year to year.

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