Technical Customer Success Manager | Network Security | Remote (US)

The technical CSM who speaks network security.

I'm Mike Pace. For a decade — starting at Lancope (StealthWatch) before Cisco acquired it — I helped enterprise customers succeed with network-security technology, first as their dedicated engineer, then as the person who turned adoption barriers into renewals. Now I'm building a SaaS product and pursuing my MS in AI.

See my experience → Download résumé (PDF)
Mike Pace
Open to remote Technical CSM roles
🎓 MS in AI · anticipated 2027

10

Years in enterprise network security at Lancope & Cisco

72

Accounts owned as Customer Success Specialist ($20K–$75K ARR each)

Low 90s

Renewal rate on targeted accounts, up from the high 60s

MS in AI

Kennesaw State University · anticipated 2027

My story

From securing networks to scaling customer success.

My career started deep in the technical trenches at Lancope, the company behind StealthWatch, and continued at Cisco after the acquisition — standing up complex security deployments, supporting the behavioral-analytics platforms that detect advanced threats, and keeping mission-critical systems stable for some of the most demanding enterprise customers in the world.

But the work I loved most was never just the technology. It was the moment a customer went from struggling with a tool to trusting it to protect their business. That's what pulled me into Customer Success: turning adoption barriers into confident, renewing, thriving customers.

Since leaving Cisco in September 2025 I've been building: Curblane, a multi-tenant SaaS product on Supabase and PostHog; a segmented network and security lab at home; and my Master's in Artificial Intelligence at Kennesaw State. It's been a season of sharpening, not sitting still.

"The best customer success isn't about the product. It's about helping people realize the outcome they were promised."

Projects

What I'm building now

Hands-on work since leaving Cisco: a SaaS product built end to end, a segmented security lab, and AI woven through how I work. I'm happy to walk you through any of them.

🧩

Curblane — Multi-Tenant SaaS

I designed, built, and deployed Curblane, a multi-tenant SaaS product, end to end on Supabase (Postgres) and PostHog, including authentication and a tiered subscription model. Product analytics were built in from day one, applying the adoption lens I used with enterprise customers at Cisco from the vendor side. It's in pre-launch with a waitlist.

Multi-tenant SaaSSupabase / PostgresPostHogSubscription pricing
🛡️

Segmented Network & Security Lab

I replaced a flat /24 with a seven-segment 10.10.0.0/16 network: VLAN trunking on a Cisco Catalyst 3650, per-segment ESXi portgroups with a promiscuous capture port, and pfSense as the VLAN gateway for routing, DHCP, and inter-VLAN filtering across three UCS M4 hosts. I verified the default-deny boundary from inside the lab segment rather than trusting the rule as written, and documented it all as a build guide, rack inventory, and cabling map.

VLAN segmentationpfSenseDefault-denyVMware ESXi
🧮

Financial Modeling & Planning

I use AI to build the kind of analysis that used to require a consultant: multi-year P&L models with scenario sensitivity and unit economics.

Financial modelingForecastingStrategy
⚡

AI-Native Ways of Working

AI is woven through my daily work — research, drafting, analysis, and automating busywork so I can focus on people and outcomes.

AI agentsPrompt designProductivity
Experience

A decade of turning customers into success stories

Founder & Product Builder · Curblane
Sep 2025 – Present · Independent SaaS project · Remote

Designed, built, and deployed Curblane, a multi-tenant SaaS product, end to end on Supabase (Postgres) and PostHog, including authentication and a tiered subscription model; now in pre-launch with a waitlist. Built product analytics into the platform from day one, applying the adoption lens used with enterprise customers at Cisco from the vendor side.

Customer Success Specialist · Cisco Systems (via Lancope acquisition)
2023 – Sep 2025

Owned a book of 72 accounts ($20K–$75K ARR each) end to end: success plans, quarterly business reviews, adoption, and renewals. Built the customer success blueprint library for the security portfolio — adoption strategy, change-management plans, and success reviews — where only product documentation existed; delivered to partners and customers, it replaced improvised starts with a proven motion and cut ramp time. Partnered with digital success teams, business units, and product management on digital adoption campaigns, and owned services adoption, utilization, and growth programs across the security portfolio at theater scale. Onboarded a brand-new admin at a major retailer through a dual-domain merger deployment in under two weeks, then secured training credits to make the customer self-sufficient.

Success Programs Manager · Cisco Systems
2021 – 2023

Ran success plans and quarterly business reviews across a book of about 40 high-value accounts, segmenting the Salesforce account base quarterly by renewal-risk criteria to target at-risk, unassigned customers. Helped build a four-person High-Value Recovery team from scratch within the Secure Network Analytics business unit, including interviewing candidates; renewal rates on targeted accounts rose from the high 60s into the low 90s and held. Selected to lead the CX High-Value Recovery team for the Cisco XDR launch, refocusing it on partner enablement and building the onboarding and training program, including train-the-trainer sessions for 13 partner sellers across three strategic partners.

Senior Technical Consulting Engineer · Cisco Systems (via Lancope acquisition)
2015 – 2021

Dedicated engineer for the network-security-monitoring backbone of a top-3 U.S. bank and a global asset manager on high-value Cisco Secure Network Analytics (formerly StealthWatch) and Secure Cloud Analytics deployments. Provided on-site configuration, remote support, hardware repairs, and product integrations; ran knowledge-transfer sessions and overnight upgrade windows for the bank's premium support tier; and assisted the systems engineer and technical architect on a multi-site hardware deployment. Detected and investigated advanced threats using behavioral analysis and network telemetry. When a production issue threatened a multi-year contract, pushed for and helped lead an emergency cross-functional escalation; the overnight hotpatch shipped the next day and the relationship was preserved.

Technical Support Analyst · McKesson Provider Technologies
2013 – 2015

Troubleshot escalated application and networking issues and coordinated delivery of software fixes, enhancements, and customizations.

What I bring

Skills, education & certifications

Customer success leadership backed by hands-on network-security depth.

Customer Success & Leadership

Success Plans & QBRsRenewals & Churn Reduction Adoption EnablementOnboarding & Train-the-Trainer Program ManagementGTM Strategy Stakeholder ManagementTeam Building Change ManagementCross-Functional Collaboration Customer ExperienceProcess Improvement

Technical

VPNWireGuardZero Trust Access VLAN SegmentationpfSenseDefault-Deny Segmentation Network TelemetrySIEM · XDRNextGen Firewall Secure Network Analytics (StealthWatch)WiresharkVMware ESXi Supabase / PostgresPostHogSalesforce PythonSQLApplied AI / LLMsRAG

Certifications

Previously held: CompTIA CySA+, Security+, A+

Education

MS, Artificial Intelligence
Kennesaw State University · anticipated 2027
BS, Computer Information Systems
Florida Institute of Technology · 2013
Let's talk

Looking for a Technical CSM who speaks network security?

I'm exploring remote (US) Technical Customer Success roles at networking, security, and SaaS companies — places where the customer's outcome depends on getting complex technology to actually land. If that's the team you're building, let's talk.

✉ j.mikepace@gmail.com in / mike-pace-jr Download résumé (PDF)