Derek R. Von Kleist
Technical Onboarding & Customer Success Director
Los Angeles,CA
Summary
Seasoned Customer Success and Onboarding Leader with extensive SaaS implementation experience. Expertise in enterprise client management, onboarding strategy, and customer lifecycle optimization. Proven record of streamlining processes, driving adoption, and aligning technology with business outcomes. Skilled at building scalable programs that accelerate time-to-value, maximize retention, and increase revenue.
Overview
10
10
years of professional experience
Work History
DIRECTOR - TECHNICAL ONBOARDING
Phonexa
01.2023 - 01.2025
- Directed enterprise client onboarding strategy for Phonexa’s SaaS platform, ensuring seamless integrations and successful go-live across multiple verticals.
- Built and managed onboarding frameworks that reduced implementation time by 30%, improving client satisfaction and accelerating time-to-value.
- Led a cross-functional team in creating and managing a Kanban board to track in-house technical integrations, streamlining scheduled deployments, improving visibility, and reducing delivery bottlenecks.
- Collaborated with executives and account management to drive renewals and upsells, directly contributing to YoY revenue growth.
- Designed and rolled out scalable training programs for clients and internal teams, increasing adoption rates and reducing support escalations.
- Established success metrics and reporting dashboards to track onboarding progress, client health, and long-term retention outcomes.
ONBOARDING & CUSTOMER SUCCESS MANAGER
Phonexa
01.2022 - 01.2023
- Led end-to-end onboarding for new clients, including SaaS configuration, training, and go-live support, reducing average implementation time by 20%.
- Partnered with account management and customer success teams to drive adoption, increase retention, and expand enterprise client relationships.
- Acted as the primary technical liaison during onboarding, translating client business needs into tailored SaaS solutions across multiple products.
- Drove measurable client outcomes by monitoring platform usage, providing proactive support, and identifying opportunities for growth and upsell.
TECHNOLOGY SERVICES MANAGER
Kitchen United
01.2018 - 01.2022
- Lead strategic and operational systems to achieve business objectives by fostering innovation, prioritizing initiatives, and coordinating the deployment, and management of current and future systems.
- Responsible for maintaining multiple technology platforms and backend databases while deploying new in-house technology.
- Onboarded 200+ member accounts over 20 locations and managed several employees in the Technology and Product spaces to include other technological services to onboard kitchen technology software.
- Partnering with the product development teams to ensure excellence in operationalizing our tech stack product deployments and support.
- Maintained close customer relationships while targeting unleveraged solutions to maximize growth and customer satisfaction.
- Worked closely with Business Development to land key member accounts that helped increase the sales by 30% in 2021.
- Responsible for meeting all contractual service level agreements with our clients and partners.
- Introduced formal training programs that improved operational performance across the board while assisting clients to better understand and use their internal programs more efficiently.
SOLE PROPRIETOR
VK Technology
01.2014 - 01.2018
- Responsible for conducting daily activity logs for all clients through admin consoles. Daily monitoring mail clients, cloud servers and media storage. Assist clients with IT related issues and problem solving.
- Remote screen and guided/explanation sessions to meet or succeed their goals. Install, update, and maintain any client hardware and software for cloud and media servers.
- Advise, set up and install smart home technology for security purposes, convenience and an added elegant atmosphere.
- Provide technical assistance and resources for business productivity.
- Introduced formal training programs that improved operational performance across the board while assisting clients to better understand and use their internal programs more efficiently.
- Smart Home Technology, Security and IT Expert
DEPUTY SHERIFF GENERALIST (CUSTODY DIVISION)
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
01.2008 - 01.2014
- Responsible for protecting life and property while upholding laws and codes of Los Angeles County.
- Led a team of custody personnel in the establishment of observation for mental health. Assisting mental health clinicians and doctors with the treatment of prisoners with disabilities.
- Patrolled designated areas in patrol vehicle and on foot to identify security and safety issues.
- Investigated incidents and crimes, collected evidence, and recorded witness statements.
Education
Business Administration, Management and Operations
California State University
Los Angeles, CA01-2011
California POST Certificate - Criminal Justice
California State University
Los Angeles, CA01-2009
Computer and Information Sciences, Support Services
Chaffey College
01-2004
Skills
Analytical problem-solving
Interests
Cooking, sports events, automotive building, travel, technology
Timeline
DIRECTOR - TECHNICAL ONBOARDING
Phonexa
01.2023 - 01.2025
ONBOARDING & CUSTOMER SUCCESS MANAGER
Phonexa
01.2022 - 01.2023
TECHNOLOGY SERVICES MANAGER
Kitchen United
01.2018 - 01.2022
SOLE PROPRIETOR
VK Technology
01.2014 - 01.2018
DEPUTY SHERIFF GENERALIST (CUSTODY DIVISION)
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
01.2008 - 01.2014
Business Administration, Management and Operations
California State University
California POST Certificate - Criminal Justice
California State University
Computer and Information Sciences, Support Services
Chaffey College
Work Availability
monday
tuesday
wednesday
thursday
friday
saturday
sunday
morning
afternoon
evening
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