About Iliyana

If I think about my career, I've always built things that had never existed before.

I build the machine first, then run it. Multiple people across different companies have called me exactly that — the machine.

The Customer Health Assurance program at ServiceNow, the first Chief of Staff office in EMEA, multiple new functions at HubSpot — I create the operating models, teams, and systems that organisations needed, but didn't have yet.

My real power is working in ambiguity, aligning executives, and actually getting things done — not just advising, not just strategising, but making it happen and delivering results you can measure.

What I Do

Currently, I lead Customer Health Assurance for EMEA at ServiceNow — a program I built from scratch for the region. In 2025: $15M in protected revenue, $6M+ in expansion, 17x ROI on a $1.5M budget. The program was expanded to $12M for 2026.

Before that, I was Chief of Staff to the EMEA President where I built the CoS office in EMEA from scratch, led a dedicated team, and created the execution engine that helped scale the region toward $3B in revenue. The operating model I built — the 5-Star Strategy — was later adopted globally by the Chief Commercial Officer as the standard for the entire GTM organisation.

Before ServiceNow, I spent two and a half years at Cisco building Customer Experience programs and PMO frameworks from scratch. Before that, five years at HubSpot — starting as a Channel Consultant and becoming Global Partner Program Manager, building programs that didn't exist and earning President's Club twice.

What I Write and Talk About

I write about AI, Customer Health, and the future of post-sales operating models at this blog — specifically the idea that CS stops being a reactive cost centre the moment you design it properly.

I speak at events across Europe and beyond on AI in Customer Success, leadership, and building operating systems that scale.

A Bit More

Bulgarian by origin. I left at 19 and have lived and worked in Germany, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, and now Spain. I speak five languages. I published Inbound PR with Wiley at 28 — BookAuthority Best New PR Books Winner.

Six countries. Five languages. Always building what didn't exist yet.

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Read Iliyana's Blog

Check out my blog where I share my knowledge, experiences and opinions about AI, Customer Success, Customer Health and SaaS.

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The Latest Posts from Iliyana's Blog

How to Get CSMs to Actually Trust AI Signals

How to Get CSMs to Actually Trust AI Signals

There's a common assumption in CS leadership: CSMs don't act on AI signals because they don't trust them. That's not quite right. In most cases, the signal isn't the problem. The gap is what comes after it. A CSM sees a risk score drop. An alert...

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Why AI Adoption Fails Inside Customer Success Teams (And It's Not What You Think)

Why AI Adoption Fails Inside Customer Success Teams (And It's Not What You Think)

Every Customer Success leader I know is under pressure to adopt AI. The tools are being deployed. The dashboards are being built. The announcements are being made. And yet — adoption stalls. CSMs quietly ignore the signals. Workarounds emerge....

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Retention as a Capital Efficiency Lever in SaaS

Retention as a Capital Efficiency Lever in SaaS

Retention is often discussed as a Customer Success metric. It's tracked as a percentage, reviewed in quarterly reports, and used to evaluate the performance of CS teams. When retention improves, it is seen as a positive signal. When it declines, it...

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I'm always happy to chat about how we can work together. Get in touch with me and start the conversation. I'd love to hear from you.

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