Director of Customer Operations

Director, Customer Operations

Remote - United States

About the Role

The Director of Customer Operations is a strategic, hands-on leadership role responsible for accelerating the transformation of Blackboard Support and Services while maintaining service levels, improving customer experience, and improving the cost effectiveness of global support and services delivery. Reporting to the Head of Global Support and Services, this leader will translate transformation priorities into operational execution across people, process, tools, data, and cross-functional governance.

This role will drive a portfolio of critical initiatives, including the transition to a more modern support operating model, implementation of AI-native support tools, data-driven prioritization of product enhancements in partnership with Product, employee enablement, development of new support and services offerings aligned to Blackboard’s evolving solutions, and measurement of initiative effectiveness. The ideal candidate combines operational discipline, customer empathy, change leadership, analytical rigor, and experience leading transformation in a complex SaaS or environment as well as experience in Education Technology serving Higher Education globally.

Responsibilities

Support Transformation and Operating Model Execution

• Lead execution of key workstreams within the global support transformation, ensuring changes are implemented in a disciplined, measurable, and customer-centered way.
• Translate strategic transformation goals into actionable roadmaps, milestones, governance routines, operating rhythms, and accountability mechanisms.
• Partner with support leaders to refine workflows, escalation paths, ownership models, swarming practices, knowledge processes, and service level management.
• Identify operational bottlenecks and implement scalable processes that improve resolution quality, speed, consistency, and team productivity.
• Maintain a balanced transformation approach that protects customer experience and service levels while reducing operational waste and unnecessary cost.

AI-Native Support Tools and Automation

• Own the operational implementation and adoption of AI-native support tools, including agent assist, intelligent triage, knowledge recommendations, self-service, automation, and AI-enabled quality insights.
• Define use cases, success metrics, governance needs, and adoption plans for AI tools across support and services workflows.
• Partner with Technology, Product, Security, Legal, and Support leaders to ensure AI capabilities are accurate, secure, compliant, and aligned to customer expectations.
• Drive measurable productivity and customer experience improvements through automation, including reduced manual handling, improved first-contact resolution, faster resolution times, higher deflection, and more consistent support quality.
• Ensure AI implementation is paired with process redesign, employee enablement, and operational governance rather than treated as a standalone technology deployment.

Data-Driven Product Enhancement Prioritization

• Build a structured, data-driven voice-of-customer and voice-of-support process that converts support trends into actionable product insights.
• Partner with Product Management to prioritize product enhancements based on customer impact, case volume, severity, recurrence, support effort, revenue risk, and strategic importance.
• Establish regular Product and Support operating reviews to align on defect trends, enhancement requests, known issues, roadmap implications, and customer communication needs.
• Develop dashboards and decision frameworks that help leaders distinguish between training gaps, process gaps, product usability issues, defects, and strategic enhancement opportunities.
• Ensure customer pain points identified through support and services are systematically tracked, quantified, escalated, and resolved through cross-functional ownership.

Employee Enablement and Change Adoption

• Define and drive enablement plans that prepare support and services employees to succeed in the new operating model, including new workflows, tools, role expectations, product knowledge, and customer communication standards.
• Partner with training, knowledge, quality, and operational leaders to create practical playbooks, job aids, onboarding materials, and continuous learning routines.
• Assess skill gaps and adoption barriers, then recommend targeted coaching, training, process changes, or role clarification.
• Promote a culture of ownership, collaboration, customer empathy, continuous improvement, and confident use of AI-enabled tools.
• Ensure managers have the reporting, routines, and enablement assets required to reinforce adoption and measure behavioral change.

New Support and Services Offerings

• Lead definition and operationalization of new support and services offerings that align with Blackboard’s evolving solution portfolio and customer needs.
• Partner with Product, Customer Success, Sales, Services, and Finance to define scope, packaging, delivery requirements, entry and exit criteria, staffing implications, and success measures.
• Create repeatable delivery models and operational playbooks for new offerings, ensuring they are scalable, financially viable, and easy for customer-facing teams to understand and execute.
• Evaluate opportunities to shift from reactive support toward proactive, insight-driven services that improve customer outcomes and strengthen retention.
• Support business readiness for new Blackboard solutions by ensuring supportability, knowledge readiness, escalation paths, service definitions, and enablement are in place before launch.

Success Measures

• Support transformation milestones delivered on time with clear adoption and outcome measures.
• Service levels maintained or improved during transformation.
• Improved support productivity, reduced avoidable work, and increased cost effectiveness across support and services.
• Measurable adoption and impact of AI-native tools, including improvements in deflection, triage accuracy, resolution speed, knowledge usage, and agent productivity.
• Improved product feedback loops, with support data influencing enhancement prioritization and reducing repeat customer pain points.
• Improved employee readiness, confidence, and consistency in executing new workflows and service models.
• Clear definition and successful launch of new support and services offerings aligned to Blackboard solutions.
• Leadership visibility into initiative effectiveness through consistent dashboards, operating reviews, and business case tracking.

Required Skills and Experience

• 10+ years of experience in customer operations, customer support, customer success operations, services operations, SaaS operations, or related technology services leadership roles.
• Proven success leading operational transformation across people, process, tools, data, and governance.
• Experience implementing or scaling support technologies, automation, AI-enabled service capabilities, knowledge management, CRM, case management, or customer engagement platforms.
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to define KPIs, build dashboards, interpret operational data, and convert insights into action.
• Demonstrated ability to partner effectively with Product, Engineering, Customer Success, Sales, Finance, Enablement, and senior leadership.
• Experience designing scalable operating models, service offerings, support playbooks, escalation frameworks, and performance management routines.
• Excellent executive communication skills, with the ability to present complex operational issues clearly and translate data into decisions.
• Strong change management skills and ability to lead through ambiguity, competing priorities, and organizational fatigue.
• Customer-centered mindset with a track record of improving experience while managing cost, capacity, and operational risk.
• Fluency in written and spoken English

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Experience in education technology, enterprise SaaS, customer support for complex platforms, or global support environments.
• Experience with AI, agent assist, virtual assistants, intelligent routing, support automation, knowledge automation, quality automation, or agentic workflows.
• Experience building product feedback loops based on support data, customer sentiment, usage data, defect trends, and enhancement requests.
• Experience defining packaged services, premium support offerings, adoption services, managed services, or proactive support models.
• Experience leading distributed or global teams and influencing without direct authority.

Leadership Competencies

• Strategic operator: Connects long-term transformation goals to practical execution plans and measurable outcomes.
• Customer advocate: Uses customer evidence and support insight to improve products, services, and experiences.
• Data-driven decision maker: Prioritizes work based on impact, feasibility, cost, risk, and customer value.
• Change leader: Builds alignment, manages resistance, and helps teams adopt new ways of working.
• AI transformation partner: Understands that AI value comes from redesigned workflows, employee adoption, governance, and continuous optimization.
• Cross-functional influencer: Drives action across Product, Support, Services, Technology, Finance, Sales, and Customer Success without relying solely on formal authority.
• Operational simplifier: Reduces complexity, clarifies ownership, and creates scalable routines that make teams more effective.

About Blackboard

Blackboard is a leading EdTech company and SaaS provider that delivers the digital environment for transformational teaching and learning. We serve thousands of institutions with the industry's most AI-advanced LMS, Blackboard Ally for accessibility, and institutional effectiveness solutions that put educators and learners at the center. We're an education company that builds technology. Learn more at blackboard.com.

The expected salary range for this position is $140,000 - $165,000. The range reflects base salary only and does not include additional compensation such as company bonus or benefits. Placement within the pay range will depend on a variety of factors, such as experience, skills, internal parity, and location.

Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the country where the role is based at the time of hire and must maintain that authorization for the duration of employment. The company does not provide visa sponsorship or immigration support for this position.

This job description is not designed to contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required. Nothing in this job description restricts management's right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities at any time.    

Blackboard is an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, gender, age, color, religion, national origin, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, protected military/veteran status, or any other legally protected factor.