Manager, Customer Engagement Operations

Strategic Business Partner, Customer Engagement Operations

Zest AI is looking for a strategic business partner to build and lead our Customer Engagement Operations function. This is a high-impact, high-visibility role centered on one thing: protecting and growing our customer base. You will be the person CS leadership relies on to understand what's working, what's at risk, and what needs to change and then to make it happen.

Reporting to the Director of Revenue Operations and working alongside CS leaders every day, you will be a true strategic partner with a hand in renewal strategy, churn risk, team performance, customer health, and how we scale our coverage model. The systems and tools (Planhat, dashboards, health scores, playbooks) are in service of that mission, not the mission itself. The right candidate leads with business judgment and uses data and efficient processes to back it up.

This is a genuine build opportunity with a strategic seat at the table. You'll have access to the full commercial data stack and alignment with Sales Ops, Marketing Ops, and Finance, while operating as a day-to-day partner to CS leadership giving you the context to identify problems and the authority to actually solve them.

Responsibilities include:

• Serve as the primary administrator for Planhat, owning configuration, data hygiene, user management, and ongoing optimization
• Design and evolve the Customer Engagement data infrastructure, including direct and proxy success metrics
• Lead the next generation of customer health score design, moving beyond the current model to something that reliably predicts risk and opportunity
• Build and maintain executive dashboards that give CS and company leadership real-time visibility into portfolio health, retention trends, and team performance
• Define, document, and track CS KPIs; establish the reporting cadence and accountability framework across the team
• Design and maintain the escalation management framework, ensuring CS has clear, fast paths to resolution for at-risk accounts
• Create and maintain CS playbooks for key lifecycle moments: onboarding, EBR/QBR, renewal, expansion, and churn risk
• Own NPS and CSAT programs end-to-end: survey design, distribution cadence, response management, and trend reporting
• Design feedback loops that connect Voice of Customer insights to product, CS, and executive audiences
• Partner with CS leaders on churn risk identification frameworks; ensure early warning signals surface in time to act
• Run capacity and workload analyses to ensure coverage ratios and book-of-business assignments are scalable
• Design and operate a scaled CS motion for lower-tier accounts that ensures value delivery and retention without proportional headcount growth
• Build automated engagement programs, adoption nudges, and milestone communications for that segment
• Lead customer lifecycle design efforts, mapping the ideal journey from contract to renewal across segments
• Develop adoption and engagement programs that connect product usage to retention outcomes

We're looking for:

• 5+ years in CS Operations, Revenue Operations, or a closely related function, preferably in B2B SaaS
• Proven experience owning a CS platform (Planhat, Gainsight, Totango, or equivalent) at an admin level
• A track record of building CS reporting, health scores, or forecasting models that drove measurable outcomes
• Experience supporting CS teams covering a named-account book of business in financial services, fintech, or enterprise SaaS is a strong plus
• Analytical strength able to work with data to build a point of view, not just a report; comfortable in Excel/Sheets and Planhat report building, always in service of a business question
• A business-first thinker who can translate CS strategy into a data model, a workflow, or a dashboard, and knows which problems actually need those
• Someone who sees inefficiency and can diagnose whether the fix is a process, a tool, a conversation, or a structural change with the credibility to drive it through
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to present data-driven recommendations to CS leadership and executive audiences
• A high degree of ownership; comfortable working autonomously in a fast-moving environment where the playbook is still being written

Nice to have:

• Experience with Salesforce (SOQL, reporting, and workflow rules), as this role interfaces closely with Salesforce data
• Familiarity with credit unions, community banks, or financial technology customers
• Experience building or running a programmatic / digital CS motion
• Background in renewal forecasting within a SaaS RevOps or CS Ops context

Perks and benefits include:

• The opportunity to join a mission-focused company
• People the best part of Zest
• Robust medical, dental and vision insurance plans
• Annual bonus plan participation
• 401(k) with generous match
• Employee Awards and Recognition
• 11 company holidays
• Winter break (office closed between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day)
• Unlimited vacation time
• Employee Resource Groups and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion forums
• Generous family leave policy (12 week maternity leave / 6 week paternity leave)
• Phone and internet allowance
• Employee gatherings, including quarterly Town Hall meetings

Our Burbank, CA area, hybrid model (typically 1 day/week) Zestys also enjoy:

• Complimentary daily lunches from LA's best restaurants and a fully stocked kitchen
• Beautiful, modern, dog-friendly office with lounge and gaming areas
• Complimentary manicures, pedicures, and mindfulness sessions
• Reimbursable membership to the onsite gym
• Company happy hours, social events, outings, volunteer opportunities and much more!
• Onsite car wash service

About Zest AI:

Creating a diverse and inclusive culture where all are welcomed, valued, and empowered to achieve our full potential is important to who we are and where we're headed in the future. We know that unique backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives help us think bigger, spark innovation, and succeed together. Zest is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion and encourages professionals from underrepresented groups in technology and financial services to apply.

Our core values are Collaboration, Communication, Client-centricity, Bias for Action, and Heart.