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 operationa