Lead Operations Associate, Customer Experience

About this role

About Upstart

At Upstart, we’re united by a mission that matters: to radically reduce the cost and complexity of borrowing for all Americans. Every day, we bring creativity, experimentation, and advanced AI to reshape access to credit, helping millions move forward financially with clarity and confidence.

As the leading AI lending marketplace, we partner with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit through technology that’s both radically intelligent and deeply human. Our platform runs over one million predictions per borrower using more than 3,000 signals, powering smarter, fairer decisions for millions of customers. But the numbers only hint at the impact. Every idea, every voice, and every contribution moves us closer to a world where credit never stands between people and their financial progress.

We’re proudly digital-first, giving most Upstarters the flexibility to do their best work from wherever they thrive, alongside teammates across 80+ cities in the US and Canada. Digital-first doesn’t mean distant. We’re intentional about in-person connection through team onsites, planning sessions, and moments that spark creativity and trust. And whether you choose to work primarily from home or collaborate in-person from one of our offices in Columbus, Austin, the Bay Area, or New York City, you’ll have the support to work in the way that works best for you.

If you’re energized by tackling meaningful problems, excited to innovate with purpose, and motivated by work that truly matters, we’d love to hear from you.

The Team:

Upstart’s Customer Experience team helps applicants navigate the borrowing process across phone, email, and chat. The team combines customer support, operational expertise, and collaboration across departments to resolve issues accurately and improve the applicant experience.

As the Lead Operations Associate, Customer Experience, you will support daily team health by building practical AI tools, analyzing workforce needs, investigating recurring issues, and providing peer guidance. In this individual contributor role, you will partner with Operations Managers and cross-functional teams to improve quality, productivity, and service levels while communicating risks early and following improvements through to results.

How you’ll make an impact

• Improve performance across phone, email, and chat by monitoring queue health, service levels, backlog, and operational trends, and recommending timely responses to staffing gaps and bottlenecks.

• Investigate complex applicant issues and performance gaps across systems, policies, staffing, and team handoffs; identify root causes, recommend fixes, and verify whether changes resolve the issue.

• Partner with workforce management and Operations Managers to interpret demand, capacity, coverage, occupancy, adherence, and shrinkage data and recommend staffing or scheduling adjustments.

• Provide peer training, process guidance, and routine feedback, maintain team resources, and complete spot checks; escalate formal coaching and performance concerns to Operations Managers.

• Coordinate improvements with internal and vendor partners, help define requirements and test rollouts, and escalate automation exceptions or system failures with clear documentation during incidents and high-volume events.

Minimum Qualifications

• Experience resolving complex customer or operational issues across systems and customer support channels.

• Experience analyzing operational or workforce data, including demand, handle time, service levels, backlog, and coverage, to recommend staffing or scheduling responses.

• Experience supporting peer development through training, process guidance, or routine feedback.

• Experience investigating root causes and coordinating operational improvements across teams, from gathering evidence through testing solutions and documenting outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications

• Consumer lending or fintech experience, including familiarity with verification, policy, or compliance workflows.

• Experience with workforce management platforms, routing systems, operational dashboards, or spreadsheet analysis.

• Experience building or improving AI tools, reusable prompt workflows, or operational automations, including testing outputs, evaluating results, and supporting adoption; experience with customer-facing AI or chatbot quality.

• Clear written and verbal communication, with the ability to explain operational findings, influence without direct authority, and exercise judgment on sensitive escalations.

• Ability to manage competing priorities, adapt to feedback, and communicate risks with evidence and a recommended next step.

Position location This role is available in the following locations: Columbus, OH

Time zone requirements The team operates on the East coast time zone.

In-Office requirements. You will be required to work from the Easton office 2 days per week.

Shift time requirements: You must be able to adhere to one of the following work schedules:

• Sunday - Thursday, 11:30am - 8:00pm ET

• Tuesday - Saturday, 11:30am - 8:00pm ET

Travel requirements As a digital first company, the majority of your work can be accomplished remotely. The majority of our employees can live and work anywhere in the U.S but are encouraged to to still spend high quality time in-person collaborating via regular onsites. The in-person sessions’ cadence varies depending on the team and role; most teams meet once or twice per quarter for 2-4 consecutive days at a time.

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This is a Non-Exempt position. Employees in this position are paid an hourly pay rate, on a bi-weekly basis, and are eligible to receive overtime pay for any hours worked over 40 in a work week, or over 8 in a work day if required by state law.

Columbus, OH - Anticipated Hourly Rate Range
$28.56—$39.52 USD

What you'll love

At Upstart, our benefits for full-time employees are designed to support your health, financial…