Director – Customer Automation

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Description

Caring is one of United’s most important principles. And no one exemplifies that more than our Customer Contact Center team, who helps our customers with everything from booking and managing reservations, to questions about their travel, MileagePlus accounts, and so much more! Are you a people person? Do you get fulfillment from helping others? Then join a team that cares for our customers and makes a positive impact on their travel experience, every single day.

Job Overview And Responsibilities

The Director of Customer Automation Experience will lead the strategy, design, and continuous optimization of the customer-facing, automation portfolio across voice, chat, and messaging. This critical role sits at the intersection of customer experience, operations, and technical execution as well as managing vendor partnerships. They will be the voice of the customer without the automation ecosystem, being customer-obsessed and ensuring every automated touchpoint feels intuitive, human, and effortless while also handling complicated customer issues seamlessly, or when needed, gracefully transitioning the customer to live human support.

Our approach to automation will address real operational challenges -- for example, sharp spikes in customer contacts during large-scale irregular operations that can lead to extremely long wait times for customers and significant additional hours for our frontline teams –- while enabling our frontline experts to focus on the complex, high-value moments where their judgment, empathy and problem-solving skills make the greatest difference

• Define automation strategy and customer experience roadmap, balancing automation resolution goals with customer experience/satisfaction including the ‘human-in-the-loop’ strategy and experience
• Direct the end-to-end design of natural, intuitive, conversation flows for voice bots and digital chat/messaging collaborating with digital technology, UX, operations and QA teams
• Establish and monitor performance metrics such as resolution rate, CSAT, escalation rates, using data to identify gaps and drive continuous improvement
• Manage relationships and serve as the primary liaison between Customer Support & Advocacy, Operations, Digital Technology, Data Science, and vendor teams to translate and prioritize business needs and continuously evaluate emerging technologies
• Govern content quality across all automated interactions, including tone, accuracy, compliance, and brand voice and ensure escalated interactions include full context, transcripts, and intents are passed to the live agent, minimizing customer and live agent effort
• Develop and present business cases for new automation investments, including ROI modeling and projected impact on volume and cost
• Lead, mentor, and grow a specialized team of conversational designers, product managers, and optimization analyst dedicated to the customer automation ecosystem
  
  

Qualifications

What’s needed to succeed (Minimum Qualifications):

• Bachelor's degree or related experience
• Management Information Systems, Industrial Engineering, Cognitive Science, Linguistics, Informatics, Business Analytics, Customer Insights or a related field requiring a mix of analytical and human-centric problem-solving
• 8+ years in customer self-service, customer-facing automation, contact centers, customer experience or a related field
• 3+ years specifically leading conversational channels
• 3+ years in a leadership role
• Demonstrated proficiency in at least one major CCaaS
• Credentials proving the ability to manage a digital roadmap or product
• Conversational UX and Design Thinking
• Deep understanding of telephony & digital routing
• Escalating & handoff orchestration Advanced CX Analytics & metric tracking
• Familiarity with Generative AI concepts and prompt writing
• Exposure to AI platforms such as Copilot, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, and NotebookLM
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship
• Successful completion of interview required to meet job qualification
• Reliable, punctual attendance is an essential function of the position
• This role is based in Chicago and follows a hybrid work schedule
  
  

What will help you propel from the pack (Preferred Qualifications):

• Master's degree or related experience
• Master of Science in Information Systems, Information Technology Management, Product Management, or Business/Data Analytics
• 10+ years in customer self-service, customer-facing automation, contact center, customer experience or a related field
• 5+ years specifically leading conversational channels
• 5+ years in a leadership role
• Specialized training or vendor certification in conversational AI, Process optimization certification, AI strategy credentials
• Generative AI & Guardrail Frameworks
• API & backend integration logic
• Vendor negotiation & software evaluation
• Change management & agent advocacy
• Hands-on experience using AI tools in projects, internships, or work environment
• Knowledge of automation platforms such as Power Automate, Copilot Studio, Zapier, or n8n
• Demonstrates an understanding of the capabilities and limitations of generative AI tools and effectively leverages them to support research, analysis, content creation, and problem-solving.
• Applies critical thinking to validate AI-generated outputs while adhering to organizational policies for responsible AI use, data privacy, and security
  
  

The base pay range for this role is $159,790.00 to $207,998.00.

The base salary range/hourly rate listed is dependent on job-related, factors such as experience, education, and skills. This position is also eligible for bonus and/or long-term incentive compensation awards.

You may be eligible for the following competitive benefits: medical, dental, vision, life, accident & disability, parental leave, employee assistance program, commuter, paid holidays, paid time off, 401(k) and flight privileges.

United Airlines is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We recruit, employ, train, compensate, and promote without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, veteran status, or any other protected category under applicable law. We provide reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities. To request an accommodation, contact JobAccommodations@united.com