Head of Customer Experience & Research Ops

Socket.dev; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Ello, a mission-driven edtech startup, seeks an experienced leader to own the full loop of family feedback and translate it into sprint-ready product insights. You will run research operations, support workflows, and a cross-continental team from Nairobi to San Francisco.

This role blends program design, data synthesis, and hands-on AI applications to improve learning experiences for children globally. You will report to the Co-founder and Chief Experience Officer, collaborate with the product

Qualifications

• Built and run an operational process that kept working after you stepped away.
• Spent extensive time with actual customers, especially families or parents.
• Turned messy qualitative and quantitative input into a decision that changed a team's build.
• Managed people remotely and across cultures with clear feedback.
• Use AI hands-on in work and can demonstrate a project.
• Strong writing skills for others to act on.
• Comfortable working with children and parents, even when the child ignores the script.

Responsibilities

• Own how Ello learns from families: US and Kenya surveys, parent research calls, session reviews, playtests, and synthesis to product.
• Build a repeatable system with clear owners, cadences, tooling, and AI-assisted automation.
• Run rituals keeping the company aligned with users: weekly session reviews, listening parties, and real-time moments in all-hands.
• Own customer support in multiple markets and turn it into insight rather than a queue to clear.
• Design and run the early-access parent program: collect feedback and act on it.
• Manage the Nairobi-based user research and operations team and collaborate with the Kenya Growth Lead and Rwanda partners.
• Partner with safety team so product insights reach the builders and support remains a first-line safety channel.
• Grow a small AI-native team as workload increases.

Skills

Operational leadership

Research ops

Customer interviews

People management

AI in work

Writing

Cross-cultural collaboration

Tools

Intercom

Survey tools

Product analytics

Job description

Ello, a mission-driven edtech startup, seeks an experienced leader to own the full loop of family feedback and translate it into sprint-ready product insights. You will run research operations, support workflows, and a cross-continental team from Nairobi to San Francisco.

This role blends program design, data synthesis, and hands-on AI applications to improve learning experiences for children globally. You will report to the Co-founder and Chief Experience Officer, collaborate with the product