AI Process Improvement Analyst - Ops

Upgrade helps customers move in the right direction with affordable and responsible financial products. Since 2017, we’ve helped over 7.5 million customers access over $42 billion in consumer credit. With a relentless focus on improving our customers' financial well-being, we build products that put more money in their pocket and support their journey toward a better financial future. We’re backed by some of the most prominent technology investors and were most recently valued at $7.3B.

We’re consistently recognized for our collaborative and inclusive culture. Most recently, we were named one of the World’s Top Fintech Companies by CNBC, Best Places to Work by Built In, Best Places to Work by the San Francisco Business Times, America’s Greatest Workplaces by Newsweek, Best Startup Employer by Forbes, and Healthiest Employers by Phoenix Business Journal. 

We’re looking for new team members who get excited about designing and delivering new and better products. Come join us and help build a better financial future for millions of people.

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About the Role:

We are seeking a highly motivated AI Process Improvement Analyst to join our high-performing team within the Business Operations Department. Over the past 9 years, Upgrade has grown rapidly and launched several main products; this fast-paced team is actively tasked with transforming and optimizing those expanding business operations to drive efficiency across the company.

In this role, you will be fully empowered to define, execute, and manage transformed processes through multiple avenues, including AI tooling, Virtual Agents, automation, and strategic procedural adjustments. The ideal candidate is a proactive and intellectually curious professional who thrives in a dynamic environment, ready to collaborate with operations, product, and customer experience teams to translate operational friction into structured, scalable solutions.

This role is based in our Phoenix Office on a Hybrid basis 3 days per week.

What You’ll do:

• Identify root cause of issues, operational bottlenecks, and customer pain points through our platform’s core services and contact center channels.

• Leverage AI prompt engineering and workflow automation to design, test, and execute virtual agent workflows and automated business processes.

• Gather anecdotal and quantitative data across Upgrade’s proprietary back-end tools, contact center platforms, and third-party system integrations to drive cost-business analysis.

• Monitor key systems for Upgrade across operational areas including verifications, servicing, virtual agents, and customer support.

• Collaborate cross-functionally with operations, product, and customer experience teams to identify and triage issues across domains, translating operational friction into product scoping, user stories, and business requirements (BRDs) for process improvement

• Responsible for incident management and escalation of issues related to our internal platform and automated customer-facing systems.

• Communicate in person with customer-facing teams regarding improvement opportunities, AI/automation feedback loops, and incident response.

What We Look For:

• 2–3 years of professional experience in business operations, data analytics, product operations, or a systems analyst role.

• Financial Services or Fintech background of at least 1 year working within financial services, lending, digital banking, or a similarly regulated fast-paced environment.

• Critical thinking skills to recommend original, AI-driven, and highly productive process optimization ideas.

• Practical understanding of AI technologies, prompt engineering, and LLM behavior in a customer service or virtual agent context.

• Possesses a strong internal drive for Process Improvement, leveraging a natural curiosity to instinctively spot friction points and transform complex workflows into smarter, more scalable processes.

• Strong understanding and applied use of SQL for deep-dive data analysis.

• Thorough understanding of Engineering Concepts to utilize in the design, deployment, and management of Virtual Agent workflows that impact customer-facing or account-facing business processes.

• Experience with Web Analytics or Conversation Analytics tools (e.g., Heap, Full Story, Adobe, Google Analytics, or contact center analytics platforms).

• Ability to synthesize complex operational data into actionable business cases and cost-benefit goals.

Nice to Have:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, Management Information Systems (MIS), Economics, Data Analytics, or a related field.

• Experience working in a heavy contact center environment, customer support center, or similar high-volume domain.

• Experience mapping business processes and building automated workflows (RPA, iPaaS, or AI orchestration).

• Experience with third-party APIs, solutions integration, and AI middleware.

• Familiar with Atlassian products (Jira, Confluence, OpsGenie).

What We Offer You: 

• Competitive salary and stock option plan

• 100% paid coverage of medical, dental and vision insurance 

• Flexible PTO

• Opportunities for professional growth and development 

• Paid parental leave

• Health & wellness initiatives

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Environmental & Working Conditions

Work is performed indoors in a fast-paced environment that requires the ability to manage multiple priorities and meet established workflows, schedules, and service expectations.

Employees regularly input, retrieve, and exchange information accurately using digital systems and applications to support operational and customer service objectives.

The role requires the ability to receive and exchange information with customers, peers, supervisors, and cross-functional partners through available communication channels, which may include meetings, email, phone, and digital collaboration tools, and may involve real-time, verbal, or in-person exchanges depending on business need.

Job duties may involve managing a high volume of inbound and/or outbound customer interactions and work activities using telecommunications and computer systems. The role requires the ability to read, analyze, and interpret information displayed on computer screens and remain in a working posture for extended periods, consistent with the demands of the position.

Work may be performed in a contact center, office, or remote environment, depending on business needs and the nature of the role. Onsite work environments may include shared workspaces, standard office lighting, and moderate background noise typical of customer service or operational settings.

Employees working remotely are responsible for maintaining a secure and productive workspace with reliable internet connectivity that supports company systems and safeguards the confidentiality of company and customer information.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and applicable state and local laws.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

Upgrade does not accept unsolicited resumes from staffing agencies, search firms, or any third parties. Any resume submitted to any employee of Upgrade without a prior written agreement in place will be considered the property of Upgrade, and Upgrade will not be obligated to pay any referral or placement fee. Agencies must obtain advance written approval from Upgrade's Talent Acquisition department to submit resumes and only in conjunction with a valid, fully executed agreement.