Head of Customer Operations

New York, United States
Full-time
Visa Sponsorship

About the role

About Ultra

Ultra builds industrial AI robots that are working in the real world today. Our robots automate mission-critical warehouse labor end-to-end, starting with e-commerce order packaging. We deploy fast, learn from real production data, and iterate aggressively. We already have a quickly growing number of revenue-generating robots operating in U.S. warehouses, and are now scaling towards thousands of deployments over the next few years. Our mission is simple: build the world's most useful and deployable robot.

WARNING: Robotics is not for the faint of heart. There are no silver bullets here. It is tiresome, unglamorous, and at times brutal work. The only way out is through, and the only way through is treacherous and unknown. Success will require teamwork - so we are building a world-class team to tackle some of the most exciting problems out there. We hope you join us.

We are looking for a Head of Customer Operations to own everything that happens after a customer signs. You will inherit Ultra's ~10 person post-sale organization — field deployment, support, and customer success — and build it to match our quickly growing customer base. The role is both operational and strategic: you'll own deployment process as well as retention performance. You do not need to be a technical expert, but you do need to know how to build and lead a team of deployment and support experts while maintaining a culture of excellence that obsesses over the customer experience.

What you'll own

Customer trust and retention

  • Own gross retention across SMB and Enterprise accounts; know every customer's economics, risk profile and have a scalable process for tracking their metrics.
  • Read sentiment early — act before, not after, a customer is considering contract renewal or expansion
  • Understand how to build trust with reliable, consistent communication and performance.
  • Run a regular cadence of business reviews with our customers to ensure we are meeting their goals.

Post-sale deployment

  • Take full ownership of the deployment from planning to delivery.
  • Drive down cost-to-serve through scalable tooling and processes.
  • Own performance of our remote teleoperation team and manage their impact on our customer experience.

Fleet performance

  • Know how every robot in the fleet is performing relative to KPIs, and hold the org to that standard.
  • Use qualitative as well as intervention and fault data to bring the voice of our customers to the hardware and software teams.
  • Anticipate where the service model breaks at scale, and fix it before it breaks.

Building the team

  • Own the hiring plan; define roles, scorecards, and ramp plans. Run the interview loops yourself.
  • Invest in and train your team to consistently surprise and delight our customers.

What we're looking for

  • 7+ years across customer-facing and operational roles
  • Evidence of strategic ownership, not just execution: you've reshaped a service model, restructured an at-risk project, and made the difficult calls needed to protect long-term relationships
  • Recent hands-on experience in a directly relevant field, you've personally owned accounts and run deployments in the last three years.
  • Experience with hardware products and services — robotics, automation, industrial equipment, logistics, or field-deployed hardware.
  • Enterprise credibility: you've sat across from a Fortune 500 operations or procurement leaders and held your ground.
  • Willingness to travel up to 25% of the time to customer sites.

Helpful: warehouse fulfillment or 3PL domain experience; WMS/WES integration and enterprise IT review cycles; standing up a customer success or field service tool stack.

Probably not a fit if: your last two roles were purely managerial and you want to stay there; your product experience is entirely software with no hardware; you need mature process and clean data to operate; travel is a dealbreaker.

Expected Compensation

$175,000 - $300,000/annual salary + equity + benefits

This compensation range may be inclusive of several career levels at Ultra and will be narrowed during the interview process based on the candidate’s experience and qualifications. Adjustments outside of this range may be considered for candidates whose qualifications significantly differ from those outlined in the job description.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and encourage applicants from all backgrounds to apply.

About Ultra

Ultra develops and deploys intelligent warehouse robots designed for task automation, particularly in e-commerce packaging environments. The company’s robots are built to integrate quickly and operate with simplicity, aiming to replicate the flexibility of software within physical workflows.

Other roles at Ultra

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Job details

Location

New York, United States

Experience

5+ years

Company

NameUltra
IndustryManufacturing and Robotics
Team Size2

Funding

Total raised

$3.8M

Last stage

Seed

Investors

Y Combinator
Pioneer Fund
Great Wave Ventures
NNextView Ventures
Rebel Fund

Founders

Chetan Parthiban

Chetan Parthiban

Co-founder & Chief Scientist

LinkedIn
Oliver Ortlieb

Oliver Ortlieb

LinkedIn
Max Friefeld

Max Friefeld

Co-founder & COO

LinkedIn
Jon Miller Schwartz

Jon Miller Schwartz

Co-founder & CEO

LinkedIn

What happens next.

No applications, no recruiter spam. Just the intro.

01

Confirm the fit

A few questions to make sure this role is the right shape for you. Two minutes.

02

I pitch you to the company

I write the intro, send it to the founder, and handle the back-and-forth.

03

A meeting lands on your calendar

If they’re a yes, I book the chat. You show up — that’s the whole job-hunt.