Associate Director, Customer Experience

Catbird•Brooklyn, NY

22h•Hybrid

About The Position

Catbird, a DTC demi-fine jewelry company, is looking for an Associate Director of Customer Experience to own the full CX function, from high touch customer engagement to the operational backbone of our repairs and returns process. This person will be a hands-on leader who can sit with a customer on a delicate issue in the morning and dig into a process bottleneck in the afternoon. They bring deep subject matter expertise in customer service and work autonomously to build and continuously improve how Catbird serves customers at scale.

Requirements

8+ years in customer experience, with at least 2 to 3 years managing teams
Experience managing a service or repairs operation with real logistical complexity
Retail, ecommerce, or luxury goods background strongly preferred
Comfortable being both the calm, high touch voice with a customer and the person redesigning a workflow
Strong process orientation, able to build structure without adding unnecessary bureaucracy
Experience with customer service and returns platforms (e.g. Kustomer, Gorgias, LOOP, Shopify or equivalent)
Experience implementing AI or automation tools in a CX context
Comfortable with data for reporting and decision making
Based in or able to commute to NYC, onsite at Brooklyn Navy Yard 3 days/week

Responsibilities

Manage a team of 7-10, ensuring consistent quality, coverage, and performance across time zones
Set clear goals, coach for growth, and build a culture of ownership in customer interactions
Partner with HR on hiring, onboarding, and performance management for the team
Serve as an escalation point for complex, high touch, or sensitive customer situations
Define and uphold service standards that reflect Catbird's brand voice and values across all channels
Define and evolve Catbird's CX strategy, setting the long term direction for how service quality builds customer loyalty and repeat purchase behavior
Partner closely with manufacturing, warehouse and merchandising partners to resolve fulfillment issues, shipping delays, inventory discrepancies, and order exceptions
Monitor the returns experience for domestic and international orders and troubleshoot issues as they arise
Deliver high touch clienteling for VIP and high value customers, building lasting relationships through personalized support and proactive outreach
Build feedback loops from customer interactions into product, retail, and merchandising teams
Works closely with our retail store teams to bridge the in-store and online customer experience, serving as a key partner for escalations, issue resolution, and ensuring consistency across channels
Bring subject matter expertise to evaluate and evolve CX tooling, workflows, and staffing models as the business grows
Track CX KPIs and provide actionable insights and recommendations to improve performance
Act as subject matter expert for CX and clienteling systems (e.g. Kustomer, Endear, NetSuite), maintaining fluency in new features and capabilities
Support the evaluation and adoption of AI powered customer service tools and automation opportunities to improve productivity and customer satisfaction
Own end to end repairs processing, including intake, manufacturing coordination, status tracking, customer communication and reporting
Partner cross functionally with Retail, Product Development, and Manufacturing on issues that touch repairs, product quality, or customer satisfaction
Report on CX KPIs to senior leadership