Dir, Customer Operations & Retention NAR

Volkswagen AG•Libertyville, IL

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Customer Operations & Retention function is a cornerstone in advancing long-term customer value, loyalty, and lifetime relationships across the portfolio. We are accelerating toward a technology-enabled, AI-driven engagement model that proactively identifies customer needs, reduces attrition risk, and drives sustained engagement across the lifecycle. The Director, Customer Operations & Retention, NAR will lead this transformation—shifting from reactive, channel-based engagement to a predictive, insight-led, and digitally orchestrated customer success model. This role is responsible for defining and scaling AI-powered customer strategies that optimize retention, satisfaction, and portfolio performance. This leader owns the strategy, performance, and evolution of customer engagement across all touchpoints—including digital, agent-assisted, and emerging AI-enabled channels. The role integrates customer analytics, lifecycle management, product strategy, and technology innovation to deliver seamless, personalized, and proactive customer experiences across Volkswagen Financial Services’ North American portfolio.

Requirements

12+ years of progressive leadership and relevant experience in consumer finance.
Minimum 5 years of financial, customer and operational performance management of digital self-service, customer service, and retention functions
Demonstrated success operating at a director level - leading leaders, managing experience risk and financial performance, and owning enterprise-level outcomes
Minimum 3 years (and proven track record) in developing and using advanced behavioral data modeling and internal/vendor-based technologies to steer, optimize and evolve customer success targets
Minimum 5 years in delivering technology and data initiatives; experience in product management and agile methodologies
Ability to balance customer outcomes with strong financial and risk discipline
Data/performance driven: Experienced and exceptional understanding of customer service and retention performance drivers, and how to use segmentation and data to drive performance-driven change and culture in our customer resiliency function.
A bias to action: The leader will have an executive level charter to deliver on key opportunities and, in parallel, stand up an org structure and talent model that sets a high bar for employees, and rewards and empowers teams delivering on this.
Acts like an owner. Takes full responsibility for functional performance and has a 360 view on what happens upstream and downstream; partners transparently with those stakeholders and partners to affect change.
Ability to influence and lead changes: Willingness to challenge the status quo by driving pragmatic, forward-leaning change across people, process, performance and technology
Customer Centricity: Deep respect for the importance of keeping our promises to customers, being easy to do business with, and ensuring we are doing this in a consistent, well-managed way
A clear communicator: Excellence in clear communication and storytelling – to set expectations and motivate employees, present to C-Levels, hold vendors responsible, and partner successfully with stakeholders

Nice To Haves

Experience in running structured segmentation and product experiments a plus.

Responsibilities

Lead teams, technologies, processes and operations to effectively and efficiently maximize customer lifetime value and engagement while ensuring our operations and agent ecosystem is simplified, efficient, and aligned to financial and customer objectives
Develop and scale AI-driven engagement models, including predictive churn modeling, next-best-action frameworks, and personalization strategies
Design and optimize omnichannel customer journeys across lifecycle stages, including onboarding (funding), active servicing, and lease maturity
Leverage our people as our strategic advantage
Own and optimize core customer operations, including funding, account servicing, lease-end operations, and payments, ensuring accuracy, efficiency, and customer satisfaction
Drive digitization and automation of servicing processes to reduce friction, cycle time, and operational cost
Implement AI-enabled workflows and intelligent routing to improve throughput, quality, and customer experience
Establish and manage end-to-end operational KPIs (e.g., funding turnaround time, servicing SLAs, lease-end conversion/retention rates, payment success rates)
Lead continuous improvement initiatives to enhance productivity, scalability, and service quality across operations
Optimize our mix of vendors, technologies, people and providers for cost, efficiency, customer satisfaction and functional OKRs.
Build and lead high-performing teams focused on customer outcomes, innovation, and continuous improvement
Establish a customer-centric, experimentation-driven culture that embraces AI, data, and digital transformation
Develop talent in contact center, advanced analytics, product management, and customer lifecycle strategy
Foster cross-functional collaboration across Customer Engagement, Risk, Marketing, Product, and Technology
Define and execute the customer success technology roadmap, including engagement platforms, AI tools, and data ecosystems
Partner with IT and Product teams to deliver scalable, API-enabled, and customer and agent platforms and experiences
Drive modernization of customer platforms to enable hyper-personalized and frictionless experiences
Ensure seamless integration of customer experience technologies across channels and functions
Leverage advanced analytics, machine learning, and behavioral insights to identify drivers of retention, satisfaction, and engagement
Build and scale predictive and prescriptive models to proactively identify at-risk customers and trigger targeted interventions
Establish a data-driven culture anchored in measurable customer outcomes and insights-led decision making
Ensure all customer engagement strategies comply with regulatory and data privacy requirements (e.g., FDCPA, UDAAP, CFPB)
Partner with Legal, Compliance, and Risk teams to ensure responsible and ethical use of AI and customer data
Maintain strong governance frameworks for customer communications, model usage, and digital engagement practices
Drive transparency, audit readiness, and responsible AI practices across all initiatives