Director, Messaging Operations

Attentive

About The Position

Attentive® is an AI marketing platform focused on 1:1 personalization, redefining how brands and people connect. It combines powerful technology with human expertise to build authentic customer relationships, unifying SMS, RCS, email, and push notifications through an AI-powered personalization engine. Recognized as the #1 provider in SMS Marketing by G2, Attentive partners with over 8,000 customers globally, including leading brands like Crate and Barrel and Urban Outfitters. The company operates with a distributed global workforce and employee hubs in New York City, San Francisco, London, and Sydney, and has received numerous accolades for its performance and culture. The Messaging Operations team is crucial for handling billions of SMS, MMS, and RCS messages monthly, managing Attentive’s relationship with the messaging ecosystem, message deliverability, and phone number provisioning. This work integrates technology, commercial strategy, and operational execution to shape messaging experiences and pricing. As Director of Messaging Operations, you will lead this team, focusing on evolving processes with AI, managing the multi-million dollar P&L, and strengthening partnerships across the messaging ecosystem in the US and internationally. This role involves integrating AI agents to enhance messaging experiences and building infrastructure for global expansion.

Requirements

BA/BS or MBA from accredited university
8+ years of work experience required
5 years at a top-tier management consulting firm with experience as an Engagement Manager leading multi-workstream engagements
AI-Native Operator. You use AI reflexively as a thought partner, researcher, and force multiplier. You have personally re-engineered workflows with LLMs and agents and have strong intuition for where AI works, where it doesn't, and how to sequence the rollout
Strong quantitative and analytical skills, including P&L modeling, scenario analysis, and vendor economics
Proven ability to lead and influence across multiple levels (incl. C-suite / VP level executives, external partners) and multiple functions of an organization
Experience managing complex cross-functional projects with many stakeholders
People leadership experience — coaching senior ICs and managers, setting performance bars, and building team culture
Desire to succeed in a demanding, innovative, and entrepreneurial environment: a highly proactive self-starter

Nice To Haves

Startup or high-growth SaaS experience preferred
Telecom, messaging, or aggregator/carrier industry experience is a plus, not a requirement

Responsibilities

P&L Ownership: own the multi-million dollar P&L line item, including budgeting & forecasting in partnership with FP&A and Accounting. Set and continuously optimize our messaging strategy; lead contract negotiations, RFPs, and renewals.
AI & Automation: lead the reinvention of messaging operations with AI across phone number provisioning, deliverability, compliance.
Ecosystem Partnerships: serve as Attentive's primary interface to the messaging.
Team Leadership: lead, coach, and grow the team of Sender Operations, Deliverability, & commercial strategy.
Operational Excellence: own end-to-end deliverability and sender operations, on-call and incident response.