At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead and scale AI-assisted support operations in a fast-growing SaaS environment.
- Company: Join a dynamic AI-first platform business with a collaborative culture.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, flexible work options, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Fast-paced environment with excellent career advancement opportunities.
- Why this job: Make a real impact by building innovative support processes using cutting-edge AI technology.
- Qualifications: Experience in SaaS support operations and strong incident management skills required.
The predicted salary is between 80000 - 100000 € per year.
We’re hiring a Head of AI Service Operations to build, scale and lead a modern, AI-assisted support and live service operations function for a fast-growing AI platform business. This is not a traditional IT service management or service desk leadership role. It is also NOT a pure platform engineering or site reliability engineering type role. We’re looking for someone who understands how to combine:
- AI & automation
- Operational discipline
- Incident management
- Knowledge systems & self-service
- Service reliability & operational readiness
to build a scalable, resilient support operations within a lean, high-growth SaaS environment. This role suits someone who enjoys building operational maturity and scalable processes in a growing business, rather than operating purely within large, heavily layered enterprise structures. The environment is lean, collaborative, fast-moving, and highly cross-functional.
The Role
You will own the operational layer of the platform ensuring customers are properly supported, operational readiness exists before release, and live services remain stable and scalable as the business grows. Key responsibilities include:
- Building an AI-first support operations model using automation, workflow tooling, AI-assisted processes, and knowledge systems to reduce manual support effort and operational friction
- Using AI-assisted tooling for ticket triage, operational summarisation, knowledge retrieval, runbook guidance, and support workflows
- Improving operational scalability without linear headcount growth
- Owning live service operations, operational readiness, service reliability, monitoring, and observability
- Acting as Incident Commander during major operational incidents and coordinating Engineering, Product, Security, and Customer teams during response
- Driving structured post-incident review, operational governance, and continuous improvement
- Establishing operational readiness and go-live governance processes
- Ensuring monitoring, alerting, runbooks, escalation ownership, and support structures are in place before release
- Introducing operational discipline and change control without creating unnecessary bureaucracy
- Working closely with Engineering, Product, Customer Delivery, and Security teams to balance delivery speed with operational stability
What We’re Looking For
- Experience leading support or service operations within SaaS, cloud, platform, AI, cyber, or regulated technology environments
- Strong understanding of AI-assisted support operations, workflow automation, operational tooling, and knowledge-driven support models
- Clear experience reducing operational toil and manual support effort through AI, automation, workflow optimisation, or self-service enablement
- Strong incident management capability with experience leading high-severity operational incidents
- Experience implementing SLAs, monitoring, alerting, runbooks, escalation paths, operational governance, and service readiness processes
- Credibility around operational readiness, release governance, and risk management
- Ability to work effectively across Engineering, Product, Operations, Security, and customer-facing teams
- Comfortable operating in a lean scaling environment where structure and processes are still evolving
Preferred experience:
- Scaling AI-assisted or automation-led support functions
- Supporting AI-enabled products or data-driven platforms
- Working within regulated or high-availability environments
What This Role Is NOT
- Not a traditional ITIL-only service delivery role
- Not a large-team customer support management role
- Not a pure platform engineering or SRE leadership position
This is a hands-on operational leadership role focused on building AI-assisted support operations, operational discipline, and scalable live-service processes within a fast-growing SaaS platform environment. We are not looking for a machine learning engineer. We are looking for an operational leader who understands how to apply AI, automation, workflow tooling, and knowledge systems to improve support operations at scale.
Head of AI Service Operations employer: 55 Exec Search
As a forward-thinking employer in the AI-first SaaS space, we offer a dynamic and collaborative work culture that empowers our employees to innovate and grow. Our commitment to operational excellence and employee development ensures that you will have the opportunity to lead transformative projects while working alongside cross-functional teams in a fast-paced environment. With a focus on AI-assisted processes and automation, you'll be at the forefront of shaping the future of support operations, making this an exciting and rewarding place to advance your career.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Head of AI Service Operations
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Get out there and connect with folks in the AI and SaaS space. Attend meetups, webinars, or industry events. You never know who might be looking for someone just like you!
✨Tip Number 2
Show off your skills! Create a portfolio or case studies that highlight your experience in AI-assisted operations and incident management. This will give potential employers a taste of what you can bring to the table.
✨Tip Number 3
Be proactive! Reach out to companies you're interested in, even if they haven't posted a job. Express your passion for building scalable support operations and how you can help them grow.
✨Tip Number 4
Apply through our website! We love seeing candidates who are genuinely interested in joining our team. Tailor your approach to showcase how your experience aligns with our vision for AI service operations.
We think you need these skills to ace Head of AI Service Operations
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Your Passion for AI:When writing your application, let your enthusiasm for AI and automation shine through. We want to see how you can blend these technologies with operational discipline to create a modern support function.
Be Specific About Your Experience:Don’t just list your previous roles; dive into the details! Share specific examples of how you've led support operations or improved processes using AI and automation. This helps us understand your hands-on experience.
Highlight Your Collaborative Spirit:Since we operate in a lean, cross-functional environment, it’s crucial to demonstrate your ability to work with various teams. Mention any past experiences where you’ve successfully collaborated with engineering, product, or customer teams.
Tailor Your Application:Make sure your application speaks directly to the role. Use keywords from the job description and align your skills with what we’re looking for. And remember, applying through our website is the best way to get noticed!
How to prepare for a job interview at 55 Exec Search
✨Understand the AI Landscape
Make sure you brush up on the latest trends in AI and automation, especially how they apply to support operations. Be ready to discuss specific tools and methodologies you've used in the past to enhance operational efficiency.
✨Showcase Your Incident Management Skills
Prepare examples of high-severity incidents you've managed. Highlight your role as an Incident Commander and how you coordinated with various teams to resolve issues swiftly while maintaining service reliability.
✨Demonstrate Operational Readiness Knowledge
Familiarise yourself with operational readiness processes and go-live governance. Be prepared to explain how you've implemented these in previous roles and how they can be applied to ensure smooth releases in a fast-paced environment.
✨Emphasise Cross-Functional Collaboration
This role requires working closely with multiple teams. Prepare to discuss your experience collaborating with Engineering, Product, and Security teams, and how you balance delivery speed with operational stability.
