Director, Strategic Customer Relations

Imprint helps the world's best brands grow the lifetime value of their customers. We started with co-branded credit cards and rebuilt them to be smarter, more rewarding, and brand-first. We partner with companies like Crate & Barrel, Rakuten, Booking.com, H-E-B, Fetch, and Shell to launch modern credit programs that deepen loyalty, unlock savings, and drive growth. But the card is just the beginning. We combine advanced payments infrastructure, intelligent underwriting, and deep customer data to create delightful and personalized experiences for members as well as efficient and profitable relationships for our brand partners. Our robust technology and world-class operations allow us and our brand partners to offer powerful financial products without becoming a bank.

In the U.S., co-branded cards alone account for over $300 billion in annual spend, and most still run on decades-old legacy bank systems. Imprint is the modern alternative: flexible, embeddable, and built for how people actually pay today. Backed by Kleiner Perkins, Thrive Capital, Ribbit, and Khosla Ventures, we're building a world-class team to redefine how people pay and how brands grow. If you want to move fast, solve hard problems, and own real outcomes, we want to meet you.

As Director, Strategic Customer Relations, you will own the strategy, operations, and outcomes of Imprint's customer escalations and back office functions. This is a senior leadership role with direct accountability for building and scaling a best-in-class escalations operation.

You will serve as the vision-setting, execution-driving leader across four core function areas: escalations, back office operations, credit reporting, and social media support — translating reactive, ad hoc processes into a structured, metrics-driven function with a clear roadmap for what great looks like.

This role requires a builder who has created functions like this from scratch, knows how to leverage outsourcing to scale, and can use technology — including AI — to transform how escalations work at Imprint.

• Established operating structure, clear metrics, and backlog visibility across all four function areas

• Defined a 1–2 year vision for the escalations function and a concrete work-back plan to achieve it

• Replaced the current escalation process with a scalable, agent-facing solution

• Built productive working relationships with key cross-functional stakeholders: Risk, General Managers, Compliance, Legal, and Tech

• Demonstrated ability to manage and leverage the outsourced escalations team effectively to scale capacity

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  Own strategy, operations, and outcomes across escalations (organic, executive, and partner), back office functions, credit reporting, and social media support

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  Build the operating infrastructure for the escalations function: processes, metrics, tooling, and backlog management — from the ground up

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  Define and articulate a clear vision for what "great" looks like in 1–2 years, and drive stakeholder alignment and buy-in on the path to get there

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  Lead and scale a hybrid team model, including internal staff and an outsourced partner, to meet growing demand without proportional headcount growth

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  Identify, evaluate, and implement technology solutions — including AI-powered tools — to improve agent support, reduce escalation volume, and increase resolution quality

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  Partner with Risk, Compliance, Legal, Tech, and General Managers to resolve complex escalations and ensure regulatory adherence

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  Feed escalation themes back to Product and Engineering with actionable recommendations to address root causes and prevent recurrence

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  Establish data infrastructure that connects ticketing systems (e.g., Linear) with broader analytics platforms (e.g., Sigma) for unified reporting and insight

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  Oversee back office operations including trailing statements, SCRA, bankruptcy notices, and deceased notices

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  Provide strategic oversight of social media support channels with a plan to expand coverage

Required

• Demonstrated experience building and scaling customer escalations, back office, or customer relations functions from an early, unstructured state — not just running a mature operation

• Strong analytical mindset with a track record of implementing metrics, operational structure, and process discipline in ambiguous environments

• Experience managing outsourced or BPO teams as a core part of the delivery model

• Practical experience leveraging AI in operations — e.g., agent assist tools, Slack bots, or automated resolution workflows

• Proficiency with ticketing systems and experience integrating them with data and analytics platforms for unified reporting

• Ability to set a clear vision, communicate it compellingly, and drive alignment across senior stakeholders

• Deep ownership mentality — identifies problems, drives solutions, and holds outcomes without being directed

Nice to Have

• Background in fintech, payments, or regulated financial services

• Experience at a high-growth startup navigating rapid scaling and operational volatility

• Exposure to a mature, well-run escalations or customer operations function, providing a clear benchmark for "what great looks like"

• Familiarity with social media support operations and community management at scale