AI & Business Operations Analyst

About Upgrade

Upgrade is a financial technology company focused on helping people move forward with more affordable and responsible credit solutions. Since 2017, it has supported more than 7.5 million customers and facilitated over $42 billion in consumer credit. The company is committed to improving customers’ financial health by building products that help them keep more money in their pockets and work toward a stronger financial future. Upgrade is supported by leading technology investors and was most recently valued at $7.3B.

The company is widely recognized for its collaborative and inclusive workplace and has been named among CNBC’s World’s Top Fintech Companies, Built In’s Best Places to Work, Best Places to Work by the San Francisco Business Times, America’s Greatest Workplaces by Newsweek, Best Startup Employer by Forbes, and one of the Healthiest Employers by the Phoenix Business Journal.

Upgrade is looking for people who are energized by creating and launching better products and who want to help build a healthier financial future for millions of customers.

Role Overview

This position is for a highly driven AI & Business Operations Analyst within the Process Improvement team under the Business Programs Department. The team operates in a fast-moving environment and focuses on reworking and optimizing business operations to improve efficiency across the organization.

In this role, you will have ownership to design, execute, and manage improved processes using AI tools, virtual agents, automation, and process changes. You will work closely with operations, product, and customer experience teams to turn operational friction into structured, scalable solutions.

This role is based in the Phoenix office and follows a hybrid schedule of 3 days per week in office.

Key Responsibilities

• Investigate underlying causes of operational issues, process slowdowns, and customer pain points across core platform services and contact center channels.
• Use AI prompt design and workflow automation to create, validate, and implement virtual agent workflows and automated business processes.
• Collect both qualitative and quantitative information from internal back-end tools, contact center systems, and external integrations to support cost and business analysis.
• Track important systems across areas such as verifications, servicing, virtual agents, and customer support.
• Work across teams to identify, prioritize, and resolve issues, then convert those issues into product scope, user stories, and business requirement documents for improvement work.
• Own incident handling and escalation for issues affecting internal platforms and customer-facing automated systems.
• Communicate face-to-face with customer-facing teams about improvement ideas, AI and automation feedback, and incident response.

Required Experience and Qualifications

• 2 to 3 years of professional experience in business operations, data analysis, product operations, or systems analysis.
• At least 1 year of experience in financial services, fintech, lending, digital banking, or another regulated, fast-paced environment.
• Strong critical thinking skills with the ability to propose original, AI-enabled process improvements.
• Working knowledge of AI technologies, prompt engineering, and LLM behavior in customer service or virtual agent scenarios.
• Strong motivation for process improvement and a habit of identifying friction points and turning complex workflows into more scalable processes.
• Solid hands-on SQL skills for detailed data analysis.
• Good understanding of engineering concepts needed to design, deploy, and manage virtual agent workflows that affect customer or account operations.
• Experience with web analytics or conversation analytics tools such as Heap, FullStory, Adobe, Google Analytics, or contact center analytics platforms.
• Ability to turn complex operational findings into practical business cases and cost-benefit goals.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, Management Information Systems (MIS), Economics, Data Analytics, or a related discipline.
• Experience in a high-volume contact center, customer support center, or similar environment.
• Background in process mapping and automated workflow creation using RPA, iPaaS, or AI orchestration tools.
• Exposure to third-party APIs, system integrations, and AI middleware.
• Familiarity with Atlassian tools such as Jira, Confluence, and OpsGenie.

Compensation and Benefits

• Competitive salary plus stock options.
• 100% employer-paid medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Flexible paid time off.
• Opportunities for professional growth and development.
• Paid parental leave.
• Health and wellness initiatives.

Equal Opportunity and Other Notes

Upgrade is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applicants from all backgrounds. Hiring decisions are made without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

Unsolicited resumes from staffing agencies, search firms, or other third parties are not accepted. Any resume sent to an Upgrade employee without a prior written agreement will be treated as the company’s property, and no referral or placement fee will be owed. Agencies must receive advance written approval from Upgrade’s Talent Acquisition team and must have a valid, fully executed agreement before submitting candidates.

English is required for all positions because the role involves communication with staff across Upgrade offices worldwide.