EVP – Customer Operations — Foundation-Model Platform

The mandate

Post-funding growth has magnified a customer operation fragmented by channel, market and product. Enterprise buyers receive different onboarding, support and escalation experiences depending on where the relationship began. Local teams compensate through effort, but repeat contacts and avoidable hand-offs are rising. The EVP – Customer Operations will create one service architecture for a foundation-model platform while preserving the expertise required for complex customer contexts.

The business generates or supports approximately S$1.2 billion in AI product and services revenue and includes roughly 800 employees and material partners across Singapore and the wider operating region. The remit spans onboarding, customer support, technical service, adoption operations, incident communication, renewal support and partner delivery. It interfaces closely with product, engineering, sales and risk.

The desired outcomes are consistent service, lower failure demand and improved retention. Standardisation is not the same as forcing every customer into one interaction. The organisation needs common ownership, data and service principles, with purposeful variation for contract, risk or value. Customers should not have to understand the company’s internal structure to get a problem resolved.

Why this seat is open

This is a planned replacement, and the incumbent will support an orderly handover. Four to six months have been reserved for assessment and diligence so service continuity is protected through the post-funding scale-up. Communication to customers, employees and partners will be sequenced carefully. The permanent hybrid position is based in Singapore, supports international relocation and reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated executive committee sponsor.

What you will own

You will map priority customer journeys from implementation through adoption, support, incident and renewal. Each journey needs an end-to-end owner, service expectation and consistent customer identity. Channel and market teams should operate from a shared case and entitlement view, while escalation follows consequence and urgency rather than organisational influence.

Failure demand needs diagnosis at source. Repeat contacts, reopened cases, avoidable escalations and preventable onboarding delays should be linked back to product, process, data or commercial causes. You will create mechanisms that compel upstream action instead of expanding service capacity around recurring defects. Customer feedback must lead to owned changes and visible closure.

Operating economics matter after funding. You will reconcile service demand, tiering, specialist capacity, partner contribution and cost to serve. High-touch support should follow customer need and economics, not sales promises made without operational review. Automation must improve resolution and insight rather than create barriers between enterprise customers and accountable expertise.

The 800-person organisation requires clear leadership and succession. Assess regional and channel heads, consolidate duplicated ownership and build a common operating cadence. Partners should receive the same standards and data expectations as internal teams. Customer-facing staff need the authority and knowledge to solve common issues without serial transfer.

The first 12 months

In the first 90 days, establish a baseline of volume, resolution, failure demand, customer effort, adoption, retention and cost. Follow representative cases across channels and markets, meet important customers, assess leaders and stabilise immediate service risks. Agree journey owners, scorecards and operating-model principles with the executive sponsor.

Between months four and nine, implement common case and escalation disciplines, remove the largest sources of repeat demand and align service tiers with commercial commitments. Fill critical leadership gaps and demonstrate meaningful improvement on one high-volume or high-value journey. Feed systemic issues into product and engineering governance with accountable dates.

By the end of year one, customers should experience consistent service across priority journeys, reduced failure demand and stronger retention. The next plan must reconcile customer growth, service capacity, partner supply and workforce. Provide a three-year service case with downside actions for demand spikes, platform instability or slower automation benefits.

What the board will measure

The annual customer-operations case should deliver within 10% of approval, with leading variance surfaced before quarter close. Forecasts over three quarters need to reconcile customers, demand, retention, cash, partner and employee capacity. One major source of failure demand should improve quantitatively from a controlled baseline.

Priority customer and service risks must close by agreed dates with proof that solutions endure. Critical-talent retention should reach at least 90%, and 70% of direct reports need ready-now cover. Severe customer escalations cannot remain without a resolution decision beyond 30 days, and material surprises must reach governance.

The person

You are an EVP Customer Operations, Service COO or Customer Experience Head with 22–28 years in AI, enterprise software, cloud, data infrastructure, analytics, applied research or a comparable complex service business. You have owned at least S$950 million of P&L, budget, book or accountable portfolio and led at least 800 people.

Your record includes integrating service across markets and channels while improving customer and economic outcomes. You can quantify failure-demand reduction, resolution, retention and cost-to-serve movement. The board will test a case where standardisation initially met resistance and how you preserved valuable local expertise. References must establish your direct decisions and sustained impact.

Compensation and terms

The anticipated package is S$360,000–480,000 base plus annual incentive, calibrated to eventual scope and current mix. Any long-term element follows ordinary vesting and performance provisions. Notice up to six months can be accommodated. The appointee will work regularly with the board and investment committee.

Confidentiality

Identifying information, customer metrics and transition arrangements will follow mutual relevance under formal confidentiality. Public market, scale and situation details are intentionally combined and do not describe a named enterprise.