Strategic Business Operations Lead, API

Perplexity AI

$120K — $145K *
Enterprise Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5+ years in business operations, strategy, consulting, customer success, account management, or a related field.
  • Proven ability to tackle complex business problems from analysis to implementation across various teams.
  • Strong analytical mindset with proficiency in spreadsheets and business metrics to drive actionable recommendations.
  • Exceptional relationship management skills with a knack for engaging with customers meaningfully.
  • A keen interest in APIs and AI technologies, with a capacity to collaborate with engineering teams on technical matters.
  • Effective communicator with commercial acumen, able to juggle ongoing customer engagement with strategic initiatives.

Responsibilities

  • Manage and nurture the portfolio of API customer relationships with regular account discussions and prioritization understanding.
  • Create account growth plans by anticipating risks and collaborating with Sales for renewals and expansions.
  • Revamp post-sale operations, covering customer onboarding, health indicators, and team coordination.
  • Lead strategic API projects focused on customer engagement and retention by evaluating issues and orchestrating solutions.
  • Oversee customer programs, ensuring smooth migrations and effective internal communication of milestones and responsibilities.
  • Facilitate accurate customer communications regarding product changes, collaborating closely with technical and commercial teams.
  • Analyze customer usage data to drive engagement decisions and inform strategic business choices.

Benefits

  • Opportunity to engage directly with leading AI-native companies and large enterprises.
  • Role combines both customer interaction and strategic operational work, providing valuable cross-functional experience.
  • Focus on customer success and retention, placing emphasis on practical impact and measurable outcomes.
  • Encouragement of a data-driven approach to business planning and customer relationship management.
Full Job Description
We are looking for a Strategic Business Operations Lead to manage customer relationships and lead projects that help grow the API business. The role is roughly half customer-facing and half strategic and operational work, with an initial focus on building and improving our post-sale programs.

You will own a portfolio of API customers, learning how AI-native companies and large enterprises evaluate, adopt, and scale AI infrastructure. Working closely with API leadership, you will help shape how the business operates and lead projects such as product migrations, customer enablement, and account coverage. You will put recommendations into practice, with results measured in customer adoption, retention, and growth.

Responsibilities
  • Manage a portfolio of API customer relationships, leading account conversations, understanding business priorities, and coordinating next steps across technical and commercial teams.
  • Build account plans around adoption, value, and growth. Identify risks early and partner with Sales and account owners on renewals and expansion.
  • Design and improve the post-sale operating model, including customer segmentation, account coverage, onboarding, health signals, and handoffs between teams.
  • Lead strategic projects across the API business, with an initial emphasis on customer adoption and retention. Scope the problem, develop a recommendation, coordinate execution, and track outcomes.
  • Run customer programs such as product and endpoint migrations, enablement, and rollout communications. Establish the audience, milestones, internal responsibilities, and follow-up needed for each.
  • Coordinate customer communications for product updates, pricing changes, deprecations, and incidents, working with Engineering, Support, and commercial teams on accurate messaging.
  • Analyze usage, consumption against commitments, renewal risk, and expansion signals to prioritize customer engagement and inform business decisions.
  • Build practical reporting, workflows, and automation that help the team manage a growing customer base. Partner with Finance and Billing Operations to improve the customer experience around credits, commitments, and billing.
  • Bring insights from customers into API planning and take on additional strategic initiatives as business priorities evolve.
What we're looking for
  • 5+ years of experience in business operations, strategy and operations, consulting, customer success, account management, or a related role.
  • A track record of taking ambiguous business problems from analysis through implementation, including projects that require coordination across multiple teams.
  • Strong analytical skills: comfortable working with spreadsheets, usage data, and business metrics to identify a problem, test a hypothesis, and recommend an action.
  • Strong relationship skills and a genuine interest in spending a substantial part of your time with customers. You can lead a conversation, understand their priorities, and take responsibility for the follow-up.
  • Curiosity about APIs and AI products, with the ability to learn technical concepts and work effectively with engineering teams.
  • Clear writing, commercial judgment, and the ability to balance ongoing customer relationships with longer-term projects.
Nice to have
  • Direct customer-facing experience in a B2B technology company, including account management, customer success, partnerships, or solutions work.
  • Experience with API businesses, developer platforms, or consumption-based revenue models.
  • Working knowledge of SQL, CRM systems, or BI tools, and experience automating recurring analysis or workflows.

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