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Sr. Director - Customer Service Excellence

Caris Life Sciences

Caris Life Sciences

Customer Service
Phoenix, AZ, USA
Posted on Aug 29, 2025

At Caris, we understand that cancer is an ugly word—a word no one wants to hear, but one that connects us all. That’s why we’re not just transforming cancer care—we’re changing lives.

We introduced precision medicine to the world and built an industry around the idea that every patient deserves answers as unique as their DNA. Backed by cutting-edge molecular science and AI, we ask ourselves every day: “What would I do if this patient were my mom?” That question drives everything we do.

But our mission doesn’t stop with cancer. We're pushing the frontiers of medicine and leading a revolution in healthcare—driven by innovation, compassion, and purpose.

Join us in our mission to improve the human condition across multiple diseases. If you're passionate about meaningful work and want to be part of something bigger than yourself, Caris is where your impact begins.

Position Summary

The Senior Director – Customer Service Excellence is more than a leader – this role must be a change agent, a builder of high-performing teams and an operation-minded problem solver who thrives at the intersection of people, process and performance. This role serves as a hands-on leader of leaders, developing and scaling leadership talent across the department driving service excellence and performance consistency. This role will lead and inspire a dynamic, multi-faceted team responsible for critical customer service functions, including order intake and case setup trough discrepancy resolution to case activation, and escalation management. This role is ultimately responsible for ensuring cases are set up and activated into the lab as quickly and efficiently as possible without compromising on quality or accuracy. The ideal candidate must be an effective cross-functional collaborator, aligning closely with a broad group of internal and external stakeholders to shape strategy, remove barriers, and establish scalable solutions. Additionally, the right person for the job must also champion a culture of continuous improvement, leading initiatives to lean out operations, automate processes and drive efficiencies across the customer service ecosystem and beyond.

Job Responsibilities

Operational Execution

  • Drive operational excellence across all functional areas within Customer Support, delivering high-quality service that aligns with clinical and laboratory standards.

  • Ensure timely and accurate case intake and setup to support rapid activation of testing in the laboratory.

  • Maintain optimal performance across the end-to-end customer journey—from order intake through case activation—prioritizing speed, accuracy, and quality.

  • Lead escalation response for complex or high-impact customer and clinical issues, ensuring swift resolution, thorough root cause analysis, and preventive action in collaboration with cross-functional stakeholders.

  • Oversee critical operational support areas including ordering portals, case processing, client account setup, and documentation workflows to enable efficient and compliant lab testing operations.

  • Monitor departmental productivity and performance using data-driven tools; identify trends, track KPIs, and report key metrics to senior leadership.

  • Ensure ongoing compliance with healthcare regulations and internal quality standards through regular audits and process checks.

Innovation & Continuous Improvement

  • Champion a culture of continuous improvement, leveraging automation, workflow optimization, and system enhancements to increase service efficiency and reduce pre-qualification time.

  • Identify and implement process improvements and technology-driven solutions to resolve service inefficiencies and support business scalability.

  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams (e.g., Lab Operations, IT, Commercial) to streamline case workflows and improve internal handoffs across the service and laboratory workstreams.

  • Conduct deep-dive analyses into service gaps, workflow bottlenecks, and customer feedback to drive data-backed process enhancements.

  • Ensure the Customer Support team is equipped with up-to-date training, tools, and resources, fostering a learning environment that supports professional growth and compliance.

Strategic Leadership

  • Develop and execute a long-term strategy for Customer Support operations, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and the evolving needs of patients, providers, and partners.

  • Provide strong, consistent leadership that translates company and departmental objectives into clear, actionable goals for the team.

  • Build and sustain a high-performing leadership pipeline through effective coaching, performance management, and succession planning.

  • Partner with executive leadership to reimagine service delivery models and implement scalable, tech-enabled solutions that elevate the customer experience and support business growth.

  • Ensure leaders are held accountable for effective documentation and timely execution of employee feedback, 1:1s, development plans, and performance reviews in Workday.

  • Lead hiring and onboarding initiatives in collaboration with CS leaders, ensuring new employees are properly oriented and trained for success.

  • Facilitate regular leadership meetings to align on strategic priorities, operational changes, and departmental updates.

  • Represent the Customer Support function in cross-functional forums and ensure key stakeholders are informed of performance updates, emerging risks, and opportunities for collaboration.

  • Act as a visible and accessible leader supporting special projects, stepping in where needed, and modeling a service-first, patient-focused mindset.


Required Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university

  • Minimum of 7+ years laboratory/ healthcare industry experience in customer support, account management or sales support capacity.

  • 3-5 years of progressive managerial experience

  • Exceptional communication skills, verbal, written and presentation

  • Effective cross-functional collaborator and change management skills.

  • Strong analytical mindset and data fluency, with experience in business intelligence platforms to drive insights into executive decision-making frameworks.

  • A collaborative, customer-centric leader with excellent communication skills and cultural awareness, adept at working across global teams.

  • Flexible, adaptable, and experienced in a high-growth, dynamic environment focusing on continuous improvement.

  • An influencer and culture builder who leads by example, builds trust across teams, and uplifts others through mentorship, clarity and empowerment.

  • A strategic operator with a bias for action, a passion for process improvement. And the ability to balance day-to-day execution with long-term vision and planning.

  • A curious innovator who questions the status quo, thrives in complexity and turns insights into action.

  • Experienced in leading large, complex service teams with a proven track record of delivering on key operational metrics in a highly regulated and high-volume environments.

  • Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite, specifically Word, Excel, and Outlook, Tableau, Workday and general working knowledge of laboratory information systems.

Preferred Qualifications

  • 7 years’ experience in oncology sales, service and lab experience

  • MBA, MHA or similar advanced degree

  • LEAN, Six Sigma, or other process improvement certifications

Physical Demands

  • Ability to sit and stand for extended periods of time

  • Possess ability to perform repetitive motion

Training

  • All job specific, safety, and compliance training are assigned based on the job functions associated with this employee.

Other

  • This position requires periodic travel and some evenings, weekends and/or holidays.

Conditions of Employment: Individual must successfully complete pre-employment process, which includes criminal background check, drug screening, credit check ( applicable for certain positions) and reference verification.

This job description reflects management’s assignment of essential functions. Nothing in this job description restricts management’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time.

Caris Life Sciences is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, status as a protected veteran, among other things, or status as a qualified individual with disability.