Lead, Center of Excellence

Lead, Center of Excellence

The team + the role

The Pendo Center of Excellence (CoE) sets the standard for how Pendo uses Pendo. We bring together in-app and email engagement, Product Operations, and growth strategy to ensure every team maximizes the value of the platform - and every customer receives a consistent, contextual, and high-quality experience. The CoE is a small, high-leverage team: the Head of CoE sets direction and strategic priorities, a Specialist drives day-to-day execution, and Product Operations partners on system foundations. This Lead role sits at the center of that system.

We're hiring a Lead, Center of Excellence to scale the team's impact. You'll evolve the CoE from a team that launches guides and emails into a system-driven operating model that drives measurable outcomes - across onboarding, retention, support deflection, and customer lifecycle. You'll translate strategy into scalable processes, partner closely with the Head of CoE and Specialist to improve throughput without sacrificing quality, and serve as the CoE's point of collaboration for Fin-related initiatives. This is a systems-focused, impact-driven role for someone who understands not just how to use Pendo, but how to use it to move the needle.

This role is based in Raleigh, NC or US remote, and follows Pendo's hybrid model: in-office 3 days per week where applicable.

What this looks like day-to-day

• Expand CoE support into high-impact lifecycle areas - onboarding and adoption, retention and churn prevention, and support deflection - partnering with Design, Product, PMM, Customer Success, Content Design, and Marketing to connect engagement strategy to measurable business outcomes.
• Own the Pendo-side strategy and execution for guide delivery triggered through Fin's chat interface: determine which guides are eligible for conversational launch, how they're structured for that context, and how they're tagged and maintained for reliable delivery.
• Lead the CoE's approach to proactive Fin messaging tied to Pendo Workflows and Funnels - enabling Fin to detect when users stall and deliver contextual, timely support nudges at the right moment.
• Improve intake quality, workflow efficiency, and CoE throughput - identify and resolve bottlenecks, evolve governance standards, and ensure consistency across all customer-facing experiences before they're published.
• Support the exploration and implementation of AI-driven CoE capabilities (e.g., CoE Companion) to improve intake quality, guide decision-making, and reduce manual effort at scale.
• Lead cross-functional alignment across Adoption, Product, PMM, Customer Success, and Marketing - present CoE strategy and recommendations to stakeholders, and push back confidently when work doesn't meet the bar.
• Partner with Product Operations to strengthen the systems that underpin engagement: segmentation, tagging, metadata, permissions, and governance workflows.

Who you are

Beyond the qualifications, we hire through a specific lens. These aren't buzzwords; they're the things we'll actually look for in how you talk about your work.

You're a builder, not a maintainer.

You're most energized when there isn't a clear path yet, and you get to define it. You don't wait for direction; you identify gaps, shape solutions, and drive them forward. At Pendo, great CoE leads don't just run the system - they improve it. They see where throughput breaks down, where standards slip, and where the team is solving the wrong problem, and they fix all three without waiting to be asked.

You're AI-curious - genuinely.

You're not using AI tools occasionally. You're rewiring how you work around them. You're faster, sharper, and more prolific because of it, and you bring that energy to everything: how you design engagement strategies, how you think about Fin and in-app guidance working together, how you build systems that scale without adding headcount. We want someone who sees AI as a multiplier, not a shortcut - and who is excited about defining what that looks like in a CoE context.

Must-haves

• Hands-on experience building guides and journeys in Pendo - you've done the work, not just managed it.
• Experience using Pendo (or similar tools) to drive measurable outcomes in adoption, retention, or engagement; you can answer "what value are we getting from this?" with data.
• Experience in program management, lifecycle operations, product operations, or a similar systems-oriented role.
• Strong systems thinking - you see how work flows through a team, where friction lives, and how to fix it structurally rather than reactively.
• Ability to collaborate cross-functionally and influence without authority; stakeholders trust your recommendations because they're grounded and specific.
• Strong communication skills, including presenting strategy and recommendations to stakeholders at all levels.
• Ability to think across engagement channels - in-app, email, and conversational AI - and design connected experiences that meet users where they are.

Nice-to-haves

• Familiarity with Intercom and Fin - particularly proactive messaging configuration, conversation routing, and how Fin surfaces external content.
• Experience designing connected experiences across in-app and conversational channels, including chatbot-to-guide handoff patterns.
• SaaS onboarding or lifecycle experience with a focus on measurable outcomes like adoption rates, retention, or support ticket deflection.
• Experience with CoE or governance models - you've operated inside a system designed to maintain quality at scale.
• Familiarity with workflow and funnel analytics and how to use behavioral signals to trigger timely, contextual interventions.
• Product growth or product ops background with a track record of improving team throughput through better systems and processes.

About Pendo

Pendo was founded in 2013 by former product managers, who combined their heads and hearts to build something they wanted but never had as product managers: a simple way to understand and attack what truly drives product success. Our mission is to improve society's experience with software. Come join one of the fastest-growing startups, supported by best-in-class institutions like Battery Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Spark Capital and Meritech.

Pendo core values: Bias to Act, Hone Your Craft, The Team is Pendo, and Maniacal Focus.

Location: Pendo is a hybrid culture. In-office 3 days per week unless designated remote.

Benefits: Highly competitive, employer-heavy coverage (including $0 premium options), strong 401(k) match, equity, and flexible time off.

Compensation: Our salary ranges are based on paying competitively for our size and industry, and are one part of many compensation, benefits and other reward opportunities we provide.

The expected salary range for this role to be performed in North Carolina is USD $150,000 - USD $170,000

EEOC: We are an equal opportunity employer and believe having diverse teams where everyone brings their whole self to Pendo is key to our success. We welcome all people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities and perspectives.

Accessibility: Pendo is committed to working with, and providing access and reasonable accommodation to, applicants with mental and/or physical disabilities. If you think you may require an accommodation for any part of the recruitment process, please send a request to: [email protected]. All requests for accommodations are treated discreetly and confidentially, as practical and permitted by law.