Customer Support & Automation Lead, Kenya

Customer Support & Automation Lead, Kenya Our mission at Ello is simple and urgent: Maximize the potential of every child, everywhere. We’re building the world’s first AI teacher to close that gap: one that listens, speaks, adapts, and inspires, just like the best human educators. Our first product, Read with Ello, is already helping tens of thousands of kids each week learn to read. It listens as they read aloud, offers support when they stumble, and generates magical, personalized stories using generative AI. It works—and kids love it. Now, we’re scaling that success into something even bigger: a complete AI teacher for all children. We’re building a real-time learning platform—one that combines language, speech, and memory to power personalized, interactive education for kids worldwide. We’re moving fast: we ship weekly, test directly with kids and families, and push the boundaries of what AI can do in education. With the resources of the world's top investors and the heart of a public benefit corporation, we’re here to revolutionize how children learn globally. Featured on TIME’s Best Inventions and Fortune’s Change the World, Ello is a small, mission-driven team taking on one of the most important challenges of our time: to democratize education. ABOUT THE ROLE This role will be our first dedicated support hire in Kenya, and will build the foundations that ensure every family’s experience reflects Ello’s mission to maximize each child’s potential. This is not a traditional customer service role. You won’t just respond to messages — you’ll help set up how support operates locally from the ground up. You will: - Provide warm, high-quality support via WhatsApp and email - Surface product insights from real customer conversations - Build and document clear support workflows and templates - Use AI tools to improve speed, clarity, and consistency - Spot repetitive work and propose automation solutions - Continuously improve systems as support volume grows We are looking for someone who genuinely cares about people and takes pride in clear, warm communication — and who also gets curious about how to make work smarter and more efficient. This role is about building strong foundations for support in Nairobi while delivering excellent day-to-day service. Required Qualifications - Strong written communication skills with a warm, professional tone - Demonstrated experience in customer support, community management, operations, or similar roles - Experience turning customer feedback into structured recommendations for product or operational improvement - Strong AI fluency and a demonstrated ability to apply AI tools to real operational workflows - Strong fluency with digital tools and ability to quickly learn new platforms - Experience handling ambiguity and helping define process where it doesn’t yet exist - Ability to stay calm and solution-oriented when customers are frustrated - High ownership and ability to work independently NICE TO HAVE - Experience supporting consumer technology products - Experience in edtech or working with families - Experience setting up or improving support workflows (e.g., tagging systems, macros, SOPs) - Experience suggesting or prototyping lightweight automations in support tools - Experience using Intercom - Startup experience WE LOOK FOR CANDIDATES WHO - Genuinely enjoy helping people and solving problems - Communicate with empathy, clarity, and strong judgment - See support conversations as a source of product learning, not just problem resolution - Are highly digitally fluent and comfortable navigating modern tools - Proactively use AI to improve speed, quality, and efficiency in their work - Take initiative rather than waiting for detailed instructions - Naturally look for smarter ways to handle repetitive work - Are comfortable building structure where none exists yet - Balance warmth with efficiency - Care about quality and take pride in doing things w ... (truncated, view full listing at source)