We believe in the power and joy of learning
At Cengage, our employees have a direct impact in helping students around the world discover the power and joy of learning. We are bonded by our shared purpose – driving innovation that helps millions of learners improve their lives and achieve their dreams through education.
Cengage's portfolio of businesses supports student choice by providing a range of pathways that help learners achieve their goals and lead a choice-filled life.
Our culture values inclusion, engagement, and discovery
Our business is driven by our strong culture, and we know that creating an inclusive workplace is absolutely essential to the success of our company and our learners, as well as our individual well-being. We recognize the value of diverse perspectives in everything we do, and strive to ensure employees of all levels and backgrounds feel empowered to voice their ideas and bring their authentic selves to work. We achieve these priorities through programs, benefits, and initiatives that are integrated into the fabric of how we work every day. To learn more, please see https://www.cengagegroup.com/about/inclusion-and-belonging/.
The AI Automation Engineer – Global Operations drives AI-enabled operational efficiency across customer support, customer success, and service delivery functions at Cengage. You will build intelligent automations that reduce resolution time, improve first-contact resolution, and standardize how Cengage serves customers across NA, EMEA, and APAC.
This role sits at the intersection of AI capabilities, support platforms, and operational process design. The ideal candidate has built against Zendesk (or equivalent), understands the economics of support operations, and knows how to design automations that work reliably across languages, regions, and customer segments.
Key Responsibilities
Support & Service AI Automation
Automate support ticket triage, routing, classification, and deflection using LLMs and ML
Build AI-powered knowledge base search and agent-assist tools for support staff
Develop renewal workflow automations that surface at-risk accounts and recommend actions
Create intelligent self-service experiences for customers across chatbot, email, and portal channels
Implement case summarization, sentiment analysis, and quality monitoring automations
Platform Integration & Global Standardization
Integrate AI into Zendesk (or equivalent) and upstream operational systems
Standardize workflows globally across NA, EMEA, and APAC support operations
Identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies in existing support and service workflows
Build integrations across CRM, billing, entitlement, and operational data sources
Ensure automations handle multi-language, multi-region, and multi-time-zone requirements
Measurement & Continuous Improvement
Track resolution time reduction, first-contact resolution, and cost-per-interaction metrics
Partner with operations leaders on weekly reviews of automation performance
Quantify cost savings, deflection rates, and CSAT impact of deployed automations
Iterate on production systems based on agent feedback and customer outcomes
Maintain documentation and runbooks for all deployed workflows
Required Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field
4+ years of experience in automation engineering, support engineering, or software development
Strong proficiency in Python and experience building production-grade automation
Hands-on experience with LLMs and modern AI APIs for classification, summarization, and generation
Deep experience with at least one major support platform (Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud, ServiceNow)
Experience building and deploying conversational AI or chatbot systems
Strong understanding of support operations KPIs and economics
Excellent communication skills to work with operational and technical stakeholders
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with Zendesk APIs, macros, triggers, and custom app development
Background building agent-assist or AI copilot tools for support staff
Experience with customer success platforms (Gainsight, Totango, ChurnZero)
Familiarity with multi-language NLP and international support operations
Experience with RAG architectures and vector databases for knowledge retrieval
Background in EdTech, SaaS, or other enterprise software support environments
Tools & Technologies
You should be comfortable with many of the following:
Languages: Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, SQL
AI/ML: OpenAI API, Anthropic API, AWS Bedrock, LangChain, Hugging Face
Support: Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud, ServiceNow, Intercom
Automation: n8n, Zapier, AWS Step Functions, Airflow
Conversational AI: Rasa, Dialogflow, Amazon Lex, custom LLM agents
Data: PostgreSQL, MongoDB, vector databases (Pinecone, Weaviate)
Key Competencies
Customer Mindset — designs automations that improve the customer experience, not just the metric
Operational Rigor — builds reliable, observable systems that hold up in production
Global Perspective — accounts for region, language, and time zone in every design decision
Stakeholder Partnership — works closely with support leaders and frontline agents
Attention to Detail — handles edge cases, escalations, and unusual inputs gracefully
Continuous Improvement — measures, iterates, and optimizes deployed workflows
What We Offer
Opportunity to shape AI at scale across a global learning company
Direct impact on business outcomes, product, and workforce productivity
Access to cutting-edge AI tools, platforms, and technologies
Collaborative team environment focused on innovation and continuous improvement
Competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits
Professional development and learning opportunities
Flexible work arrangements with remote/hybrid options
Cengage is committed to working with broad talent pools to attract and hire strong and most qualified individuals. Our job applicants are considered regardless of any classification protected by applicable federal, state, provincial or local laws.
Cengage is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities including during our job application process. If you are an applicant with a disability and require reasonable accommodation in our job application process, please contact us at accommodations.ta@cengage.com.
About Cengage
Cengage, a global education technology company serving millions of learners, provides affordable, quality digital products and services that equip students with the skills and competencies needed to be job ready. For more than 100 years, we have enabled the power and joy of learning with trusted, engaging content, and now, integrated digital platforms. We serve the higher education, workforce skills, secondary education, English language teaching and research markets worldwide. Through our scalable technology, including MindTap and Cengage Unlimited, we support all learners who seek to improve their lives and achieve their dreams through education.
Compensation
At Cengage Group, we take great pride in our commitment to providing a comprehensive and rewarding Total Rewards package designed to support and empower our employees. Click here to learn more about our Total Rewards Philosophy.
The full base pay range has been provided for this position. Individual base pay will vary based on work schedule, qualifications, experience, internal equity, and geographic location. Sales roles often incorporate a significant incentive compensation program beyond this base pay range.
In this position, you will be eligible to participate in the company’s discretionary incentive bonus program. This position's bonus target amount, which is not guaranteed and is dependent on individual performance and overall company results among other factors, is provided below.
10% Annual: Individual Target
$101,900.00 - $132,450.00 USD