My career can be summed up by three main concepts: helping people, having an impact via a strong voice, and continuous improvement. A value that has resonated and stuck with me from my Upstart days is "do the right thing even when it is hard". As a result, you’ll often see me using my knowledge and experience to champion necessary change that helps customers and businesses succeed. I’ve been in financial services (lending, banking, investing) for 15 years, with a focus on mission-based fintech companies for the last 10. These missions have ranged from providing environmentally friendly home improvement loans (Renovate America) to improving access to credit (Upstart) to empowering people to invest and save (Acorns and Wealthsimple). While I can wear many hats, my passions lie within education (training, content management, and instructional design), quality, program management, operational excellence, and leadership.
Wealthsimple is a top fintech that enables Canadians to grow their wealth and achieve financial freedom. I lead strategy and daily operations for knowledge and content within the Client Experience Operations department, optimizing both self-serve and agent-assisted experiences with a focus on SEO and AI advancements. Major projects so far include centralizing all knowledge within one platform, implementing content governance, and establishing content guidelines that improve SEO and chatbot responses.
Just think of me as your Operational Excellence architect. I'm here to boost efficiency, empower your team, and drive customer satisfaction. With 15 years of relevant experience within Operations and Customer Service, particularly within start-ups and the financial services sector, I can set you and your business up for success.
Acorns is a fast-paced fintech start-up that focuses on empowering the up-and-coming to save and invest for the future. With a team of 7 employees, I owned strategy, day-to-day operations, and overall performance of the Customer Support quality, implementation, training, and content management functions. Successes: - Led Support change management for high-priority company initiatives, including learning, tooling, and new processes - Spearheaded a revamped training program for a new contact center, resulting in 100+ new agents achieving key proficiency metrics within 6 months on average - Oversaw chatbot and help center content improvement initiatives that drove an increase in chatbot CSAT by 31% over the course of 6 months - Established a quality oversight program for contact center partners to enable better calibration, yielding a less than 5% variance between quality assurance teams - Instituted a quality deep dive program into top contact drivers, where insights helped prioritize important improvements, such as a revamped refund process and live supervisor escalations
Upstart is a high-growth fintech start-up turned successful public company that builds lending platforms using AI/ML. I established and ran operational functions with 50+ individual contributors and managers within training, change management, knowledge management, instructional design, and quality assurance positions. Successes: - Implemented and owned the vendor relationship of a company-wide Learning Management System (LMS) and professional development through LinkedIn Learning - Led change management for Operations as they transitioned to a virtual environment during the pandemic - Strategized and oversaw the implementation of Confluence, a Content Management System (CMS), which improved analyst efficiency - Developed an in-house, risk-based quality assurance function, including hiring associates, implementing tooling, and revamping scorecards - Created, facilitated, and evaluated virtual, in-classroom, and eLearning training across various product, system, and policy and procedure launches
Renovate America was an innovative fintech start-up focused on energy efficient home improvement financing. I drove high-priority operational implementation, training, change management, and continuous improvement projects. Successes: - Led the operational implementation of an industry-leading integrated mobile application that over 430 contractors used, resulting in $8 million in signed financing from June-Dec 2018 - Managed an underwriting policy team, created curricula, and facilitated operational training for PACE Ability to Pay legislative requirements - Drove technology and operational solution design to increase automation and improve customer experience around credit freeze resolution, credit expense calculations, and household income collection
Provident Funding Associates is an established, private mortgage lender with industry-leading pricing. I led mortgage operations projects across underwriting, auditing, training, funding, loan processing, research, and business development. Successes: - Revamped underwriting training content and curriculum - Developed a 6-week Underwriting Certification Program - Co-authored and implemented an underwriting manual
15 years of experience within Learning & Development and Training for Operations and Support employees
7 years of experience managing teams ranging from 3-50+ people across L&D, Knowledge Management, and Quality Assurance functions
15 years of experience within Support and Operations in the financial services sector
15 years of analytical experience, ranging from underwriting and credit analysis to complex analyses of customer and employee data to determine improvement areas
15 years of experience within financial services, including lending, banking, and investing. Specialized in fintech startups.
10 years of experience working in the technology sector, specifically focused on fintechs
5 years of experience working with Zendesk with a focus on Zendesk Guide, macros, and chat shortcuts
5 years of experience working with Salesforce, with a focus on Salesforce Knowledge and Einstein AI
2 years of experience working with Guru, including vendor management
6 years of working with Confluence and Jira
6 years of experience working with Lessonly, including vendor management
3 years of experience working with Amazon Connect
Varun Arora
Co-founder · Score AI
Sara provided an exceptional mentorship session on CX quality and training. The session was well-structured, providing actionable resources I could implement immediately. Sara's supportive style and expertise have already helped improve our approach. Highly recommended for anyone seeking CX guidance.
Verified session· Employee Training and Engagement· 30 min· 31 Mar 2025
