Contract Operations Systems Analyst

About Customer.io Over 9,000 companies — from scrappy startups to global brands — use our platform to send billions of emails, push notifications, in-app messages, and SMS every day. Customer.io powers automated communication that people actually want to receive. We help teams send smarter, more relevant messages using real-time behavioral data. About the role Hi, my name is Bill Miksich, VP of Operations at Customer.io , and I'm looking for a contract Operations Systems Analyst to join our Strat Ops team. The pace of AI model releases and pricing shifts requires dedicated bandwidth to evaluate options before they turn into cost or capability decisions. This includes commercial models, open source models, and on-prem alternatives. Right now that research burden falls to already-stretched senior staff. We're facing a worst case AI spend scenario approaching $6.0M annualized, and this role exists to get ahead of it. The remaining scope of the role covers smaller operational vendor projects, starting with our SMS and messaging vendor evaluation work. This is a contract engagement. We want to validate the value of dedicated AI cost and model optimization work before committing to permanent headcount. What we value Rigor over instinct — you evaluate vendors and models on cost, capability, and risk, not on which one has the best sales pitch. Independent execution — you take a broad, ambiguous mandate and turn it into a structured evaluation without needing much direction. Clear communication — you can explain a model pricing tradeoff to a technical lead and a finance stakeholder without losing either of them. Comfort with moving targets — AI model releases and pricing change fast; you keep the evaluation framework current instead of treating it as a one-time project. What you’ll do Evaluate AI model options as they come to market — commercial, open source, and on-prem — and build a repeatable framework for assessing cost, capability, and security tradeoffs (75% of role).