AI & Automation Optimization Specialist

Ulta Beauty, Inc. • Bolingbrook, IL

13h • Hybrid

About The Position

Discover the possibilities of our progressive, omnichannel approach to beauty retail. At Ulta Beauty, our E-commerce associates sit at the cutting edge of our efforts to reimagine the future of retail. Through a full suite of new and emerging technologies, this team is creating an enhanced buying experience for guests who crave simplicity, choice, personal insights and the joy of discovery. With greater interactivity. Inspired applications of big data, AI and UI/UX. And creative that persuades and delights. All of this, with the opportunity to experience smart ideas come to life.

At Ulta Beauty, we’re forever imagining. Forever striving. Forever investing in next-gen—with deep and rich opportunities for ongoing learning, growth and advancement. We encourage you to take control of your career and set your own ceiling. For curious and big-picture thinkers who can flex to the need and who want to stretch themselves through courage and conviction, Ulta Beauty provides an environment perfectly suited to your ambitions. Let’s build brilliant together.
THE IMPACT YOU'LL HAVE
We’re looking for a passionate and data-driven AI Optimization Specialist to join our Guest Services team. In this individual contributor role, you’ll be responsible for owning the continuous learning, training, and performance optimization of our AI-powered Virtual Advisor – the first point of contact for many of our guests seeking support and Virtual Assistance functions that serve our front-line Specialists. Also applicable are guest-facing self-service functionalities provided across various touchpoints, such as ulta.com, our mobile apps, and via order correspondences.
Your mission is to ensure that our Virtual Advisors and automation tools can accurately and efficiently resolve a wide range of guest inquiries across all channels, while delivering an exceptional guest experience in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders. You'll act as the bridge between AI technology and customer service excellence, leveraging analytics, guest feedback, and conversational data to train the system, optimize performance, and increase resolution rates.

Requirements

• 2+ years of experience in customer service, conversational AI, chatbot optimization, or a related field.
• Strong understanding of customer experience principles and a passion for using technology to improve service.
• Strong analytical mindset with experience using data to inform content decisions and measure communication effectiveness.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a strong attention to detail.
• Ability to work cross-functionally and independently in a fast-paced environment with the ability to innovate and operate with agility, manage competing priorities, and deliver results under pressure.
• Expertise in Microsoft 365 Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint); experience with content or knowledge management systems (e.g., Gladly, Zendesk Guide, ServiceNow, Bloomfire, Articulate, or similar).
• Strategic thinker and ownership mentality, with a bias for action and continuous improvement.

Nice To Haves

• Experience working with conversational AI platforms (e.g., Gladly Sidekick, Ada, LivePerson, Zendesk Answer Bot, Dialogflow, Sierra, etc.) is highly preferred.
• Familiarity with machine learning or natural language processing concepts is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Own the ongoing training and tuning of the AI Virtual Advisor, self-service, and automation tools, using customer interaction data, feedback, and business priorities to improve intent recognition, dialogue flow, and response accuracy.
• Develop and refine conversation paths to ensure end-to-end resolution for common and complex inquiries.
• Partner with Guest Services, product, engineering, and technology partners to escalate and resolve platform or logic issues.
• Monitor key KPIs including topic volumes, resolution rate, escalation rate, and guest satisfaction scores (CSAT/NPS).
• Manage and maintain AI compliance and governance
• Identify trends and gaps in the Virtual Advisor’s performance and prioritize opportunities for improvement.
• Create and present performance reports and insights to stakeholders at multiple leadership levels, highlighting impact and opportunities for scale.
• Serve as the voice of the guest by analyzing feedback and ensuring the Virtual Advisor delivers clear, empathetic, and helpful support.
• Champion the role of AI in enhancing the guest service experience by having an industry awareness of new use cases and capabilities to pilot and roll-out, along with an iterative approach to continually refining current use-cases.
• Maintain and update the knowledge base and training data used by the AI, ensuring content is relevant, accurate, and aligned with brand tone to be easily consumed and utilized by AI and Automation functions.
• Collaborate with training, quality, operations, and vendor teams to ensure alignment, change management, and effective communication for excellent operational readiness

Benefits

• Full-time positions are eligible for paid time off, health, dental, vision, life and disability benefits.
• Part-time positions are eligible for dental, vision, life, and disability benefits.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed