Sara Conklin

About Sara Conklin

I drive results at the intersection of UX strategy and operational reality in residential electrification.Most UX leaders in climate haven\'t run operations. Most operations leaders haven\'t spent 20 years designing customer experiences. I\'m doing both, and that creates unique value for climate tech companies scaling What I\'m doing now I\'m Customer Operations Manager for a California heat pump installer, owning end-to-end operations from deposit through installation and satisfaction. As employee #2, I manage complex residential projects across customers, contractors, manufacturers, permit offices, and rebate programs. This teaches me what most UX professionals never get to learn: installer economics, regulatory complexity, the gap between ideal electrification process and profitable business Why this matters My UX background makes me better at operations: I design intentional touchpoints, map customer journeys first, and spot systemic CX problems ops people miss. My operations experience makes me better at UX: I understand business constraints, profitability implications, what\'s achievable with limited resources, and which problems are solvable through design versus inherent to physics or What I\'ve delivered 20 years leading UX strategy and service design in B2B SaaS $180M incremental revenue + 7 industry awards | Shipping/mailing org-wide HCI culture transformation 40% SaaS growth from increased adoption | Global shipping SaaS portfolio + cross-business CX alignment 1B user transactions + 2 awards on first-of-a-kind B2B shipping technology 42% reduction in support calls | Billing operational experience redesign 50% reduced onboarding time | SaaS client onboarding redesign 51%-point increase in retention | Warehouse employee onboarding redesignCertified: Behavior Design for the Environment (Rare), Design Thinking, AI for Energy Solutions (MIT), Electrification Coaching (Rewiring What I bring design for real-world electrification constraints. I facilitate strategy bridging operations and customer perspectives. I know which improvements move the needle versus which die in implementation. I\'ve aligned operational changes with customer experience for teams that treated CX as an afterthought.If you\'re building climate tech for residential electrification, I understand the messy reality from the inside.

Experience

1. Customer Operations Manager

   Vayu

   Jan 2026 — Present

   Leading end-to-end customer operations for residential heat pump installations from deposit through completion and long-term maintenance. As employee #2, building post-sale operational infrastructure to free founder capacity for sales growth.• Build trust-driven customer experience that differentiates in competitive residential HVAC market• Own post-sale journey including equipment selection (thermal/electrical sizing), contract management, scheduling coordination, and financial operations (invoicing, payments, warranties)• Manage complex projects through multi-stakeholder coordination: customers, technicians, manufacturers, permit offices, rebate entities, and inspectors• Redesign service delivery for efficiency, automation, and stakeholder experience using service design methodology• Strategic thought partner to founder on business decisions and scalingApplying 20 years of UX research, service design, and customer experience leadership to residential electrification operations.

Education

• Penn State University

  M.S., Industrial Engineering / Human Factors

  2004 — 2005

• Hamilton College

  B.A., Mathematics

  1997 — 2001