
Pat Barlow
AI customer support implementation, product & CX
Sydney, Australia
I like figuring out complicated problems and making them simpler.
My background spans customer support, product operations, and more recently, implementing AI customer support as an FDE. Along the way I've built and led support teams, worked closely with product and engineering, and spoken about the changing role of AI in customer experience.
My best work happens somewhere between customers, product and technology. I focus on understanding what someone is actually trying to achieve, getting into the details, and figuring out how to make it work in the real world.
Experience
Lorikeet2025 – 2026
Forward Deployed Engineer2025 – 2026
Led end-to-end AI implementation projects, worked directly with customers to understand their needs and deployed Lorikeet's customer support AI across complex industries including fintech, healthtech, and marketplaces.
- Built and configured custom AI workflows and integrations, solved complex technical challenges to ensure customers got maximum value from the platform.
- Acted as the voice of the customer internally, partnered with the product team to represent customer needs, provided feedback, and shaped both short-term and long-term product strategy.
- Recommended innovative AI solutions beyond standard customer support, helped customers unlock new use cases and business outcomes with Lorikeet's technology.
Dovetail2022 – 2025
Product Ops Manager2025
Drove product operations and cross-team communication to streamline feature delivery and support market growth.
- Led and facilitated weekly status meetings with project leads, utilising Linear to ensure organisation-wide project updates and improve cross-functional alignment.
- Developed a design partner program, leveraging user feedback and in-product outreach to enable product teams to test new features with targeted customer segments, accelerating validation cycles.
- Partnered with GTM teams to support trials and demo environments, building Retool applications and queries that enabled Sales and Customer Success teams to self-serve and track trial activity, enhancing data accessibility.
- Coordinated the EPD fortnightly Town Hall, managing agendas and speakers to drive alignment and ownership ahead of seasonal launches, ensuring smooth product rollouts.
Business Operations Lead2024 – 2025
Led business operations with a focus on data-driven decision-making to boost product adoption, reduce churn, and improve financial outcomes.
- Built SQL dashboards to monitor key product metrics, including NPS and CSAT, enabling strategic insights.
- Developed self-serve churn reporting and partnered with Growth to run churn prevention experiments, supporting customer retention.
- Collaborated with IT to review and optimize internal tool usage, identifying cost efficiencies across the organization.
Support Lead2023 – 2024
Managed and optimised product support team across Sydney and San Francisco, enhancing service delivery and team efficiency.
- Led and managed the Support team across both offices, delivering world-class customer experiences and maintaining high service standards.
- Implemented an AI-first support model, accelerating response times, customer satisfaction, and improving handoffs with comprehensive context.
Support Operations2023
Designed and implemented operational improvements to streamline support workflows, enhance efficiency, and facilitate product launches.
- Automated support workflows in Intercom to optimize ticket routing and escalation.
- Developed custom tools and dashboards in Retool, enhancing GTM team efficiency and reporting.
- Managed the migration from Front to Intercom, overseeing rollout, training, and adoption.
- Standardized and documented scalable support processes in Notion.
- Partnered with Product and Engineering teams to run betas, gather customer insights, and support feature launches.
Customer Support Specialist2022 – 2023
Delivered responsive customer support across multiple channels, consistently resolving inquiries and maintaining exceptional satisfaction levels.
- Utilised Front to manage and resolve a broad range of customer issues efficiently, upholding high service standards and contributing to positive customer experiences.
Klarna2021 – 2022
Business Operations Associate2021 – 2022
Oversaw consumer payment operations and managed complaint resolution across multiple international regions before transitioning to the Partner Operations team, managing partner onboarding and ongoing merchant support, ensuring seamless integration and dispute resolution for the ANZ region.
- Managed a high volume of IDR and EDR complaints for Australia and New Zealand, ensuring regulatory compliance and efficient resolution.
- Oversaw payments operations across Asia Pacific and Europe, including manual refunds and receipts, while supporting seamless onboarding and integration of new merchants.
- Provided ongoing support to existing merchants, efficiently handling disputes, escalations, and general enquiries to maintain strong partner relationships.
Senior Service Delivery Specialist2021
Served as a key escalation point for complex customer queries, ensuring high-quality service delivery and dispute resolution.
- Served as the second point of contact for customers via phone, live chat, and email.
- Acted as the primary escalation point for Klarna's first-line agents, providing expert guidance and resolving challenging customer issues including disputes, and sensitive financial hardship cases, successfully de-escalating situations and achieving positive outcomes.
Hypop2018 – 2021
Senior Customer Service Representative2020 – 2021
Managed key operational processes, and optimised customer service protocols for a retail and e-commerce business.
- Led resolution of complex customer escalations and served as the main product knowledge specialist, ensuring critical issues were addressed efficiently.
- Improved operational efficiency and customer satisfaction by implementing new systems for warranty, returns, and RMA processes, as well as updating policies for Hypop and its subsidiaries.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams on product launches and managed creative direction for Hypop Studio, including website and booking system development.
Customer Service Representative2018 – 2020
Provided frontline customer support and contributed to operational improvements, inventory, and logistics management.
- Served as the first point of contact for customers via phone, live chat, email, and in-person, consistently delivering high-quality support.
- Developed and implemented strategies to improve daily operations, contributing to enhanced efficiency and customer satisfaction.
- Performed comprehensive content creation, warehousing, logistics, and inventory management, ensuring seamless product flow.
- Provided effective training for new staff members, accelerating onboarding and maintaining consistent service standards.
Personal Projects
2026
SiftTo-do list from Slack mentions
A MacOS menu-bar app that turns the things needing your attention in Slack, GitHub, Linear, and Granola into a simple to-do list.
All AboardTrain timetable app for MacOS
Live Sydney train, metro, and light rail departures in the Mac menu bar.
2025
Nintai SolitaireMinimal solitaire app for iOS
Designed, built and published a solitaire app for iPhone
2022
Converse All Stars
Working with Converse since 2017 as part of the Converse All Stars, a global network connecting creatives through digital and physical experiences, commissioned work, and mentorship. One highlight was the Converse 'All Star Series' Sydney, which brought together thirty leading young musicians, visual creatives, and storytellers from twelve countries. In 72 hours they created five original tracks and a visual expression of the sound, showcased to Tyler, The Creator.
2020
Photography Exhibition
A photography exhibition containing a handful my photos printed and framed, that were auctioned off on the night with all proceeds going to Crossroads Foundation, a Hong Kong based non-profit organisation that connects those in need with those who can provide help.
This exhibition was made possible thanks to the generous support of several amazing companies: Converse, Mecca Coffee, Wayward Brewing, Kombu Kombucha, and Crossroads Foundation.
Black Jellybean Co.Lifestyle publication
Personal project to create a lifestyle publication showcasing Australian based brands, shops, and those that pursued a creative career.
Designed, curated, written, and edited by me. Printed at Carbon8 in Marrickville.
Talks & writing
I make apps for myself, but you can use them too if you ask nicely2026
Response TimeIntercom interview2024
A conversation with Intercom about customer experience, empathy, and the role support teams play between customers and the product.
The future of customer support & AIIntercom fireside chat2024
Joined Angelo Livanos for a fireside chat with Intercom about customer service trends, AI, and the future of support.
Getting executive buy-in for AI-first supportThe Ticket podcast2024
Shared my perspective on making the business case for AI in customer support: helping teams scale and offer round-the-clock support without tying customer growth directly to support headcount.