Human Centered Business
We are a collection of CX pioneers advancing the cutting-edge of management strategy for professional services firms
Hear the Story
We make businesses better by focusing on people
We live in a world where humans are at the center of business yet many decisions and actions fail to reflect that. As the leading end-to-end CX consultancy for professional service firms, we engage businesses in employee and customer centric change to drive better partnerships which, in turn, drive a better bottom line
A small story about a CX innovator
The genesis of CX Pilots dates back to the 1990’s. Steven Keith’s company worked on the digital transformation of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. In the course of that work he began to think about the overall human experience–the complex entanglement of all the ways people interact with a company. This new discipline, “Customer Experience (CX)” as it would come to be called, would revolutionize businesses in the 21st century. Through the application of social science, strategy and systems thinking, a business could become human centered by orienting itself around its customers. As a result of doing so its profits would grow exponentially. Steven began collecting experts in this discipline with a passion for putting humanity back in business and CX Pilots was born.
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Steven Keith
Steven Keith is an internationally recognized expert and keynote speaker for customer experience in professional services firms. Steven works with companies in the Fortune 10 as well as the Fortune 10,000 by helping them transform their strategies and operations to become more systematically empathetic to their internal and external customers. Educated at University of Iowa (Literature, Science and the Arts), Northwestern University (Psycholinguistics) and University of Chicago (Marketing Strategy), Steven has been amassing education across multiple disciplines for decades. Steven is the architect of dozens of organizational transformations. He is the founder of CX Pilots and lives in Chapel Hill, NC.
Steven Walden
Steven is a customer experience veteran having championed CX for Fortune 500 companies and headed CX consulting firms and research for both B2B and B2C organizations. His roles have focused on multiple areas of CX and EX including: culture and training, insights and analytics, journey mapping design, UX research and writing, CX management and consultancy. He won the UK CX Award for insights, and has been referenced by Forrester for his work with Maersk. He is the author of the book, “Customer Experience Management Rebooted.” He lives in Milton Keynes, UK with his wife and two children.
Madina Aylen
As a seasoned business development and CX consultant with over two decades of experience, Madina has an exceptional ability to drive growth and success for international organizations. Having served as the Director of Business Development for a Top 200 Global law firm, she has honed her skills in strategic planning, client relationship management, and project leadership. With an Executive MBA from the Saïd School of Business, University of Oxford and a Master's degree in International Relations from l’École des Hautes Études Internationales de Paris, Madina brings a unique and multidisciplinary perspective to her work. Her passion for innovation and excellence has earned her a reputation as a trusted advisor and leader in the CX world. An avid arts supporter and yoga enthusiast, Madina is often seen in her free time either browsing art exhibitions or mastering handstand variations
Nicole Santoni
Nicole Santoni is a remarkable individual with a diverse range of skills and experiences that have shaped her into an outstanding Head of Experience for CX Pilots. Nicole holds her BFA in Communications from the Savannah College of Art & Design and has served as Head of Communications for a Digital Transformation (DX) company. She has always focused on human impact and the continual success businesses can have when they understand, support, and empower their employees and their clients alike. Her passion for influencing positive change in people's lives guides the experience of the clients that CX Pilots serves.
Nate Jones
Often referenced as CXP’s “chief curiosity officer”, Nate brings over 10 years of inquiry strategy to the team. With a background in everything from market and messaging research, website development and tech stack workflow consulting, to personal coaching and development, Nate has a passion for understanding and advocating for the lived experiences people have when working with firms. At CX Pilots, he currently helps service experience leaders infuse more accountability and humanity into how they show up for their clients and talent. Through the years, Nate has worked for brands such as NBC, National Instruments, ADP, Quadient, IBM, and a host of small businesses and startups.
When he’s not asking a lot of questions, coaching, or researching as a CX Pilot, Nate is an avid roller skater, yogi, musician, and #humanetech advocate.
Virginia Ingram
Virginia is a digital strategist, communications specialist, and client relationships expert who is trained as a Speech-Language Pathologist. With over 20 years at agencies and start-ups, she has focused her career on technology-sparked solutions for business while transitioning her digital strategy work into both a clinical and strategic position. She has worked across 11 time zones with international companies fueling growth by building systems for process improvement and operational stability. Her work at CX Pilots focuses on relationship management and strategy for human centered firms. With an insatiable appetite for all things new and interesting she is a regular contributor to the SXSW community having presented four times. She travels as often as her schedule allows and has lived in three countries, five states, and with people from 11 different countries.
Joe Bell
Joe is a marketing expert who has led teams across research, entertainment, and tech. A former analyst on Bureau of Labor Statistics research, he holds degrees in Sociology, Political Science, and Science and the Public from the University of Utah and University at Buffalo SUNY. When he’s not giving talks about the social network analysis of concert attendees he’s working on marketing for CX Pilots. He serves on the boards of the Triangle American Marketing Association and the North Carolina Business Council. Joe lives for underground Berlin techno, triple bottom line business, entrepreneurship and resides in Durham, NC with his rockstar wife and two furry children.
Katrina Brown
Katrina serves as CX Pilots’ Director of Growth, As an expert in revenue management and analytics, she drives purposeful growth with class and modern thinking, ensuring new heights of success. Katrina holds degrees in Computer Information Systems from the City University of New York and also holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Business. She has worked across consulting, healthcare and government administration. Katrina is a lifelong lover of the arts and lives in Raleigh, NC.
Amy Lee
Amy Lee comes from a diverse background in Occupational Therapy, event planning, and healthcare operations. With a bachelor's degree in psychology from Azusa Pacific University and a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy from California State University Dominguez Hills, she brings a unique blend of expertise to her role at CX Pilots. As an Account Manager, she ensures that CX Pilots' services consistently exceed client expectations driven by her ability to establish efficient systems for clarity and execution. Outside of work, she enjoys exploring the vibrant Los Angeles area with her husband, as well as traveling, skiing, cycling, and listening to audiobooks that expand her knowledge.
Happier employees
make happier clients.
We come from the big consultancies. In fact, we helped some of them build their CX offerings, but we find their approach to be fundamentally flawed. Locking clients into a multi year contract for services they don’t need isn’t an exchange of value, it’s opportunistic and it’s wrong. We set out to be different in every way imaginable—to deliver value to our clients in direct line with the spirit of experience. Our engagements are on a pilot basis because if we are not delivering value for you, we should not be consulting for you.
We chose to focus on B2B professional services firms because that is where CX is the hardest. Professional service firms’ relationships with clients are high value relationships. In experience driven firms, relationships are the product.
At CX Pilots, we fiercely advocate for services-driven firms and the relationships that are their lifeblood. With a more sustainable and inclusive future in sight, we strive to model the types of learning relationships we help our clients nurture as authentically and as empathically as we can. We believe that we can help every professional services-based firm with a market leader mentality become the very best version of itself through a more intentional, self-aware, and accountable Client and Employee Experience orientation. We recognize the risks and highly subjective nature of our work and wear the trust our clients grant us with pride.
When firms work with us to focus and build around the empathy-driven work of understanding and improving experiences with their firm, we often get the privilege of accompanying resolute leaders through challenging, yet rewarding investment in client-centricity. It’s what gets us fired up and motivates us to do our part to change our world for the better.
CX Pilots is not just another CX/EX Consultancy. We draw on our 20+ years of management consulting and coaching experience to meet services-driven firms wherever they are in the journey of becoming the experience-led firms of tomorrow. Put simply: we don’t shy away from complexities – we embrace them.
We are not for everyone. We will challenge you to be better. If you are not comfortable with change, we are not for you. If you are a leader in your space, we should talk. When you focus on people, your bottom line will thank you.
"Every human interaction is important, and every relationship-supported organization can meaningfully, and measurably enrich the work of the people they serve."
Aways seeking
amazing CX leaders
Account Manager
Account Manager
Although we are not currently hiring for this position, we are always seeking applications. You are a good fit for this position if you:
- Are interested in being the best version of yourself and helping others do the same.
- Can be inspired to infuse human connection into the center of business.
- Understand that the best ideas come from candid conversations, a collaborative environment, and learning from the world around you.
- Have an abundance of empathy.
- Want interactions with others to be mutually valuable.
- Are interested in learning and trying out what you have learned to see if it works.
- Think a little differently than your peers.
- Value relationships; easily make connections with people. Enjoy building relationships with the people you solve problems with.
- Have hustle and the ability to deliver client-quality work on deadline.
- The ability to balance learning, internal demands, and client demands with life.
- The interest in getting accredited in something (we will help you; this will be a part of your job).
- The ability to travel 1 to 3 times per month to either Chapel Hill, NC or client sites for meetings (we will cover the costs for travel).
This position is in the Relationships department at CX PIlots.
Transparency about the hiring process
- We want to move quickly. We promise you will get a response if you apply.
- The interview process may be up to three interviews with three to five individuals at our firm.
- Take digital literacy assessments. If your resume piques our interest, you will be asked to take digital literacy assessments before scheduling an interview. These tests may seem a little basic, but we need to ensure that you can command the equipment in a meeting without support from teammates and that you are comfortable with computers. This will be particularly important for teammates who have not worked in a business environment previously.
- Take a strengths assessment. This will help us make sure we round out the team. We are looking for individuals with complementary skills (sure, we would like some like-minded folks, but we are also energized by people who think differently). CX Pilots will cover the cost of the assessment. Regardless of whether you are hired, you will be sent your results and can use them to understand the skills you bring to the table.
- Do a small project. Candidates may be asked to do a small project. You will be paid an honorarium for this project. This will allow us to evaluate your thinking on a level playing field.
The ideal candidate:
- Has worked for at least three years
- Is an early adopter of ideas and new ways of doing things
- Is interested in how work is done and trying new tools or frameworks
To apply complete the application below.