Manager of Technical Support Engineering

Job Description

Ascend is a fast-growing SaaS company that automates invoice processing and payments for mid- and large enterprise customers. Our flagship product, Ascend AP, leverages AI, powerful real-time ERP integrations, and embedded payments technology to save our customers tens of millions of dollars every year.  Our customers include household names like NASCAR, Panera Bread, Virgin Voyages, and PGA TOUR as well as many of the nation’s largest and most renown hospitals and health systems, financial services providers, and higher ed institutions.  

Ascend is a fully remote company that offers competitive pay, exceptional benefits including unparalleled 401(k) matching, and unlimited time off.  Most importantly, we offer the chance to learn, take ownership, and grow in your career the way you’ve envisioned. 

What would you do at Ascend? 

Leading and managing our Technical Support organization across all Ascend’s products and services is a critical factor in how we increase the productivity and efficiency of our customers' Accounts Payable automation strategies and goals.  The manager must possess and demonstrate how to manage, lead, monitor and excel at technical escalation, team development, stakeholder management and be passionate about delivering exemplary customer service. 

In this role, you will manage the day-to-day operations of two critical teams: Technical Support (Level 1 through Level 3) and our Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) teams offering data validation services. 

• Technical Support includes managing, training, and coaching three teams of technical support engineers covering Ascend’s full range of products in a 365 x 7 x 24 support.  These teams cover simple Level 1 tickets to a wide range of technical and IT infrastructure tickets. 

• BPO is a high throughput, high availability service for supplementing automated services and requires operational management and quality management of external services, management of service providers and managing to SLAs and financial performance. 

Operational performance management is a key component of this role ensuring that support services are provided in accordance with Service Level Agreements, analyzing improvement areas through root cause analysis, automation services, and use of leading support center technology, including use of AI, omni-channel support modes and integrating into product self-help services. 

As a customer advocate, you will be responsible for managing common product issues, identifying ticket trends, and managing feedback to help product make informed decision on investment areas to improve the overall customer experience, performance, and quality of Ascend’s solutions. 

Team development is key in this role.  We have a passionate, self-motivated technical support team who thrive in the hectic pace of our SaaS solutions and enterprise customers.  You will be tasked with mentoring this team to continued success and professional growth, assisting with career progress and technical development. 

Most importantly, you will be the leader who is calm under pressure and who demonstrates critical thinking and problem-solving skills and can bring people and customers together to handle escalations and system level situations, with diplomacy, technical expertise and professionalism. 

The salary range for this position is $125,000 - $140,000.

Your day-to-day would include: 

• Responsibility for the end-to-end management of technical support across all Ascend Products: Legacy Lawson, SmartTouchAP and Ascend AP  

• Responsible for the day-to-day operations on BPO, supervising Validation Services personnel and third party BPO 

• Management of both the team responsible for day-to-day ticket handling and the escalation of issues from customers up into the organization. 

• Operational management including staffing and service performance levels 

• Ticket performance management and escalations 

• Root cause analysis and technical resolutions 

• Monitoring and managing internal systems 

• Team mentorship, management, and growth 

• Process improvement project identification and investment analysis 

• Escalation management including cross collaboration with engineering, quality assurance and IT Ops. 

• Metric management including SLA, KPIs and CSAT 

What is Ascend looking for in a candidate? 

• A passionate, experienced manager of a technical support, technical engineering, or customer support team with a minimum of five years' experience in a technical field 

• A driver of culture centered around a growth mindset, intellectual curiosity, grit, and manages with intensity  

• Holds themselves and team accountable to outcomes and a bias to action. 

• Excellent technical leadership, with the ability to translate technical issues and concepts to non-technical audiences. Prior experience in a senior hands-on production system preferable within a SaaS environment 

• ITIL Foundation or Enterprise Service Management certifications 

• BS in Computer Science/Engineering or similar technical degree 

• Uses technology and customer centric solutions to build scale and repeatability into a support service center 

• Experience with offshore / BPO management 

• Savvy understanding of the financial metrics for technical support services.  Able to analyze and manage financial performance including cost per customer, ticket costs and outsource services fiscal management. 

Why should you apply? 

• We offer everything you’d expect from a profitable company including a great salary, comprehensive health care benefits (100% covered for employees, 50% for dependents), and a generous retirement plan match. 

• You’ll receive an annual Lifelong Learning & Wellness Allowance to use towards learning opportunities of your choice (cooking lessons, dance lessons, language lessons, etc.) or to achieve your health and wellness goals. 

• You’ll receive flexible time off, paid holidays, and one week off between Christmas and New Year’s. 

• A platform for good: a culture of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, charity matching and volunteer days—creating belonging for all is in our DNA both inside and outside of work.  

• Remote-first culture. No matter where you are, you’ll feel connected to the team. 

• We take family seriously and offer flexible schedules and 12 weeks of paid parental leave. 

• We give you great tools and tech to do your best work: Hardware, software, and home office setups. 

Our Interview and Hiring Process 

We want the best people on our team.  To get them, we’ve built our hiring process around three Ts: thorough, transparent and thoughtful.  Our interview process is an honest evaluation of what you’ve done, what you’re good at, and what you’re working on improving.  The goal of this process is to identify, as objectively as possible, people who will raise the level of play within our company. 

Here's how it works: 

• Application 

• Screening interview – phone call (30 minutes) 

• Deep dive interview with the hiring manager – video call (90+ minutes) 

• Focused interviews with select potential teammates – 2 video calls (45 mins each) 

• Reference calls with your last several managers 

• Offer letter