Customer Support Engineer

About Ascend

Ascend is a messaging tool used by progressive campaigns and organizations around the world. We are a small, mission-driven team with big ambitions: amplify the reach and impact of people-powered movements.

As a platform made for change-makers, we continuously innovate to meet the needs of advocacy. Our unique blend of automations, broadcast functionality, restAPI access, Instagram automations, and inbox features were built in collaboration with some of the most exciting progressive organizations in the country. From Planned Parenthood to Emily’s List, Everytown for Gun Safety, Sunrise Movement, and Working Families Party, our partners are at the cutting edge of mobile advocacy.

Our unwavering focus has placed our technology at the forefront of what’s possible in SMS advocacy. Ascend is a bootstrapped, independent company, free from the pressures of investors and shareholders that force other companies to prioritize profits over impact. We’re committed to building a team that reflects the diversity of the organizations we serve and the future we’re collectively fighting for.

About the role

Ascend is seeking a full-time Customer Support Engineer to join our growing Partnerships team.

As a digital tool used every day by leading organizers and political strategists, we’re constantly working to build relationships with our users by embracing their goals and objectives. Ascend has a highly engaged user base that is constantly growing. The Customer Support Engineer will serve as the primary point of contact for technical support across our platform. As the Customer Support Engineer, you’ll use your problem-solving skills and passion for progressive politics to deliver value to the movements that use our tool.

As a Customer Support Engineer, you will troubleshoot technical issues with users, escalate bugs to full-stack engineers, and provide timely correspondence. To communicate with internal and external stakeholders, you’ll leverage your knowledge of Ascend and political technology at large.

The Customer Support Engineer will provide critical insights into partner use cases. You’ll inform the Product team on project prioritization and requirements as it relates to our partners’ needs. As an expert planner and effective collaborator, you’ll work closely with our Product team to track and measure the progress of partner deliverables. From QAing feature requests to consulting partners on platform best practices, the Customer Support Engineer will be empowering progressive movements.

If you are interested in amplifying the reach and impact of people-powered movements – we’d love to hear from you!

Responsibilities

• Manage incoming technical support tickets by scoping out potential bugs, and escalating them to internal stakeholders appropriately
• Translate technical concepts to user audiences of varying technical knowledge
• Troubleshoot user issues that arise and provide technical support
• Craft accurate and succinct updates with internal teams and external partners.
• QA new features and improvements, and confirm updates for bug fixes
• Fulfill custom data requests for customers
• Provision campaign and call numbers for new users with the long-term objective of automating request fulfillment
• Be on our two week on-call rotation each month

Experience and Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or equivalent practical experience
• 3 years experience in a customer support role
• A team player, who’s flexible from task to task
• Background working with a small team preferred
• Strong communication and self-management skills, you work constructively and respectfully with people from technical and non-technical backgrounds, including an understanding of how to share technical progress and manage expectations with both customers and internal teams
• Passion for progressive politics
• Bonus experience: Ability to write SQL queries to fulfill customer requests and experience with relational databases, such as Postgres SQL

Compensation and Benefits

‍Some of our key benefits include but are not limited to the following:

• 100-120k per year salary based on experience
• Medical, Dental, Vision Benefits, and Life Insurance with 100% of premiums covered by Ascend
• Generous 401(k) matching
• Up to 20 days PTO per year in addition to 11 company holidays
• Yearly team retreats
• 14 Week Paid Parental Leave following the addition of a new child to your family through birth and adoption.
• Coworking space stipend

Hiring Timeline:

We value transparency and respect for your time. Below is a clear overview of each step in our hiring process, so you know what to expect from start to finish. We share the number of written assessment questions in this initial application to set clear expectations for the every-day responsibilities of this role. A real human reviews every response, and these assessments help us thoughtfully identify candidates who will thrive on our team.

As a small team, we aim for a candidate to meet with a number of key personnel before extending an offer:

1. Screening Interview: A 30 minute phone call with our Head of User Experience to learn more about you.
2. Technical Interview: A 30 minute phone call to assess your technical aptitude.
3. Company Deep Dive: A 30 minutes phone call with our CEO to give you a chance to learn more about our founding and mission.
4. Request for references: At this stage we will ask you to provide 3 references from past managers.
5. Extend an offer

Ascend provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws.