Technical Customer Support Manager

Percepto is the leading provider of autonomous inspection and monitoring solutions that harness robotics, including our market-leading industrial drone-in-a-box solution.  Our team consists of software and hardware engineers, industry experts, and professionals passionate about innovation, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with software, AI, and hardware.    

As we continue to grow, we’re looking for a Technical Customer Support Manager to lead our technical support team and drive operational excellence.  This role combines deep technical expertise in hardware and software systems with strong leadership, crisis management, and communication skills.  You’ll be responsible for guiding the team through complex field issues, managing high-stakes escalations, and ensuring smooth collaboration across technical and operational functions.    

In this role, you will be managing escalations and severities from the field, ensuring timely resolution of critical issues while driving operational excellence.  You will also lead highly complex customer support projects that require cross-functional collaboration across multiple units in the organization, such as improving troubleshooting protocols and implementing support tools to enhance efficiency and reliability.  This is a strategic Level 3 leadership role, overseeing complex customer issues, driving proactive support initiatives, and fostering collaboration between cross-functional teams to ensure seamless drone operations worldwide.  Our company's growth will not stop anytime soon, and we are looking for great talent like you to join our team!    

Team Leadership and Management:

• Provide overall leadership and strategic direction for the technical support operations, not limited to a single shift, but encompassing all operational aspects.    
• Manage the team’s competency for satisfactory performance.    
• Conduct and lead comprehensive technical sync meetings across all support functions, proactively prioritizing and tracking complex work, and driving organization-wide resolution strategies.    
• Review and analyze daily ticket investigations, providing Level 3 support for escalated technical issues.    

Operational Leadership: 

• Assume responsibility for managing the daily support shift, ensuring smooth operations and effective problem resolution.    
• Maintain meticulous records of all failures, maintenance activities, and bugs, contributing to comprehensive technical reports and a robust, operation-wide knowledge base.    

End-to-End Issue Management:

• Assume complete ownership and responsibility for managing the entire lifecycle of technical support, ensuring seamless operations, effective problem prevention, and efficient, organization-wide problem resolution.    
• Take ownership of technical issues reported by the internal team and the customer, effectively prioritizing and addressing them.

Expert-Level Oversight:

• Provide expert-level oversight and Level 3 support for the most complex and escalated technical issues.    
• Conduct in-depth reviews and analyses of all technical investigations, driving for preventative and systemic solutions.

Strategic Problem Ownership:

• Take ownership of the most challenging technical problems reported by customers, triaging them with expert judgment and deep technical skill, and developing comprehensive, long-term resolution plans that improve overall system reliability.    
• Process and analyze all customer inquiries containing complex technical issues and feedback, using this information to drive continuous improvement of systems, processes, and support capabilities.    
• Develop and refine procedures for strategically escalating critical and complex issues to the appropriate internal teams and key stakeholders.    
• Ensure clear, concise, and proactive communication across all departments.    

Strategic SLA & Customer Engagement Management:

• Ensure adherence to and improvement of company-wide SLAs, especially for complex technical issues, to ensure the highest level of customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.    
• Lead and participate in strategic customer meetings to address complex technical support issues and long-term operational requirements, providing expert guidance and solutions.    

Cross-Functional Operational Collaboration:

• Collaborate strategically with R&D and product teams to prioritize and drive resolution of the most complex and critical technical issues and provide expert input on system design and operation.    
• Contribute to the company's support knowledgebase and manage and maintain relevant support guides/articles.    

• 5+ years of experience as a Technical Support Engineer Lead or in a similar role, with a proven track record in leading overall technical support operations, not just shift management.    
• Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, or a related field. An advanced degree is strongly preferred, with a focus on operations or systems engineering. 
• Must have or be able to obtain an FAA Part 107 drone operator license within 30 days of start of employment
• Exceptional troubleshooting and problem-solving skills, with a demonstrated ability to effectively manage, prioritize, and resolve high-volume of highly complex and systemic technically challenging workloads across the entire organization and strategically escalate issues.    
• Proven ability to collaborate across teams to prioritize and drive the resolution of complex technical issues and provide expert input on system design and operation.    
• In-depth, expert-level understanding of complex hardware and software platform interactions across the entire system.    
• Excellent English communication skills (both written and verbal) for clearly conveying highly technical information to diverse audiences, including executive-level stakeholders.    
• Advanced knowledge and extensive experience with CRMs and ticketing/support systems (e.g., Zendesk, Salesforce, Intercom, Freshdesk) across organizational needs.    
• Expertise in scripting (Python, Bash, etc.) and programming, as well as a deep understanding of operational workflows and processes   
• Hands-on experience with Windows and Linux operating systems
• Ability to prioritize varying workloads, and communicate and escalate technical issues to stakeholders
• Previous record of success in robotics-related technical roles is highly desired 
• Extensive experience with UAV/UAS systems and their overall operation is highly desired
• Capable of working effectively under pressure in a dynamic environment
• Availability to work non-routine hours when required