Customer support manager

Watch Duty is a non-partisan, non-profit, and non-government organization focused on disseminating public-safety information in real time from verified sources. Our mission is to publish only the facts that provide true situational awareness in case of emergency. We are always looking for passionate individuals—both volunteers and professionals—to help us build our platform and expand our reach to keep communities safe.

Customer Support Manager

Company: Watch Duty (watchduty.org)

Location: Remote (U.S.-based preferred)

Employment Type: Full-Time, Exempt. Employment classification and eligibility for overtime may vary based on the employee’s work location and applicable state law.

Reports to: SVP of Business Operations

Comp: $90,000 – $110,000 (based on experience)

About Watch Duty

Watch Duty is a mission-driven nonprofit delivering real-time wildfire intelligence to residents, first responders, and critical infrastructure partners. We provide human-verified incident updates faster than any other platform, empowering emergency managers, utilities, and public agencies to make better decisions when every second counts. Our enterprise offerings are trusted by some of the largest utilities and public safety organizations in the U.S. As our community of app users and our enterprise partnerships grow, we are investing in a best-in-class support function. This role owns that function and sets the standard for how we serve both audiences.

Role Summary

Watch Duty is looking for a highly organized, data-driven, and adaptable Customer Support Manager to lead our customer experience across both our community of app users and our enterprise partners. This role operates as a player-coach: you will be hands-on with day-to-day escalations and enterprise onboarding while managing our support operation, optimizing workflows, and shaping our overall customer satisfaction strategy.

Our frontline Tier 1 and Tier 2 support for app users is delivered by an established, Philippines-based team through a third-party managed service that has its own team lead. You will be the internal owner of that experience, partnering with their lead rather than managing those agents directly. In parallel, you will personally own enterprise customer support and onboarding enablement. You will act as an operational leader, ensuring our KPIs are met, CSAT stays exceptionally high, and every ticket is resolved swiftly and to a best-in-class standard. Support is delivered primarily in writing, with no live phone support beyond occasional scheduled callbacks, and a response-time target of under 24 hours during business hours. Tickets related to active incidents or emergency response are handled by a separate team.

Key Responsibilities

• Support Operations Management: Own the day-to-day performance of our Tier 1 and Tier 2 customer support, delivered through our Philippines-based managed-service team. Partner with their team lead to hit response-time, quality, and satisfaction targets, coordinate coverage and scheduling, and take ownership of escalations that require internal resolution. (These agents are not direct reports.)
• KPI & Performance Tracking: Own and drive core support metrics. Obsess over Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), First Response Time (FRT), resolution time, backlog, and ticket-volume trends, using data to identify bottlenecks and continuously improve performance.
• Tiered Support & Escalation Leadership: Manage the support lifecycle across app users and enterprise customers. Act as the ultimate escalation point for complex or sensitive tickets, ensuring resolutions are handled with empathy, accuracy, and consistency.
• Enterprise Support & Onboarding Enablement: Personally own enterprise customer support and onboarding. Track each enterprise account’s onboarding progress, implement and verify license activations, and answer enterprise onboarding questions at Tier 1 and Tier 2, escalating deeper technical or strategic needs to the appropriate team.
• User Advocacy & Feedback Loops: Act as the voice of the customer internally. Provide actionable, data-backed feedback to Product, Engineering, and Commercial teams to refine the product experience, support tooling, and automation.
• Process Optimization & Training: Develop and maintain standard operating procedures (SOPs), playbooks, and macro responses in Zendesk, and build out help-center and knowledge-base content to help the team work faster and more consistently.
• Proactive Monitoring: Monitor support dashboards and CSAT trends to get ahead of emerging issues, volume spikes, and recurring friction, coordinating with internal teams to mitigate downstream impact.

Qualifications

Experience: 3+ years in a Customer Support management or team-lead role, ideally in SaaS, a high-volume B2C app, or a mission-driven organization. Experience supporting enterprise or B2B customers is a plus.

Metric-Driven Leadership: Deep understanding of support KPIs. You know how to implement strategies to boost CSAT while managing ticket backlogs and team utilization.

Technical Proficiency: Hands-on expertise with Zendesk (required) and Google Workspace (required). CRM familiarity required; HubSpot experience a plus.

Communication Skills: Exceptional written communication and the ability to de-escalate tense situations with empathy, across app users, enterprise contacts, and internal teams.

Analytical Mindset: You enjoy digging into data to troubleshoot why contact rates spiked in a given period or how a product change affected support volume.

Problem-Solving: A self-starter who stays organized and decisive in a fast-moving environment and resolves issues cleanly.

Bonus Qualifiers

• Managed / Offshore Team Experience: Prior experience coordinating an outsourced, BPO, or offshore support team.
• Enterprise & Onboarding: Background supporting enterprise or B2B customers and managing onboarding.
• Domain: Familiarity with SaaS, govtech, public safety, or GIS tools, or interest in the wildfire and public-safety mission.

Work Environment

Remote (U.S.-based): This is a primarily remote position operating in a distributed environment.

Work Hours: Standard operating hours are aligned with Pacific Time, with flexibility required during periods of high operational demand.

Travel: Minimal; approximately 5% travel may be required for team or partner engagements. Travel expenses are reimbursed per company policy.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary and a comprehensive benefits package: medical, dental, and vision coverage with company contributions, plus a 401(k).
• Flexible PTO and paid sick leave.
• Mission-driven work with direct impact on public safety and the communities Watch Duty serves.
• Remote flexibility and professional development opportunities.
• The chance to help define a best-in-class standard for customer support as the function grows.

Legal Compliance & Disclaimers

At-Will Employment: Employment with Watch Duty is at-will. Either the employee or Watch Duty may terminate employment at any time, with or without cause or notice, unless otherwise stated in a written agreement signed by the employee and CEO.

FLSA Exempt Status Justification: This role qualifies as FLSA-exempt based on administrative and managerial duties, independent judgment, discretion in decision-making, and impact on organizational operations.

Role Evolution Disclaimer: This job description is not intended to be exhaustive. Responsibilities may evolve based on organizational needs, operational demands, and applicable law.

Equal Opportunity Employer: Watch Duty is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws. This policy applies to all employment practices within our organization.