Director of Customer Support

Columbia Helicopters•Aurora, OR

About The Position

The Director of Customer Support leads customer satisfaction, communications, and aftermarket account management from RFQ through delivery and in-service support. This role oversees the Customer Support organization, drives customer service excellence, and ensures customer commitments are coordinated across commercial, military, technical support, operations, and flight operations teams. The Director also provides leadership for technical support and operations coordination functions and serves as the primary escalation point for complex customer issues.

Requirements

10+ years of progressive leadership experience in customer support, customer service, aftermarket services, technical support, account management, aviation operations, or a related field.
10+ years of aviation, rotorcraft, defense, MRO, technical services, or aftermarket support experience.
Demonstrated ability to lead customer-facing teams and manage escalated customer issues with professionalism and urgency.
Strong understanding of quote management, pricing practices, contract commitments, service-level expectations, and aftermarket support models.
Experience coordinating across commercial, technical, operational, and customer-facing teams.
Ability to analyze customer needs, prioritize competing demands, and recommend operational adjustments based on business impact.
Strong verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to lead customer meetings and communicate clearly during high-pressure events.
Ability to build team capability through staffing, training, performance management, and career development.
Experience supporting both commercial and military customers.
Experience with exchange pools, field support, component repair, parts sales, or service program management.
Experience developing KPIs, service standards, pricing governance, and customer communication processes.

Responsibilities

Lead the Customer Support organization and establish, maintain, and continuously improve customer-service standards, service-level expectations, and team operating rhythms.
Own customer satisfaction metrics and service-level performance, including customer response time, quote turnaround time, on-time delivery performance, and AOG recovery time.
Serve as the primary escalation point for customer issues, ensuring timely communication, coordinated action plans, and effective resolution.
Coordinate customer support activities between Commercial, Military, Technical Support, Operations, and internal Air Operations teams.
Lead the quote process for aftermarket services, repairs, modifications, components, parts sales, field support, and related customer support offerings.
Develop and maintain standard pricing practices, price catalog governance, exchange policies, and customer support service standards.
Oversee support services, including standard exchange pool sizing, availability expectations, and coordination of operational priorities when customer needs require adjustment.
Review and propose customer communication plans for major projects, high-impact issues, and AOG events.
Lead customer status reviews, customer meetings, and recurring account reviews to ensure alignment on commitments, priorities, and service performance.
Support contract reviews and ensure customer commitments can be executed operationally before acceptance.
Drive aftermarket revenue growth through repairs, modifications, component services, parts sales, exchange programs, and field support offerings.
Identify recurring customer issues, sponsor corrective actions, and work with internal stakeholders to improve reliability, responsiveness, and customer experience.
Develop staffing plans, training plans, career progression, and performance expectations for the customer support team.
Support strategic military and commercial customer relationships by maintaining consistent communication, understanding customer needs, and translating those needs into actionable priorities.
Analyze customer needs and recommend operational priority adjustments when appropriate to protect customer commitments and business objectives.
Part of the core team generating MRO or aftermarket offers
Conduct oneself in accordance with Company’s Core Values
Other duties as assigned.