CURRENT SAWS EMPLOYEES ONLY Escalation Specialist

San Antonio Water System•San Antonio, TX

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Escalation Specialist handles escalated customer issues and concerns by phone and email, including cases involving complaints or other external actions. The role works directly with customers to provide prompt resolutions and a high-quality customer experience, taking responsibility for escalations from initial contact through resolution and documenting outreach, outcomes, and feedback. The specialist supports customers transferred from the Call Center, including those who provide negative feedback through Post Interaction Surveys or other channels. The role serves as an escalation point for Contact Center questions and concerns that Customer Service Associates cannot address, collaborates with Customer Service, Billing, Corporate Communications, Training, and other groups, and supports certain final-account and bad-debt charge-off processes. The position works under close supervision and is primarily based in an office, with possible field visits.

Requirements

High school diploma or GED.
Three years of customer-service experience.
Ability to work regularly scheduled shifts within SAWS’s hours of operation, including during the training period when lunches and breaks are scheduled.
Flexibility to adjust the daily schedule and work overtime and/or weekends as needed.
Knowledge of SAWS Call Center practices.
Skill with Word, Excel, and Microsoft Outlook.
Problem-solving and reasoning skills.
Interpersonal management and communication skills.
Ability to develop expertise in new systems and business processes.
Ability to self-direct and work autonomously.
Ability to grasp and interpret technical concepts.

Nice To Haves

Five years of call center experience.

Responsibilities

Handle inbound and outbound customer support for escalated issues by telephone and email, de-escalating difficult situations.
Address customer concerns promptly and thoroughly to provide a strong customer experience.
Manage escalations independently from start to finish and document outreach, resolutions, and feedback.
Develop customer-focused solutions and follow through on concerns or complaints.
Maintain appropriate customer contact and follow up consistently to support resolution and restore the customer relationship with SAWS.
Resolve customer issues through careful, detail-oriented, creative, and critical thinking, and communicate results to teams, supervisors, and/or executive leadership.
Represent customers and SAWS professionally and in a friendly manner.
Build collaborative working relationships with the Call Center, Billing, and other Customer Service groups.
Support Call Center customers transferred after providing negative feedback through Post Interaction Surveys or other channels.
Serve as an escalation point for Contact Center questions or concerns that Customer Service Associates cannot address.
Work with Contact Center, Corporate Communications, and Training personnel on ongoing education and talking points related to billing and customer-service questions or concerns.
Collaborate with internal and external groups to support customer needs.
Contact, track, and report customers in final account status before charge-off and support bad-debt charge-off processes.
Perform other duties as assigned.