Help Desk Specialist

Bixal•Fairfax, VA

1d•$90,000 - $110,000•Remote

About The Position

Bixal is seeking a Help Desk Specialist to serve as the first point of contact for users of a federal platform supporting governmentwide regulatory planning and review. The platform is relied on by federal agencies, oversight offices, and the public and must remain available 24/7/365 while a modernized replacement is developed alongside it. The specialist will provide Tier 1 and Tier 2 support across both a legacy system and a new platform, resolving user issues directly whenever possible and escalating issues that require code or infrastructure changes. The role includes identifying ticket patterns that may indicate defects or outages, communicating user experience to engineering, and supporting users through new platform releases. The specialist will work closely with engineers, trainers, the change enablement lead, and client stakeholders. This is a full-time position on an awarded contract with a 12-month base period and two 12-month option periods. The role is remote from anywhere in the United States. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the U.S.; Bixal does not provide visa sponsorship. The position requires the ability to obtain and maintain a favorable Public Trust determination. The salary range is $90,000–$110,000.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field.
At least 4 years of experience providing Tier 1 and Tier 2 technical support for enterprise-level web applications, including complex, workflow-driven or role-based systems.
Demonstrated ability to resolve issues independently through Tier 2 troubleshooting and to determine when and how to escalate to engineering teams.
Hands-on experience with Zendesk or a comparable ticketing system, such as ServiceNow or Jira Service Management, including ticket categorization, workflow configuration, and reporting.
Experience consistently meeting defined service-level agreements for response and resolution times.
Working knowledge of SQL and application log analysis to investigate and diagnose user-reported issues.
Strong troubleshooting skills across user access and permissions, browser, application, and integration issues, with the ability to document root causes and reproduction steps for engineers.
Experience analyzing support data to identify trends and systemic defects and turning findings into clear reports and recommendations.
Experience writing user-facing help content, FAQs, or knowledge base articles.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills and a patient, professional approach to supporting users of varied technical backgrounds, including senior government stakeholders.
Ability to obtain and maintain a favorable Public Trust determination in support of a federal government contract.
Must be legally authorized to work in the United States; visa sponsorship is not provided.

Nice To Haves

ITIL Foundation or CompTIA A+ certification.
Experience supporting federal agency users or a federal help desk.
Familiarity with federal regulatory processes, such as rulemaking, the Unified Agenda, or Paperwork Reduction Act information collections.
Experience supporting applications built on Java and Oracle, or similar enterprise technology stacks.
Experience supporting users through a system migration or the rollout of a new platform.
Familiarity with accessibility standards, including Section 508 and WCAG, for user-facing content.

Responsibilities

Serve as the first point of contact for agency and oversight office users by web, phone, and email, providing Tier 1 and Tier 2 support and resolving technical, access, account, and process issues whenever possible.
Triage, categorize, and log every incident and service request in Zendesk, including the requester, description, time logged, and time to resolve.
Meet contractual service levels: provide an initial tailored response to 95% of tickets within 3 business hours, and resolve or escalate 98% within 1 business day.
Handle user access and authorization requests, login issues, and questions about workflows, roles, and system status.
Investigate complex issues using application logs, database queries, and system monitoring tools; escalate issues requiring engineering support with reproduction steps, root-cause findings, and user impact.
Monitor incoming tickets for patterns suggesting widespread issues or defects, and flag systemic problems to the engineering team.
Report outages and serious issues immediately to the technical team by phone and email, especially those affecting public availability, system performance, or data integrity.
Produce weekly and ad hoc help desk reports covering ticket volume, response and resolution times by priority, and trends.
Feed recurring user pain points into the product backlog as inputs for future fixes and enhancements.
Create and update targeted help content, including online tips, FAQs, and user guide updates.
Support training materials and workshops in partnership with training and change enablement leads.
Support users through each new release on the modernized platform, answering questions and capturing early feedback.
Help maintain help desk procedures, ticket categories, and knowledge base content as systems change.
Perform other relevant duties as assigned and as qualified or trained to perform.