Manager, Customer Support Operations

Vontas•Cedar Rapids, IA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Manager, Customer Support Operations provides strategic leadership for the Customer Care team at Vontas, driving continuous improvement, establishing clear processes, and ensuring team efforts translate into consistent, measurable results for customers. This role serves as the primary escalation owner for customers, takes full ownership of the Zendesk platform, and builds the reporting infrastructure needed to track support ticket metrics and improve team performance. This individual must be self-directed and strategic, with the ability to assess competing priorities, sequence improvements for maximum near-term impact, and grow team capability through structured training and development. This role is expected to align Customer Care strategy with company-wide goals and objectives. This role reports to the Director, Customer Support.

Requirements

Demonstrated experience as a strategic manager who leads teams through process improvement and change, directs and develops others, and translates initiatives into measurable outcomes
Experience owning and managing escalations in a tiered support environment, including executive and agency-level customer situations, with a clear understanding of escalation paths and ticket lifecycle management
Strong prioritization skills with the ability to assess a complex improvement backlog and sequence initiatives by impact
Proven ability to design and implement structured training programs and skills matrices, including identifying capability gaps and driving team-wide adoption
Outstanding communicator and adaptable leader with strong cross-functional relationship management skills and the ability to foster collaboration across diverse working styles
Demonstrated experience leveraging AI tools and technologies in a support or service delivery context, with the ability to evaluate, implement, and drive team-wide adoption of AI-driven workflows
Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and related software
Minimum 3 years in a customer support or technical support leadership role within an enterprise organization
Minimum 3 years of hands-on experience with an enterprise support ticketing platform, including configuration, dashboard development, and reporting; Zendesk experience preferred
Experience in a fast-paced, enterprise-level, mission-critical technical support environment required

Nice To Haves

transit or transportation industry experience is a strong asset
candidates with a background in transit agency operations, transit software, or related public sector technology environments will be strongly considered

Responsibilities

Day-to-day management of Customer Care Analysts and their performance
Coach and develop employees through ongoing feedback, development plans, and performance management to achieve their highest potential and desired business results
Foster a positive, collaborative team culture where employees feel supported, empowered, and recognized for their contributions
Build and execute a comprehensive talent management and training plan grounded in a skills matrix, developing team-wide capability and expanding cross-functional knowledge
Establish and communicate performance expectations; identify opportunities for growth and ensure development plans are created and supported
Execute capacity planning and lead talent acquisition activities for the Customer Care team
Ensure fair and equal treatment of employees, addressing difficult issues with assistance from Human Resources, and practicing empathy and compassion
Promote Company policies, procedures, mission, and values by training and providing direction to direct reports in their use and application
Evaluate, improve, and prioritize support process adoption initiatives, establishing clear team intake and work assignment processes that drive consistent, measurable results for customers
Serve as the primary escalation lead for customers and internal stakeholders; define and maintain the escalation framework, including team training and adoption
Own the Zendesk platform end to end, including configuration, dashboards, and ticket processes; establish and monitor team goals, metrics, and service levels to ensure accurate, real-time visibility into performance and proactively drive the team to exceed targets
Own customer satisfaction outcomes; monitor CSAT trends and provide regular performance reporting to the leadership team
Understand and contribute to customer retention and maintenance revenue outcomes by ensuring the team delivers a consistently high standard of support
Partner closely with the Manager, Customer Engineering to align on escalation paths, ticket routing, cross-team processes, and shared customer outcomes, ensuring a cohesive and coordinated approach across Customer Support
Champion the adoption of AI-powered tools and workflows within the Support team, continuously identifying opportunities to leverage emerging technologies to improve response quality, reduce resolution time, and scale team capacity.
Identify support-intensive areas and work with other departments within Vontas to resolve complex issues, improve product capabilities by contributing to product requirements with R&D, and develop mitigation plans