Supervisor, Technical Support

COLE-PARMER INSTRUMENT COMPANY•Vernon Hills, IL

4h•Hybrid

About The Position

The Technical Support Supervisor will lead a team of technical support representatives to drive day-to-day performance, customer experience, and execution of both pre-sales and post-sales support activities. This role is responsible for translating Manager-defined priorities into frontline execution, ensuring high-quality technical support, timely issue resolution, and effective customer engagement. In this position, the individual will work closely with leadership to align priorities and support delivery of high-quality customer service and technical support outcomes. This role will plan and manage daily operations of team members to meet the needs of the customer while supporting department and company financial/operational goals and objectives. This includes being able to resolve difficult customer situations, managing training and development activities, metrics, quality monitoring for the department, supporting domestic and international commercial/indirect fields team, and technical and non-technical representatives. The person in the role must be detail-oriented with strong organizational and project management skills.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree required in scientific discipline, or equivalent work experience.
3–5+ years of experience in technical support.
Demonstrated leadership responsibilities in current or previous role (e.g., mentoring peers, handling escalations, supporting team operations).
Demonstrated ability to lead, coach, and motivate teams to ensure that the highest level of Customer Service is provided.
Ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams (Sales, Product, Operations) and communicate frontline insights effectively.
Strong technical aptitude with the ability to understand products, applications, and customer use cases within a life science environment.
Basic commercial awareness with the ability to identify customer needs and support revenue-generating opportunities (upselling, cross-selling, solution recommendations).
Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to build professional relationships, deliver feedback effectively, and manage performance issues.
Strong analytical and critical thinking skills, with the ability to interpret data, identify trends, break down ambiguous problems, and develop effective, actionable solutions.
Ability to balance customer needs, team development, and business objectives, including revenue and service outcomes.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office and CRM/contact center tools; ability to interpret data and use dashboards to manage team performance.
Thrives in a fast-paced, collaborative environment, efficiently works under pressure, within deadlines or other essential time constraints.
Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, to clearly and concisely communicate to all levels of the organization.
Strong work ethic and an ability to excel within a rapidly changing and growing organization.

Responsibilities

Leads, coaches, and actively manage a team of Technical Support representatives to achieve performance targets and deliver high-quality customer and technical support.
Supports pre-sales activities by guiding team members in product recommendations, application validation, and solution alignment based on customer needs.
Ensures team effectively identifies upselling and cross-sell opportunities during customer interactions and escalates opportunities to Sales as appropriate.
Oversee daily operations, including SLA adherence, queue performance, and workflow management.
Conducts regular team huddles and coaching session to drive performance, engagement, and development.
Manages day-to-day queue performance, workload distribution, and staffing adjustments to ensure service levels are consistently met.
Identify skill gaps and execute training plans in partnership with the Manager and Learning & Development team.
Handles customer and agent escalations, resolving complex issues and escalating high-risk cases to the Manager as needed.
Executes process improvements and supports cross-functional initiatives by implementing Manager-defined priorities and providing frontline insights.
Support cross-functional projects by executing assigned actions and providing frontline insights.
Act as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for policies, workflows, and customer inquiries.
Prepare and monitor KPIs, scorecards, and performance reports to support day-to-day decision-making.
Analyze operational metrics and frontline trends to provide actionable insights and support continuous improvement initiatives.
Partner with Customer Experience leadership and the Manager to escalate trends and recommend improvements.
Ensures effective quality monitoring and timely resolution of customer complaints with root cause analysis in alignment with Manager-defined standards.
Oversee and actively participate in customer interactions across multiple channels (inbound calls, emails, and live chats), ensuring timely, high-quality service and setting standards for team performance.
Serve as a hands-on supervisor by balancing leadership duties with direct customer support responsibilities.
Provide real-time support to team members through internal chat groups, offering guidance, answering questions, and helping resolve issues quickly.
Act as the first point of escalation for customer concerns, ensuring issues are addressed and escalated further when necessary.
Performs other duties as assigned.