Support Operations Management

Support Operations Specialists at GitLab support the daily operations and systems of the global support engineering team

Support Operations Specialist

As a Manager, Support Operations, you are responsible for being a technical expert in Zendesk system administration along with data and business process analysis. Additionally, you will need to be proficient across multiple other cloud-based application services. We are building world-class and industry-leading best practices to ensure our Support Engineers and Support Agents deliver unparalleled customer experiences. We are seeking a highly motivated Manager, Support Operations who is organized, cool under pressure, a leader, and an innovative problem solver; someone with fantastic troubleshooting and analytical skills, well-rounded experience working in customer support or other operational roles, and is motivated by team as well as personal success. Your work mantra is to solve the problem, not the symptom.

Job Grade

The Support Operations Manager is a grade 8.

What you can expect in a Support Operations Specialist role at GitLab

As a Support Operations Manager you will:

  • hire, develop, and manage a team of specialists to complete projects focused on excellence in the operations of a global Support Engineering organization.
  • develop processes and execution strategy toward a Support Operations Roadmap to support the growth and scalability objectives of GitLab Support and contribute to a rolling 6-month plan in order to drive towards department and company wide initiatives.
  • own and drive projects to completion in agreement with relevant stakeholders in a cross-departmental function.
  • contribute to the administering all software systems used by GitLab’s Technical Support team (e.g. Zendesk Suite, GitLab, Slack, SFDC, Google groups, Insights/Explore, and GitLab internal systems) including user administration in accordance with written and audited security controls and configuration changes when needed.
  • develop processes to prioritize and implement configuration changes and feature deployments toward a common vision.
  • partner with coworkers, managers, and executives, as well as external partners to gather system requirements, understand business needs, and identify resources as necessary to ensure customer and employee success.
  • work with GitLab Support leadership, define workflows, practices, and standards to ensure that Support Engineers and Support Agents can deliver fast, reliable, and accurate customer support globally.
  • work with management to develop Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the systems and tools administered by the team; capture and report those KPIs regularly to confirm system health. Improve process and education around analysis and resolution of escalated customer and/or technical issues in a timely and effective manner.
  • drive towards becoming a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in product or process areas as needed.

Requirements

Requires Skills/Experience

  • 3+ Years Customer Support or Operations experience required, preferably in a global organization.
  • Zendesk Administrator or equivalent enterprise application system administration experience preferred, with the ability to gain Zendesk Administrator Certification within 6 months of start date (required).
  • 3+ years experience managing and leading a team of people, including goal-setting, time management, and career development.
  • Content management experience; writing and troubleshooting JSON and/or JavaScript and HTML; familiarity with principles of change management.
  • Experience implementing business processes, sufficient for regulatory and security compliance and working with auditors.
  • You share our values, and work in accordance with those values.
  • An ability to use GitLab, or a readiness to learn how to fully utilize GitLab.

Desired Skills

  • Demonstrated understanding of technical software support processes and concepts
  • Experience in CRM or a related industry
  • Familiarity with change management processes and risk control compliance
  • Experience working on the Zendesk platform as an admin or developer
  • Experience with enterprise integration tools
  • Demonstrated leadership, analytical, communication, and problem-solving skills and the ability to act/decide accordingly
  • Ability to collect, synthesize, and research complex issues and diverse information
  • Exceptional customer service skills, and the ability to plan, organize, and exercise sound judgment.

Career Ladder

For more details on the engineering career ladders, please review the engineering career development handbook page.

How you’ll be measured

Performance Indicators

Support Operations collaborates with the global Support Engineering team to achieve the following performance indicators, by ensuring we have the most efficient workflows through our applications:

Span of Control

Support Operations Management roles have the following spans of control:

  • Support Operations Manager: no more than 10 reports consisting of Support Operations Specialists

Hiring Process

Candidates for this position can expect the hiring process to follow the order below. Please keep in mind that candidates can be declined from the position at any stage of the process. To learn more about someone who may be conducting the interview, find their job title on our team page.

  • Qualified candidates will be invited to schedule a 30 minute screening call with our Global Recruiters.
  • Selected candidates receive a short assessment from our Global Recruiters.
  • Candidates will then be invited to schedule a 30 minute technical interview with a Support Operations Specialist.
  • Candidates will then be invited to schedule a 45 minute behavioral interview with a panel consisting of a Support Operations Manager and a Support Engineering Manager.
  • Candidates will then be invited to schedule a 45 minute behavioral interview with our VP of Customer Support.
  • Candidates will then undergo reference checks.
  • Successful candidates will subsequently be made an offer via email.

Additional details about our process can be found on our hiring page.

Compensation Calculator

To find out more about the compensation for this role, please apply to a open role on our careers page first. Once you’ve applied and are selected for a screening call, you’ll be able to sign up here to view our compensation calculator. Be sure to use the same email address for both.

About GitLab

GitLab Inc. is a company based on the GitLab open-source project. GitLab is a community project to which over 2,200 people worldwide have contributed. We are an active participant in this community, trying to serve its needs and lead by example. We have one vision: everyone can contribute to all digital content, and our mission is to change all creative work from read-only to read-write so that everyone can contribute.

We value results, transparency, sharing, freedom, efficiency, self-learning, frugality, collaboration, directness, kindness, diversity, inclusion and belonging, boring solutions, and quirkiness. If these values match your personality, work ethic, and personal goals, we encourage you to visit our primer to learn more. Open source is our culture, our way of life, our story, and what makes us truly unique.

 


About GitLab

GitLab Inc. is a company based on the GitLab open-source project. GitLab is a community project to which over 2,200 people worldwide have contributed. We are an active participant in this community, trying to serve its needs and lead by example. We have one vision: everyone can contribute to all digital content, and our mission is to change all creative work from read-only to read-write so that everyone can contribute.

We value results, transparency, sharing, freedom, efficiency, self-learning, frugality, collaboration, directness, kindness, diversity, inclusion and belonging, boring solutions, and quirkiness. If these values match your personality, work ethic, and personal goals, we encourage you to visit our primer to learn more. Open source is our culture, our way of life, our story, and what makes us truly unique.

Top 10 Reasons to Work for GitLab:

  1. Mission: Everyone can contribute
  2. Results: Fast growth, ambitious vision
  3. Flexible Work Hours: Plan your day so you are there for other people & have time for personal interests
  4. Transparency: Over 2,000 webpages in GitLab handbook, GitLab Unfiltered YouTube channel
  5. Iteration: Empower people to be effective & have an impact, Merge Request rate, We dogfood our own product, Directly responsible individuals
  6. Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging: A focus on gender parity, Team Member Resource Groups, other initiatives
  7. Collaboration: Kindness, saying thanks, intentionally organize informal communication, no ego
  8. Total Rewards: Competitive market rates for compensation, Equity compensation, global benefits (inclusive of office equipment)
  9. Work/Life Harmony: Flexible workday, Family and Friends days
  10. Remote Done Right: One of the world's largest all-remote companies, prolific inventor of remote best practices

See our culture page for more!

Work remotely from anywhere in the world. Curious to see what that looks like? Check out our remote manifesto and guides.