Manager of Support Services

Who we are :

The Office of the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning (VPAL) seeks to shape the future of education by discovering new ways to build the competence, curiosity, and confidence of learners around the world.

We create engaging and scalable learning experiences, cultivate inspiring ideas, and connect a global community of learners while developing tools, technologies, platforms, and policies to reduce friction throughout the learning lifecycle.

How You’ll Contribute :

Reporting to the Director of Program Operations, the Manager of Support Services oversees customer services for Harvard Online, currently supporting approximately 5,000-7,500 participants per year across all products, with the expectation that enrollments will grow year over year.

The role is responsible for implementing, leading, and growing Harvard Online’s support strategy to ensure service operations meet the demands of the customer and the rapidly growing business.

This is a two-year term position starting from the date of hire, with the possibility of extension based on continued funding and business need.

At VPAL your role will be to :

• Develop and implement processes to provide customer support while ensuring responsive and quality service at all levels.
• Create and implement new or modified support plans as new business models and programs are launched.
• Communicate effectively with customers and stakeholders to assess support needs, assist in identifying technology needs, and respond to customer service concerns.

Develop and implement strategies to quickly identify, communicate and escalate system issues appropriately.

• Act as the primary point of contact for escalated customer issues. Troubleshoot and resolve highly complex technical problems and issues.
• Establish an outsourced Tier 1 support team : identify and evaluate potential outsourced Tier 1 service providers or partners.
• Develop, set up and manage processes and workflows for the Tier 1 support team.
• Maintain overall quality of the Tier 1 team’s work, monitoring performance regularly, and ensuring service level agreements are met.

Provide ongoing coaching and support to optimize performance.

• Develop and adjust projections of support cost and staffing needs to support department’s multi-year goals.
• Assist with defining and monitoring customer support KPIs for the organization with a focus on continuous improvement of support performance and customer satisfaction.
• Analyze support service metrics. Prepare and present reports with recommendations.
• Continuously identify areas for customer service optimization through customer and stakeholder feedback. Implement process improvements that accommodate anticipated scale and growth of customer support.
• Serve as subject matter expert relating to the support function, including the tools and technology used.
• Recommend changes or enhancements to the support desk system as prompted by feedback. Develop comprehensive documentation, including operational guidelines and procedures, training guides, and support materials.
• Liaise with technology partners to troubleshoot and resolve technical issues with the customer support system.
• Collaborate with key stakeholders on the incident management process across products to ensure efficient and effective responses to major incidents, including developing plans, policies, and training.
• Coordinate on-call staffing with key functional groups in the event of a major incident.
• Research emerging trends and new technologies related to online customer support. Communicate actionable insights back to the organization about how to improve the customer experience and products.
30+ days ago