Technical Support Specialist - L1 New Abu Dhabi, UAE

AI71; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

AI71 is seeking a Senior L1 Technical Support Specialist to own high-volume front-line issues and guide the L1 team. You will triage, diagnose, and escalate with precise handoffs, while mentoring peers and shaping support processes for both SaaS and on-prem environments.

You will manage complex client interactions, de-escalate when needed, and contribute to knowledge base improvements and runbooks, ensuring top-quality service across platforms.

Qualifications

• 3–5 years in technical support/helpdesk.
• Experience mentoring or informally leading peers.
• Comfortable reading logs and using admin/config tooling to diagnose issues without engineering support.
• Working knowledge of networking fundamentals (DNS, VPN, API basics, HTTP status codes).
• Basic SQL for querying account/data state.
• Familiarity with ticketing and monitoring/status tools (e.g., Zendesk, Jira Service Management, Statuspage, Datadog).
• Knowledge of end-to-end SDLC and application support lifecycle.
• Experience owning the creation and maintenance of SOPs and KB content related to applications.

Responsibilities

• Exercise judgment on ambiguous or novel issues and determine root cause before escalation.
• Perform deeper diagnostics by reading logs and inspecting configs.
• Own escalations end-to-end with precise handoff notes to L2/engineering.
• Judge incident severity and trigger outages when needed.
• Identify patterns and surface systemic issues to engineering/product.
• Correlate tickets with deployments using release notes and status pages.
• Run basic environment health checks per runbooks and restart services as needed.
• Serve as SME for one or more platform modules or client segments.

Skills

Technical support

Escalation management

Mentorship

Communication

Networking basics

SQL basics

DevOps awareness

Analytical thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

Zendesk

Jira Service Management

Statuspage

Datadog

GitHub Actions

Azure DevOps

Jenkins

Job description

AI71 is an industry leader in artificial intelligence, delivering innovative solutions that empower developers, businesses and governments to solve complex challenges. AI71 builds secure, enterprise-ready applications powered by cutting-edge technology—tailored for knowledge workers and sector-specific needs. AI71 bridges the gap between advanced AI and real-world impact. Guided by a strong commitment to research and responsibility, we create transformative solutions that drive progress and empower communities.

The Role:

The Senior L1 Technical Support Specialist is an experienced frontline expert who owns the highest-volume and most nuanced first-tier issues, acts as a technical and procedural authority for the L1 team, and serves as a bridge between clients, L1 peers, and L2/engineering. This role goes beyond ticket resolution — it requires sound judgment on triage/escalation calls, ownership of process quality, and the ability to mentor others and shape how the support function operates, across both managed SaaS and on-premises client environments.

What You\'ll Do:

Technical Troubleshooting & Remediation (Advanced L1 Scope)

• Exercise judgment on ambiguous or novel issues that don't map cleanly to existing KB articles; determine root cause before escalating rather than passing along symptoms.
• Perform deeper diagnostics: reading application/system logs, using admin tooling to inspect account/config state, replicating issues across environments, and identifying whether an issue is client-specific, platform-wide, or a known bug.
• Own escalations end-to-end: write precise, engineer-ready handoff notes (reproduction steps, logs, impact scope, attempted fixes) that minimize back-and-forth with L2/engineering.
• Act as the point of judgment on severity classification and incident triggers — knowing when a "simple" ticket is actually the first signal of a broader outage.
• Identify patterns across tickets and proactively surface systemic issues to engineering/product before they become widespread.
• Correlate incoming tickets with recent deployments or releases using release notes, change calendars, and status pages; expedite suspected release-related issues to L2/DevOps with timestamps, affected environments, and app versions.
• Perform basic environment health checks per runbook: confirm service status, verify application versions across environments, and carry out approved routine actions such as clearing caches or restarting services.
• Serve as a subject-matter expert (SME) for one or more platform modules, product lines, or client segments.

Client Relationship Management (Senior-Level)

• Manage relationships with key/enterprise accounts or high-visibility clients, including sensitive or escalated situations.
• Handle client-facing calls for complex or multi-session issues, setting expectations and owning communication through to resolution.
• Exercise discretion in de-escalation, including knowing when to involve a manager versus resolving independently.
• Provide input to account/client success teams on recurring pain points, churn risk signals, or opportunities for proactive outreach.
• Represent the support function's voice in cross-functional conversations (product, engineering, CS) on client-impacting issues.

Knowledge Transfer, Mentorship & Process Ownership

• Own and continuously improve the KB: audit for gaps/outdated content, write new articles, and establish documentation standards for the team.
• Design or refine triage workflows, escalation criteria, and runbooks based on recurring failure patterns.
• Lead onboarding/training for new hires, including building training materials.
• Represent L1 in retros, post-incident reviews, and cross-team process discussions.
• Act as a point of escalation for other L1 agents when they're unsure how to proceed (informal tier "1.5").

What You\'ll Bring:

• 3–5 years in technical support/helpdesk, with demonstrated growth in scope and ownership.
• Track record of handling escalated or high-visibility client issues.
• Experience mentoring or informally leading peers.
• Comfortable reading logs and using admin/config tooling to diagnose issues without engineering support.
• Working knowledge of networking fundamentals (DNS, VPN, API basics, HTTP status codes).
• Basic SQL for querying account/data state.
• Familiarity with ticketing and monitoring/status tools (e.g., Zendesk, Jira Service Management, Statuspage, Datadog).
• Knowledge of end-to-end SDLC and application support lifecycle.
• Experience owning the creation and maintenance of SOPs and KB content related to applications.
• Understanding of the product’s architecture at a level sufficient to reason about where in the stack an issue originates.
• Proactive monitoring using monitoring tools and log reviews.
• Foundational DevOps awareness: understanding of CI/CD pipelines, deployments, and environments (dev/test/staging/prod); Git basics; and the ability to view build and deployment status in tools like Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or Azure DevOps.
• Sound independent judgment — knows what to solve, what to elevate, and when to loop in a manager.
• Strong coaching and feedback skills; comfortable mentoring peers without formal authority.
• Executive-ready communication for high-stakes client situations.
• Process-oriented mindset with a bias toward fixing root causes, not just symptoms.
• Calm, credible presence in escalated or high-pressure situations.
• Collaborative across functions (engineering, product, CS/account management).
• Comfort supporting clients running both managed SaaS and on-premises / air-gapped installs.

Great Pluses / Preferred Experience

• Exposure to DevOps or release processes (e.g., post-release checks, following deployment runbooks, or working with DevOps teams on release-related tickets).
• Experience with the specific product/stack.

Why AI71:

• Mission-Driven Work: Work on cutting-edge AI applications with a talented and passionate team, solving real-world challenges in critical sectors.
• Unparalleled Opportunity: This is a chance to innovate and solve real-world challenges using AI at a company with unique access to world-leading models and resources.
• Career Growth: We offer competitive compensation, benefits, and significant career growth opportunities as a foundational member of the team.
• World-Class Environment: Enjoy a flexible working environment and the latest tools & technologies needed to do your best work.