Customer Success Engineer

Understory; Madison (WI); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Understory in Madison, WI seeks a Client Success Engineer who combines data chops with customer focus to translate needs into practical solutions.

You’ll triage issues, analyze data, write lightweight tools, and collaborate with engineering, data science, and product teams to deliver reliable, scalable outcomes for insurance customers. The role emphasizes Python, SQL, APIs, and cloud concepts, with AI-assisted development tools to speed investigations while maintaining rigorous judgment.

Qualifications

• 3–5 years of experience in a technical, customer-facing or similar role.
• Strong Python and SQL skills with the ability to investigate data and build lightweight tools and automations.
• Strong troubleshooting and analytical skills; methodical problem solving.
• Experience with APIs, JSON, databases, cloud-based systems.
• Experience with large datasets and ability to explain findings clearly.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; translate technical concepts for different audiences.
• Customer-oriented mindset with strong technical judgment.
• Generalist mindset across data analysis, debugging, scripting, product questions, and technical investigation.
• Comfort using AI-assisted development tools like Claude Code or similar technologies.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a technical resource for internal teams across Understory’s data, APIs, products, and analytical tools.
• Triage technical questions and client issues, determining what can be resolved directly and what should be escalated to engineering, data science, product, or other teams.
• Investigate data, API, integration, and product issues from the initial client need through to the underlying technical root cause.
• Analyze customer data and Understory datasets to answer questions, investigate discrepancies, and provide actionable insights to internal teams.
• Help internal teams understand and communicate technical details about Understory’s data, products, and systems.
• Develop scripts, queries, tools, and documentation that make recurring support and client-service workflows faster and more scalable.
• Partner closely with engineering, data science, product, and business teams to resolve issues and ensure client needs are clearly understood and addressed.
• Identify patterns in technical questions and issues and turn them into product, data, engineering, or process improvements.
• Use modern AI-assisted development tools, such as Claude Code or similar tools, to accelerate investigation, coding, analysis, and documentation while applying sound technical judgment and independently validating the results.

Skills

Python

SQL

Data analysis

APIs

Communication

Tools

JSON

Cloud platforms

S3

GeoPandas

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Are you a technical problem solver who enjoys digging into complex data, troubleshooting systems, and helping teams turn customer needs into practical solutions? At Understory, we’re reimagining how weather and catastrophe risk are measured, understood, and priced, and we’re looking for a Client Success Engineer to help our internal teams deliver the best possible experience for our customers.

We work with rich sensor data, geospatial datasets, custom risk models, and a fast-moving engineering stack to power insurance products with precision and speed. This role sits at the intersection of engineering, data, and client success. You’ll serve as a technical triage and problem-solving resource for internal teams, helping investigate client needs, diagnose issues, analyze data, and coordinate with engineering, data science, and product teams to get the right solutions delivered.

What You’ll Do

• Serve as a technical resource for internal teams supporting customers across Understory’s data, APIs, products, and analytical tools.
• Triage technical questions and client issues, determining what can be resolved directly and what should be escalated to engineering, data science, product, or other teams.
• Investigate data, API, integration, and product issues from the initial client need through to the underlying technical root cause.
• Analyze customer data and Understory datasets to answer questions, investigate discrepancies, and provide actionable insights to internal teams.
• Help internal teams understand and communicate technical details about Understory’s data, products, and systems.
• Develop scripts, queries, tools, and documentation that make recurring support and client-service workflows faster and more scalable.
• Partner closely with engineering, data science, product, and business teams to resolve issues and ensure client needs are clearly understood and addressed.
• Identify patterns in technical questions and issues and turn them into product, data, engineering, or process improvements.
• Use modern AI-assisted development tools, such as Claude Code or similar tools, to accelerate investigation, coding, analysis, and documentation while applying sound technical judgment and independently validating the results.

Your Day Might Include

• Investigating an insurance customer’s API integration issue and determining why a set of weather observations isn’t appearing as expected.
• Writing SQL and Python to investigate a discrepancy between Understory data and a customer's portfolio or claims data.
• Analyzing storm or sensor data to help an internal team answer a customer’s question about a specific event, location, or exposure.
• Partnering with an engineer to reproduce and diagnose a production issue affecting a customer workflow.
• Building a small internal tool or automated report to eliminate a recurring manual request.
• Helping an internal team understand how Understory’s weather observations or risk data can be incorporated into a customer’s underwriting process.
• Gathering recurring questions and issues from client-facing teams and translating them into clear requirements or opportunities for the product and engineering teams.
• Using AI-assisted tools to quickly investigate an unfamiliar codebase, data issue, or technical problem, then validating the output and determining the right path forward.

What You Bring

• 3–5 years of experience in a technical customer-facing, software engineering, data engineering, solutions engineering, technical support, or similar role.
• Strong Python and SQL skills, with the ability to investigate data and build lightweight tools and automations.
• Strong troubleshooting and analytical skills. You enjoy taking an ambiguous problem and working methodically toward the root cause.
• Comfort working with APIs, JSON, databases, cloud-based systems, and technical documentation.
• Experience working with large or complex datasets and the ability to explain findings clearly.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, particularly the ability to translate technical concepts for different audiences.
• A customer-oriented mindset balanced with strong technical judgment. You care about solving the underlying problem, not just passing an issue along.
• A generalist mindset. You’re comfortable moving between data analysis, debugging, scripting, product questions, and technical investigation.
• Comfort using AI-assisted development tools as a productivity aid. You know when and how to use tools like Claude Code or similar technologies to move quickly, while retaining the ability to reason independently, validate outputs, and take ownership of the outcome.

Nice to Have

• Experience working with insurance, underwriting, catastrophe modeling, weather, climate, or geospatial data.
• Familiarity with geospatial concepts and tools such as GeoPandas, GIS platforms, or spatial databases.
• Experience supporting APIs, data products, SaaS platforms, or developer-facing products.
• Experience working with S3, Cassandra, or other cloud/distributed data systems.
• Familiarity with Docker, Kubernetes, or container-based workflows.
• Experience working directly with underwriters, actuaries, risk analysts, brokers, or other insurance professionals.
• Experience in a solutions engineering, implementation, technical account management, professional services, or technical support environment.

What We Offer

We offer competitive compensation, full benefits, and the chance to do mission-driven work with tangible, real-world impact. You’ll be part of a small, collaborative team that’s helping redefine weather data and risk analytics in the insurance space, with a direct role in helping our internal teams turn that technology into better outcomes for customers.