Customer Support Escalations Specialist

Cerebras; Phoenix (AZ); On-site; USD 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

Kikoff is seeking a Tier 3 Customer Support Specialist to own the most complex escalations and drive operational excellence across support teams. This role focuses on resolving high-stakes cases, improving processes, and partnering with Operations to scale performance.

You will audit tickets, document resolution paths, and contribute to training and SOP improvements, ensuring clear, defensible notes and excellent customer outcomes.

Qualifications

• 2–5 years in customer support with escalation experience.
• Strong written communication and defensible case notes.
• High ownership and structured workflow in an ops team.
• Experience in Tier 2/3 roles is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Escalation Resolution: investigate, manage, and resolve complex escalations via email, ensuring compliance with policies and real-time de-escalation.
• Quality & Auditing: conduct QA reviews of Tier 1/2 queues across BPO and chatbot, identify misrouted tickets, and document recommendations.
• Knowledge & Process: own internal documentation for complex case types, act as SME for agents, support training and closing knowledge gaps.

Skills

Customer support

Escalations

Communication

Ownership

Zendesk

Tools

Zendesk

Job description

Kikoff: The Fintech Powering Financial Security at Scale
Kikoff is a profitable, pre-IPO fintech company on a mission to empower everyone to achieve financial security. With record revenue growth in 2025 and a unicorn valuation, we've built a suite of products that help millions of people build credit, access liquidity, and save money.
We’re scaling fast. Join us if you want to build something meaningful and help millions of people move forward financially.

Why Kikoff:

This is a consumer fintech startup, and you will be working with serial entrepreneurs who have built strong consumer brands and innovative products. We value extreme ownership, clear communication, a strong sense of craftsmanship, and the desire to create lasting work and work relationships. Yes, you can build an exciting business and have real-life customer impact.

Tier 3 Customer Support Specialist

About This Role

As a Tier 3 Customer Support Specialist, you will own Kikoff’s most complex and sensitive customer escalations - the cases that go beyond what frontline and Tier 2 agents can resolve on their own. This role sits at the intersection of customer empathy and operational excellence.

Just as importantly, you will help the broader org improve and scale: auditing ticket quality, documenting resolution paths, and identifying fixes and improvements in our processes.

This is a high-ownership role for someone who thrives in complexity and wants their work to matter - both to the customers they serve and to the team around them.

Role & Responsibilities

Escalation Resolution

• Investigate, manage, and resolve the most complex customer escalations via email - cases that go beyond what Tier 1 and Tier 2 agents can handle independently
• Adhere to Kikoff’s complaint management policies and regulatory frameworks, with a focus on thorough, defensible resolution and real-time de-escalation
• Perform root-cause analysis on escalations, distinguishing systemic failures from one-off errors, and surface findings to Customer Operations leadership to reduce future volume
• Work closely with our broader Operations team to share escalation trends and align on process improvements

Quality & Auditing

• Conduct regular QA reviews and audits of Tier 1 and Tier 2 ticket queues - across both our BPO and chatbot - to assess resolution quality, accuracy, and appropriate escalation behavior
• Identify patterns in misrouted or mishandled tickets and flag them with clear documentation and recommendations
• Contribute to QA rubrics and scoring frameworks that help the broader Customer Operations team raise its baseline

Knowledge & Process

• Own internal documentation for complex case types - keeping resolution paths, SOPs, and escalation decision trees current and accessible
• Serve as a subject matter expert for Tier 1 and Tier 2 agents, supporting training and closing knowledge gaps that drive unnecessary escalations

Expertise & Experience Required

• 2–5 years of experience in customer support, with meaningful time in escalations, complex case management, or a Tier 2/3 role
• Strong written communication - your case notes, customer responses, and internal escalations are clear, accurate, and defensible
• High ownership: you follow cases through to resolution and don't let things fall through the cracks
• Able to work within a structured ops team without needing heavy direction

Nice to have:

• Background in a consumer fintech, neobank, or credit-adjacent startup - you understand how financial products work and what's at stake when they don't
• Comfortable navigating compliance-adjacent issues: consumer disputes, FCRA, fraud claims, or regulatory complaints
• Experience contributing to QA programs, SOPs, or internal documentation
• Experience with Zendesk, or similar ticketing platforms

Base Range: $60,000-80,000 USD

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Kikoff Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to complying with all federal, state, and local laws providing equal employment opportunities and considers qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other legally protected class.