Field Support Engineer

ArcTern Ventures; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation + equity

Comprehensive benefits: 100% premiums

Office near transit (SF)

Flexible hours & time off

Team building events

Job summary

SPAN, headquartered in San Francisco, seeks a Service Engineer to join the Operations team. You will act as Tier 3 escalation for complex issues, coordinate field service dispatches, and partner with support and engineering to resolve technically challenging problems.

You will deliver excellent service to installers and homeowners, communicate clearly across audiences, and maintain critical knowledge of SPAN products while driving continuous improvement across processes and tools.

Qualifications

• 2+ years of experience as a service engineer, product support engineer, or similar role.
• Experience working within a ticketing tool (e.g. Zendesk, JIRA, Salesforce, etc.).
• Experience troubleshooting networking issues and/or IoT devices.
• Experience working in Linux systems.
• Experience with SQL and command line interfaces.
• Excellent problem solver with urgency.
• Able to adapt communication for technical vs non-technical audiences.
• Empathetic, customer-oriented, and versatile.

Responsibilities

• Respond within SLA to issues escalated from Tier 1 and 2 and customer responses.
• Manage issues to resolution with urgency, coordinating with support, engineering, customers, and installers.
• Collaborate with teammates on troubleshooting challenging issues.
• Participate in retrospectives with Engineering and Customer Support.
• Use non-GUI paths (SSH, CLI) for advanced troubleshooting.
• Create basic scripts for product queries and database access.
• Mine data and synthesize multiple site issues into a single problem statement.
• Build deep product knowledge and continuously improve skills.
• Document and teach knowledge to fellow engineers and expand troubleshooting docs.
• Support coverage targets and ensure clean handoffs between shifts.

Skills

Customer support

Zendesk / Jira / Salesforce

Linux

SQL / command line

Networking / IoT troubleshooting

Data scripting

Communication (written & verbal)

Empathy in customer interactions

Time management

Generalist mindset

Tools

Zendesk

JIRA

Salesforce

Job description

Our Mission

SPAN is enabling electrification for all

We are a mission‑driven company designing, building, and deploying products that electrify the built environment, reduce carbon emissions, and slow the effects of climate change.

• Decarbonization is the process to reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide, from entering our atmosphere.

• Electrification is the process of replacing fossil fuel appliances that run on gas or oil with all‑electric upgrades for a cleaner way to power our lives.

At SPAN, we believe in:

• Enabling homes and vehicles powered by clean energy

• Making electrification upgrades possible

• Building more resilient homes with reliable backup

• Designing a flexible and distributed electrical grid

The Role

Want to save the world from climate change? And to ride in with a superhero cape to solve tricky customer issues? If you love the adventure of working for a fast-paced startup and enjoy solving new challenges each day, look no further. SPAN is hiring a Service Engineer.

Sitting within SPAN’s Operations group and reporting to our Service Engineering Manager, you will join a team of fellow Service Engineers. The Service Engineering team has two charters. One is to be the Tier 3 escalation point for our Tier 1 and 2 customer support team for resolving technically complex product issues in the field. The second is to manage our field service dispatches by coordinating with installers and homeowners.

Your objective is to deliver excellent service to our technically‑minded installers and our non‑technical homeowner customers. You will need to be a strong partner to customer support and a bridge to various engineering teams all while driving technically challenging issues to resolution with a strong sense of urgency. A SPAN Service Engineer is patient, has a generalist’s mindset, and is an excellent technical problem solver.

Responsibilities

Troubleshooting and customer service

• Respond within the agreed upon timeframe (SLA) to issues escalated from Tier 1 and 2 and to responses from customers

• Shepherd issues through to resolution with a sense of urgency, coordinating with all the necessary partners, including support, engineering, customers, and installers.

• Collaborate with teammates on handling challenging troubleshooting issues

• Participate in feedback loops (e.g. retrospectives) with Engineering and Customer Support

• Use non GUI product access paths and tools (SSH, CLI) for higher level troubleshooting

• Create and run basic scripts and light coding for queries into the product and various databases

• Using a systems mindset, mine data and coalesce multiple site issues into one coherent problem statement

• Build deep technical knowledge of our products and continuously deepen your own technical skills

• Document and teach what you know to fellow Service Engineers

• Embrace a continuous improvement mindset and suggest ways for the team to improve. This might mean suggesting new features for our internal troubleshooting tools, improvements to our core products, or changes to our SOPs

• Contribute to the build out of out our library of troubleshooting documentation

• Coordinate with your teammates to ensure we hit our coverage targets

• Ensure clean handoffs between shifts through clear notes, and strict process adherence

About You

Required Qualifications

You…

• Have 2+ years of experience as a service engineer, product support engineer, or similar role

• Have experience working within a ticketing tool (e.g. Zendesk, JIRA, Salesforce, etc.)

• Have experience troubleshooting networking issues and/or IoT devices

• Have experience working in Linux systems

• Have experience with SQL and command line interfaces

• Are an excellent problem solver and possess a demonstrated ability to solve complex technical problems with a sense of urgency

• Easily adapt your communication for different audiences (highly technical vs not technical)

• Are deeply empathetic, enjoy speaking with customers, and bring a customer orientation to your work

• Enjoy being a generalist and having your hands in a bit of everything

• Bring an entrepreneurial spirit and a love of problem solving to every challenge you encounter

• Are detail oriented, organized, and reliable. You do what you say you’re going to do and understand the importance of being the last point of escalation

• Are a strong communicator, both written and verbally

• Have a continuous improvement mindset

• Are a voracious learner on all subjects and enjoy knowing a little bit about a lot of things

• Are very scrappy and have a knack for excelling in complex and ambiguous situations

• Are willing and able to be based in our San Francisco office at least 3 days a week

Bonus Qualifications

You have…

• Have worked previously in Zendesk and/or Salesforce

• Technical troubleshooting experience with software and hardware products

• Experience troubleshooting networking equipment/connected devices

• An understanding of solar, residential energy storage, embedded electronics, power electronics, AC and DC power, and/or electric vehicle service equipment (EVSE)

• Experience with databases and creating software tools for automated analysis (SQL, python)

Life at SPAN

Headquartered in San Francisco’s vibrant SoMa neighborhood, we are an eclectic group of creative thinkers who value open communication, teamwork, and a ‘make it happen’ approach to addressing complex challenges.

SPAN embraces diversity and equal opportunity in a serious way. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills.

We’re hiring talented individuals who are driven by success and are passionate about shaping the future of renewable energy. If that sounds like you, we’d love for you to consider joining the rapidly growing team at SPAN.

The Perks:

• Competitive compensation + equity grants at a well‑funded, venture‑backed company
• Comprehensive benefits: 100% employee premiums for base plans on medical, dental, vision with options for additional coverage. Parental leave up to twenty four (24) weeks depending on eligibility
• Comfortable, sunny office space located near BART and Caltrain public transit
• Strong focus on team building and company culture: Employee Resource Groups, monthly social events, SPANcakes recognition breakfast, lunch, and learns
• Flexible hours, one holiday per month, and flexible time off