Tier 1 Technical Support Manager

Socket.dev; Massachusetts; Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Socket.dev in Massachusetts is seeking a Tier 1 Technical Support Manager to lead and develop our Tier 1 support team while remaining actively engaged in ticket resolution. This role focuses on maintaining SLAs, driving operational excellence, and fostering a coaching-focused culture.

The manager will balance people development, process improvements, and hands-on support to prevent issues and ensure high-quality customer interactions.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor Tier 1 support team members through coaching and accountability practices
• Monitor response quality and provide feedback to ensure consistent, high-quality customer interactions
• Drive professional development and training initiatives to improve team competency and career growth
• Oversee day-to-day and week-to-week helpdesk operations
• Run regular team touchpoints (e.g., L10 meetings) to maintain alignment and address team needs
• Escalate complex or stalled tickets, providing timely resolution support
• Work hands-on with tickets to maintain technical capabilities and lead by example
• Monitor workload distribution and adjust assignments to maintain efficiency and prevent burnout
• Report on support metrics to leadership and identify improvement opportunities
• Collaborate with Product and Engineering to identify bugs or feature gaps and inform roadmap priorities

Job description

Overview

The Tier 1 Technical Support Manager leads and develops our Tier 1 support team while remaining actively engaged in ticket resolution. This role is pivotal in maintaining service level agreements (SLAs), driving operational excellence, and fostering a coaching-focused team culture. The manager serves as both a leader and individual contributor, balancing people development, process improvement, and hands‑on technical support to ensure we are not just solving tickets faster but preventing them from occurring in the first place.

Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead and mentor Tier 1 support team members through coaching and accountability practices
• Monitor response quality and provide constructive feedback to ensure consistent, high-quality customer interactions
• Drive professional development and training initiatives to improve team competency and career growth
• Make informed staffing decisions and recommend adjustments tooptimizeteam composition and performance (in consultation with leadership)

Operational Management

• Oversee day-to-day and week-to-week helpdesk operations
• Run and coordinate regular team touchpoints (e.g., L10 meetings) tomaintainalignment and address team needs
• Serve as escalation path for complex, stalled, or unusual tickets, providingtimelyresolution support
• Activelywork ticketsalongside the team,maintaininghands‑on technical capabilities and leading by example
• Monitor workload distribution and adjust assignments tomaintainefficiency and prevent team burnout

Performance & Metrics

• Report on and interpret key support metrics to leadership (response time, resolution time, NPS, agent effectiveness, productivity)
• Understand the drivers behind reported metrics and values toidentifyimprovement opportunities
• Track progress against SLA targets and develop action plans to address gaps

• Analyze per-agent performance metrics toidentifycoaching opportunities and celebrate successes

Strategic & Process Improvement

• Thinkonthe business; rather than in the business; toidentifysystemic improvement opportunities
• Recommend and implement process improvements to increase ticket close rates and overall team efficiency
• Partner with Product and Engineering teams toidentifypotential bugs, feature gaps, or improvements that could proactively reduce ticket volume
• Advocate for support perspective in product planning and development discussions
• Use hands‑on ticket experience to surface pain points and inform roadmap priorities

Communication & Coordination

• Keep the team informed of company changes that may affect support (e.g., new product features, increased connector volume, system updates)
• Coordinate with leadership on plans for new service support and launch readiness
• Share learnings and best practices across support teams
• Report on support capacity and resource needs as business requirements evolve

Leadership Philosophy

This role is empowered to lead the group and make decisions that drive results. You will:

• Focus on target outcomes while having autonomy indetermininghow the team reaches those outcomes
• Make staffing decisions and adjustments in consultation with the Director of Support
• Leadthrough coaching and accountability rather than authority
• Own both the team’s success and the continuous improvement of support operations