Director, Product Support

Job Title: Director, Product Support 

Team: Systems

Location: In-Person in Chicago (IL), Newark (NJ), or New York City (NYC) Employment Type: Full-time 

FLSA Classification: Exempt 

About Braven

Braven is a national nonprofit that prepares promising college students to secure a strong first opportunity after college graduation through a career-accelerating program.

We work with higher education and employer partners to offer a life-changing experience that begins with a semester-long course for college students, followed by support that lasts through graduation.  

Together, our ambition is to help rebuild the middle class and revitalize the American Dream.

To learn more, take a look at Braven’s Jobs Report.

About the Role 

In order to achieve its ambition of serving 80,000-100,000 Fellows over the next decade, Braven is hiring a Director, Product Support, who will play a key role in ensuring Braven’s systems and digital tools are effectively leveraged to meet programmatic goals.

As the leader of the Product Support team, this role combines a thorough understanding of our program model with technical expertise in our digital products to ensure a strong user experience for Fellows, volunteers, and staff. Success in this role requires impressive problem-solving abilities, a proactive approach to identifying solutions, and a deep commitment to enhancing the user experience through continuous system and process improvements.  

The Product Support team serves as a key bridge between Braven’s users and the product development teams. Their efforts are crucial to our scaling efforts, as they ensure that any obstacles encountered by internal and external stakeholders are promptly and effectively addressed. 

This role is on the Systems team and reports directly to the Senior Director, Digital Product Management.  

What You’ll Do 

Oversee and enhance the user experience of our technology products for internal and external stakeholders (50%)

• Supervise the daily operations of Braven Programming’s customer support, including overseeing the support ticketing process and ensuring timely and user-centered resolution of issues across all systems.
• Support and improve escalation policies and procedures relating to the experience of users who engage with Braven’s products.
• Oversee the planning and execution of product training required for both users and support staff
• Ensure comprehensive support documentation and resources for technology products and processes.
• Collaborate with system owners, IT teams, and other stakeholders to escalate and resolve complex technical problems.

Manage a team dedicated to addressing and resolving any problems users may encounter with a product (20%)

• Manage, mentor, and support a team of 4 system administrators who oversee critical tech systems.
• Ensure clear prioritization and division of labor across teammates, both weekly and quarterly. 
• Ensure that the Product Support Team has clear communication and meeting structures that enable strong collaboration and alignment across the various workstreams the team supports. 
• Ensure the team is equipped to handle incoming support requests, resolve technical issues, and provide high-quality system support.
• Oversee team performance and implement professional development plans to grow technical and problem-solving skills.
• Maintain a strong Product Support Team culture. 

Identify recurring issues, gauge the effectiveness of solutions, and continuously improve the overall support strategy (15%) 

• Review ticket trends in Jira Service Management to inform product development processes and training, as well as the Product Support team's development needs.
• Define and monitor key performance indicators for our digital products.
• Incorporate user feedback and user-centric design principles into product development.
• Collaborate with internal product users (Regional teammates) through regular touchpoints to surface user needs and gauge the effectiveness of product development solutions.

Serve as a critical contributor to product development projects at Braven (10%) 

• Serve as a project contributor on scrum teams, focused on supporting new features or product launches with testing, quality assurance, training, documentation, and support. 
• Collaborate with Product teammates as well as our Systems team to shape, support, and test changes to our systems. 
• Serve as a project consultant for other Braven projects needing Product Support capacity, supporting user story drafting and clarity, prioritization, and directly contributing to work as needed. 

Other duties as assigned. (5%)

Minimum Requirements 

• Bachelor’s Degree
• 5+ years of Customer Experience or Product Management experience in a technical support context

Preferred Qualifications 

• 5-7 years of demonstrated excellence in customer service, customer success, and/or help desk support, as well as in project, program, or event management
• Demonstrated success in managing a team of technical support specialists, administrators, or similar roles

• Proficiency in Google Suite, Slack, Zoom
• Proficiency in Atlassian Products, including Jira Service Management, Confluence, and Jira Work Management
• Proficiency in Salesforce, Excel, Tableau, Canvas (or another Learning Management System)
• Experience with Form Assembly, Campaign Monitor, Mogli 
• Strong understanding of system administration, ticketing processes, and user support best practices.
• Proven ability to develop training materials and empower non-technical users.
• Skilled at identifying recurring issues, improving processes, and implementing system enhancements.
• Exceptional problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills.

• Exemplification of Braven’s core values. 
• Experience that has informed your belief in Braven’s mission and has prepared you to work with, or for, Braven’s student Fellow population.

Please know that no one ever meets 100% of the preferred qualifications. If much of this describes you, we encourage you to apply. 

Work Demands 

• Ability to work in-person in Chicago (IL), Newark (NJ), or New York City (NYC) 
• Expected to travel ~15% for meetings and other in-person gatherings
• Ability to work some evenings and weekends to support both virtual and in-person Braven events

Additional Requirements 

• Authorized to work in the U.S. 
• Braven doesn’t offer employment visa sponsorship

Application & Interview Process 

While the interview process may vary slightly, the general process will be: 

• Phone screen with Talent Team member
• Performance Task
• Interview with Hiring Manager
• Panel Interview with Key Partners
• Reference Checks

Compensation and Benefits 

Braven offers competitive base salaries based on the midpoint of the market among not-for-profit organizations of similar size, with opportunities for salary growth over time. We believe in compensating staff members fairly in relation to each other, their qualifications, and their impact on behalf of the organization, and take internal and external equity seriously. Given our commitment to equity, Braven does not negotiate salary offers; instead, each salary offer is determined carefully using external and internal benchmarking.

Starting salary within the range is determined by role scope and qualifications, with new hires starting at the lower end to allow for growth with performance. Braven does not base compensation on individual candidate salary expectations and is committed to maintaining internal equity. The salary ranges, by geographic market, for this role are set forth $76,000 - $94,900 in Chicago and $83,600 - $104,400 in New Jersey and New York. This is based on a 50-hour work week at an hourly rate. This is a full-time, regular, exempt, and benefits-eligible position.

Braven also provides competitive, comprehensive benefits, recognition, and career development. While Braven reserves the right to change benefits at any time, current benefits include: 

• Unlimited vacation time in addition to org-wide holidays and week-long shutdowns in July and the end of the calendar year (this is a minimum of 19 days per year)

• Braven supports your path to parenthood and beyond with $25,000 in lifetime Carrot benefits for fertility, family-building, and hormonal health
• Match of your 401K contribution up to 5% of your base annual salary, starting your first full month
• Coverage of 85% of health insurance premium for employee and dependents
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave
• A one-month paid sabbatical after 4 years on staff

Location 

We gather in the office two to three days a week. Therefore, we require teammates to live within commuting distance of one of our hubs: Atlanta, Chicago, Newark, or New York City. Each teammate can use at least two flex days per week of their choosing to work remotely. We believe in the magic, connection, and collaboration that happens when people work together face-to-face, and we believe in giving people flexibility to focus, balance personal priorities, and save themselves two commutes per week. 

Braven is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected factor. We encourage talented individuals of all backgrounds to apply.