Senior Manager - Tech Support

Description

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA): (Exempt/Non-Exempt): Exempt

PurgeRite, the leader in high-quality mechanical flushing services, is seeking an experienced and hands-on Sr. Manager of Technical Support. We serve commercial mechanical contractors of all sizes across the U.S., with end-user clients that include many top Fortune 100 companies. Projects include data centers, semiconductor and EV battery manufacturers, universities, health care facilities, and district energy systems. We are a first-mover company seeking an individual who works with a sense of urgency, brings structure to ill-defined problems, and builds capability from the ground up. Our team has an entrepreneurial spirit and is results-driven.

Position Overview:

Our technicians in the field are the reason customers trust PurgeRite with some of the most complex hydronic systems being deployed today. This is a new role charged with building PurgeRite's Technical Support organization and then running it. The Sr. Manager of Technical Support will design the function (tools, processes, policies, and staffing), then lead a team that gives our field technicians a reliable, expert resource for troubleshooting, equipment usage, and client request analysis. Beyond resolving individual incidents, this leader owns the signal in the noise: grouping incidents into issues, prioritizing them by field impact, driving root-cause analysis on the top issues, and championing permanent fixes across Engineering, Operations, Fleet & Asset Management, Training, Safety, and Sales Operations.

Key Responsibilities:

Build the Technical Support Organization: Define the charter, service model, and operating hours for Technical Support, including coverage for multi-shift and after-hours field work. Establish the support tiers (self-service, Tier 1 field support, Tier 2 engineering escalation) and the escalation paths between them.

o Tools & Systems: Select, implement, and administer the ticketing/case-management platform (e.g., Desk365 or equivalent) and knowledge base. Integrate support data with NetSuite, SharePoint, and operational dashboards so incidents are traceable to job, asset, crew, and customer.

o Processes & Policies: Document SOPs for intake, triage, prioritization, escalation, and closure. Set response and resolution service levels by severity and publish them to the field.

o Staffing & Development: Recruit, hire, train, and lead a team of technical support specialists drawn from strong field backgrounds. Build onboarding and a certification path in partnership with PurgeRite Academy. Set clear performance expectations and coach the team to them.

Support the Field: Lead the team to deliver clear, time-sensitive guidance on flushing and purging procedures, pump and filtration equipment operation, chemistry and sampling, instrumentation, and NearZero system usage. Communicate with urgency and composure; downtime on a mission-critical site has real consequences.

o Troubleshooting & Equipment Usage: Diagnose equipment, process, and system problems remotely and, when needed, on site. Maintain job aids, checklists, and quick-reference guides that technicians can use at the point of work.

o Client Request Analysis: Review client and contractor technical requests, scope changes, and specification questions with the field and Project Management. Confirm what is being asked, assess feasibility and risk, and route a clear recommendation to the right owner.

o Safety: Reinforce safe work practices in every support interaction. Flag unsafe conditions immediately and support Stop Work Authority without hesitation.

Trend Tracking & Issue Management: Own the incident-to-issue process. Classify and group incidents into issues by equipment, process, site type, crew, and root-cause category. Maintain a prioritized issue backlog ranked by frequency, cost, schedule impact, safety exposure, and customer impact.

o Root-Cause Analysis: Lead structured root-cause investigations (5 Whys, fishbone, fault-tree) on the top issues. Separate symptoms from causes and document findings with evidence from field data, asset history, and job records.

o Championing Resolution: Drive permanent corrective actions through the owning departments (Engineering, Fleet & Asset Management, Procurement, Training, Operations). Build the business case, secure commitment, track action items to closure, and verify that the fix actually reduced recurrence in the field.

o Reporting & KPIs: Own and report on Technical Support metrics, including First-Contact Resolution, Mean Time to Respond and Resolve by severity, Ticket Volume by Issue Category, Repeat-Incident Rate, Top-10 Issue Trend, and Corrective-Action Closure Rate. Present monthly to operations leadership with actionable trade-offs.

Knowledge Management: Convert resolved tickets into reusable knowledge base articles, procedure updates, and training content. Partner with PurgeRite Academy and Field Training to push lessons learned back into technician onboarding and LIFT curriculum.

Cross-Functional Collaboration: Develop strong working relationships across Field Operations, Engineering, Fleet & Asset Management, Safety, Training, Project Management, and Sales Operations. Promote alignment persuasively without direct authority. Strong written and verbal communication skills are essential.

Requirements

Education: Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Technology, Operations, or a related field, or equivalent field experience with progressive technical leadership.

Support Operations Experience: Proven track record building or scaling a technical support, field service support, or help desk function, including tool selection, process design, SLA definition, and staffing.

Problem Solving & Structure: Demonstrated ability to bring structure to ill-defined problems, apply formal root-cause methods, and synthesize incident data into clear, prioritized recommendations.

Communication & Influence: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to speak the field's language, simplify technical data for leadership, and influence peer managers and Directors to commit to corrective actions.

Leadership: Experience hiring, developing, and leading a team. Servant-leadership mindset: this leader exists to clear the path for the technicians in the field.

Urgency & Execution: High-level dedication to operational excellence and customer experience, acting with urgency on time-sensitive field issues while maintaining composure under pressure.

Preferred Qualifications:

Technical Expertise: Deep working knowledge of hydronic mechanical piping systems and the equipment used to flush and purge them: pumps, filtration, hoses and manifolds, instrumentation, water chemistry, and sampling. Ability to diagnose problems from a technician's description over the phone.

Experience: 8+ years of progressive experience including:

o Hands-on field experience in mechanical flushing, hydronic systems, mechanical contracting, or industrial field service

o Leadership of a technical support, field service, or service operations team

o Implementation of ticketing, knowledge base, or service management platforms

Certification: Lean/Six Sigma Green Belt (or higher), ITIL Foundation, or a formal root-cause analysis certification.

Systems & Scale: Experience supporting a distributed, multi-site, or national field workforce in mission-critical construction environments. Familiarity with NetSuite, Desk365, Microsoft 365, SharePoint, and Power BI.

Company Support: The company is committed to providing the necessary resources and training to ensure this person can be successful in learning and enhancing our approach as we move forward.

PurgeRite is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. We promote equal opportunities for all with respect to hiring, terms of employment, mobility, training, compensation, and occupational heal