Torchora
Back to Home

Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Head of Support

💰 $120,000 - $180,000+

Customer SupportLeadershipOperationsClient ServicesCustomer Experience

🎯 Role Definition

The Head of Support is the strategic leader and ultimate owner of the entire customer support ecosystem. This isn't just about managing tickets; it's about architecting a world-class, scalable support function that acts as a key differentiator for the business. As the primary advocate for our customers, this role champions a customer-first culture across the organization, translating customer feedback into actionable insights that drive product improvement and company growth. The Head of Support builds, mentors, and inspires a high-performing team, ensuring operational excellence and an unwavering commitment to exceptional service at every touchpoint.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Customer Support Manager
  • Director of Customer Success
  • Head of Operations
  • Senior Program Manager (Client Services)

Advancement To:

  • VP of Customer Experience (CX)
  • Chief Customer Officer (CCO)
  • VP of Operations
  • Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Lateral Moves:

  • Head of Customer Success
  • Director of Professional Services
  • Director of Operations

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Develop, articulate, and execute a comprehensive, long-term vision and strategy for the global Customer Support department that aligns with company objectives.
  • Lead, mentor, and scale a multi-tiered, multi-channel support team, fostering a culture of high performance, continuous improvement, and deep customer empathy.
  • Define, track, and analyze key performance indicators (KPIs) and service level agreements (SLAs) such as CSAT, NPS, First Contact Resolution (FCR), and Average Handle Time (AHT) to ensure team effectiveness and efficiency.
  • Own the departmental budget, including forecasting, resource allocation, and workforce planning to meet fluctuating customer demand and support future growth.
  • Act as the primary 'Voice of the Customer,' systematically gathering, synthesizing, and presenting customer feedback and insights to Product, Engineering, and Marketing teams to influence the product roadmap and improve the overall customer journey.
  • Design, implement, and refine scalable support processes, workflows, and policies to optimize team performance and deliver a consistent, high-quality customer experience.
  • Oversee the entire support technology stack, leading the evaluation, selection, and implementation of tools (e.g., CRM, ticketing systems, knowledge base, telephony) to enhance agent productivity and customer self-service.
  • Serve as the final point of escalation for critical and complex customer issues, demonstrating exceptional problem-solving skills and ensuring timely and satisfactory resolution.
  • Establish robust career development frameworks, training programs, and quality assurance processes to ensure the professional growth and skill enhancement of the support team.
  • Drive the creation and maintenance of a comprehensive knowledge base and self-service resources to empower customers and deflect inbound support requests.
  • Build and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with cross-functional leaders in Sales, Marketing, Product, and Engineering to ensure a cohesive and seamless customer lifecycle.
  • Analyze support ticket data and customer interaction trends to proactively identify root causes of issues, report on product bugs, and recommend preventative solutions.
  • Prepare and deliver compelling performance reports, business reviews, and strategic updates to the executive leadership team, clearly communicating the value and impact of the support organization.
  • Manage and scale support operations across different time zones and regions, ensuring consistent service delivery for a global customer base.
  • Champion and embed a customer-centric mindset throughout the entire company, ensuring every department understands their role in creating a positive customer experience.

Secondary Functions

  • Manage key vendor relationships for all support-related software and services, negotiating contracts and ensuring optimal performance.
  • Collaborate with the marketing team on the tone and content of support-related communications and public-facing documentation.
  • Participate actively in product development and launch planning meetings to provide customer support readiness assessments and impact analysis.
  • Ensure the support team's adherence to data privacy and security protocols (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) in all customer interactions.
  • Spearhead initiatives to improve operational efficiency through automation, AI-powered tools, and process re-engineering.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Customer Support Platform Mastery: Deep, hands-on expertise with modern helpdesk software like Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud, Intercom, or similar enterprise-grade platforms.
  • Data Analysis & Reporting: Ability to build dashboards and analyze support metrics using BI tools (Tableau, Looker, Power BI) or advanced Excel to derive actionable insights.
  • Budget & Financial Management: Proven experience in creating and managing departmental budgets, including forecasting, P&L responsibility, and cost-benefit analysis.
  • Workforce Management (WFM): Proficiency in capacity planning, scheduling, and forecasting support volume to ensure adequate staffing across all channels and time zones.
  • KPI Framework Development: Skill in defining, implementing, and reporting on a comprehensive set of metrics (CSAT, NPS, FCR, SLA adherence, etc.) that accurately reflect support health and business impact.
  • Project Management: Experience managing complex projects such as technology migrations, new channel rollouts, or process re-engineering initiatives.

Soft Skills

  • Strategic & Visionary Leadership: The ability to look beyond daily operations to set a long-term strategic direction and inspire a team to follow it.
  • Exceptional Empathy: A genuine, deep-seated understanding of customer needs and the ability to instill that empathetic perspective across the team and company.
  • Influential Communication: Superb written, verbal, and presentation skills, with the ability to articulate complex ideas clearly and persuasively to C-level executives, engineers, and customers alike.
  • Decisiveness Under Pressure: A calm, resilient, and composed demeanor, with a proven ability to make critical decisions swiftly and confidently in high-stakes situations.
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration: The capacity to build strong, trusted relationships with peers and stakeholders across the organization to drive collective success.
  • Advanced Problem-Solving: A knack for dissecting complex, ambiguous problems, identifying root causes, and implementing robust, scalable solutions.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's Degree or equivalent, significant, and relevant work experience. In this role, a track record of success is valued as highly as a formal degree.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Business Administration (MBA), Management, Communications, or a related discipline.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Communications
  • Operations Management
  • Information Technology

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 10-15+ years

Preferred:

A minimum of 10 years of progressive experience within customer support, customer success, or operations, including at least 5-7 years in a senior leadership capacity. The ideal candidate will have a proven track record of scaling a support team (e.g., from 20 to 100+ agents) in a fast-paced, high-growth environment, preferably within the B2B SaaS or technology sector. Demonstrable experience managing multi-channel, multi-region support functions is highly desirable.

Explore More Careers