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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Technical Support Professional

💰 $45,000 - $85,000

IT & Technical SupportCustomer ServiceHelp Desk

🎯 Role Definition

A Technical Support Professional delivers high-quality, timely technical assistance to internal and external users by diagnosing and resolving incidents across desktop, laptop, mobile, network and cloud environments. This role combines deep technical troubleshooting (Windows, macOS, Linux, Office 365/Azure AD, networking fundamentals, MDM, SaaS) with strong customer service, documenting solutions in a knowledge base, escalating appropriately, and continuously improving support processes to meet SLAs and drive high CSAT scores. The ideal candidate is proactive, detail-oriented, comfortable with ticketing systems and remote support tools, and able to collaborate across product, engineering and operations teams to find root causes and reduce incident recurrence.

Keywords: Technical Support Professional, help desk, IT support, desktop support, incident management, ServiceNow, Zendesk, troubleshooting, Active Directory, VPN, remote support, SLA, CSAT, first-call resolution.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Help Desk Technician / Level 1 Support Representative
  • Customer Support Representative with technical aptitude
  • IT Intern or Desktop Support Apprentice

Advancement To:

  • Senior Technical Support Engineer / Level 2 Support
  • Support Team Lead / Supervisor
  • Systems Administrator or Network Administrator
  • Customer Success Manager / Technical Account Manager

Lateral Moves:

  • Implementation Specialist / Onboarding Engineer
  • Field Service Technician
  • Quality Assurance (QA) Analyst focusing on support workflows

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Own the end-to-end resolution of technical incidents and service requests logged through ticketing systems (ServiceNow, Zendesk, Jira), prioritizing tickets according to SLA, business impact and severity to meet agreed response and resolution targets.
  • Provide first-contact troubleshooting and remote support for desktop, laptop, and mobile devices running Windows, macOS and common Linux distributions; reproduce, diagnose and remediate application and OS-level issues.
  • Authenticate, diagnose and remediate network connectivity problems (Wi‑Fi, Ethernet, VPN), and collaborate with network engineering to resolve complex LAN/WAN and DNS/DHCP/TCP-IP issues that impact end users or services.
  • Administer user accounts and access control in Active Directory, Azure AD and Office 365, including provisioning, deprovisioning, password resets, group membership and permission troubleshooting following security and compliance standards.
  • Troubleshoot cloud and SaaS applications (Office 365, Google Workspace, Salesforce, collaboration tools) and integrate with enterprise identity providers; document workarounds and permanent fixes for recurring cloud issues.
  • Perform hardware diagnostics, fault isolation and replacement workflows for desktops, laptops, peripherals, printers and mobile devices including warranty coordination and escalation to vendors when required.
  • Use remote support and screen-sharing tools (TeamViewer, AnyDesk, Microsoft Remote Assist) to walk users through resolution steps, ensuring empathy, clarity and efficient knowledge transfer to reduce repeat incidents.
  • Escalate complex incidents to Level 2/Engineering with clear reproduction steps, logs, screenshots and impact statements; coordinate cross-functional incident response to accelerate root-cause analysis and resolution.
  • Execute ticket lifecycle management: triage, categorize, document steps taken, update users proactively, and close tickets with accurate resolution notes to maintain ticket quality and audit readiness.
  • Create, update and curate knowledge base articles, standard operating procedures (SOPs) and troubleshooting guides that improve team throughput and enable self-service for common problems.
  • Monitor system and service alerts, interpret monitoring data and perform initial containment actions to reduce user impact, escalating sustained outages to incident management and site reliability teams.
  • Participate in on-call rotations and incident response shifts, providing after-hours support for major outages and coordinating communication to stakeholders following incident management protocols.
  • Apply basic scripting and automation (PowerShell, Bash) to automate routine administrative tasks, accelerate diagnosis steps and reduce manual remediation time for frequent issues.
  • Conduct new-hire onboarding for devices and software, including device imaging, configuration, MDM enrollment, and end-user orientation to company IT policies and tools.
  • Maintain accurate asset inventory and lifecycle records for hardware and software, coordinate repairs and replacements, and ensure licensing compliance and security patching schedules are followed.
  • Track, analyze and report support metrics such as Mean Time To Respond (MTTR), Mean Time To Resolve, first-call resolution rate and customer satisfaction (CSAT) to identify trends and recommend process improvements.
  • Enforce and advise on security best practices—phishing prevention, endpoint protection alerts, encryption and multi-factor authentication—escalating suspected breaches and collaborating with security teams.
  • Support product and service releases by validating installs, performing compatibility checks, and generating user-impact documentation; provide targeted support for pilot programs and beta customers.
  • Mentor junior support staff by sharing troubleshooting techniques, reviewing ticket quality and coaching on customer communication and technical escalation criteria.
  • Drive continuous improvement initiatives by soliciting user feedback, documenting recurring pain points, and collaborating with product and engineering teams to remediate systemic issues.
  • Facilitate cross-team communication during major incidents by preparing incident summaries, contributing to post-incident reviews (postmortems) and implementing follow-up action items to prevent recurrence.
  • Manage vendor relationships for third-party support contacts, escalate hardware/software vendor cases when necessary, and follow up until vendor-provided fixes are implemented and verified.
  • Support accessibility and inclusivity needs by adapting troubleshooting approaches for users with disabilities and ensuring assistive technologies are configured and functioning correctly.

Secondary Functions

  • Assist with ad-hoc technical projects such as device refreshes, software migrations and pilots, providing support planning, testing and rollout assistance.
  • Contribute to product feedback loops by collecting consistent user complaints and feature requests that can inform roadmap decisions and engineering priorities.
  • Help develop training materials, FAQ pages and user-facing documentation to reduce ticket volume and improve self-service adoption.
  • Participate in cross-functional agile ceremonies (planning, standups, retrospectives) when embedded with product or engineering teams to align support with releases and feature changes.
  • Support quality assurance for support processes by participating in ticket audits, QA checks and customer follow-up calls to validate resolution satisfaction.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Proficient with ticketing and ITSM systems such as ServiceNow, Zendesk, Jira Service Management or Freshservice for incident management, SLA tracking and reporting.
  • Strong operating system troubleshooting skills across Windows (10/11, Windows Server basics), macOS and Linux (Ubuntu, CentOS) including logs, safe-mode and boot diagnostics.
  • Active Directory and Azure AD administration experience: user provisioning, group policy (GPO) troubleshooting, authentication issues and SSO integration.
  • Office 365/Microsoft 365 administration knowledge including Exchange, Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint permissions and troubleshooting synchronization problems.
  • Networking fundamentals: TCP/IP, DHCP, DNS, VPNs (IPSec, SSL), Wi‑Fi troubleshooting and basic switch/router/Gateway diagnostics.
  • Experience with remote support and collaboration tools such as TeamViewer, AnyDesk, Microsoft Remote Desktop, Zoom, or Splashtop.
  • Familiarity with endpoint security tools (antivirus, EDR), patch management systems and basic incident triage for security alerts.
  • Mobile device management (MDM) platforms (Intune, Jamf, MobileIron) for enrollment, policy enforcement and remote wipe/lock.
  • Basic scripting and automation skills (PowerShell, Bash) to create reusable diagnostics, user onboarding scripts and small automations to reduce manual work.
  • Hardware diagnostics and lifecycle management: laptop/desktop repair coordination, firmware updates, peripheral troubleshooting and vendor escalation.
  • Knowledge of cloud and SaaS app troubleshooting patterns (Salesforce, Google Workspace, Slack) and integration points with identity providers.
  • Experience working with VoIP and unified communications troubleshooting including softphones, SIP basics and call quality diagnostics.

Soft Skills

  • Clear, empathetic verbal and written communication tailored to technical and non-technical audiences to explain root causes and next steps.
  • Strong customer service orientation and patience under pressure while managing escalations and irate users.
  • Analytical problem-solving with a methodical approach to reproduce, isolate and resolve complex technical issues.
  • Prioritization and time management skills to handle busy queues while meeting SLAs and balancing high-impact incidents.
  • Collaborative mindset to work across product, engineering, security and operations teams to achieve shared outcomes.
  • Attention to detail for documenting workflows, ticket notes and knowledge base articles that support long-term team efficiency.
  • Adaptability and continuous learning to keep pace with new platforms, updates and evolving security requirements.
  • Coaching and mentoring ability to develop junior team members and improve team knowledge.
  • Conflict resolution and negotiation skills to find pragmatic solutions that align with business needs and technical constraints.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • High school diploma or equivalent with relevant technical certifications and hands-on experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Systems, Cybersecurity or a related technical discipline.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Information Technology / Information Systems
  • Networking / Telecommunications
  • Cybersecurity
  • Technical Support / Help Desk Certifications (A+, Network+, Microsoft, Cisco, ITIL)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 1 to 5 years of technical support, help desk or desktop support experience in an enterprise or SaaS environment.

Preferred:

  • 3+ years of progressive technical support experience, with documented success meeting SLAs and improving first-call resolution and CSAT.
  • Experience in enterprise environments with exposure to identity management (AD/Azure AD), MDM, Office 365 and ticketing/ITSM best practices.
  • Familiarity with on-call rotations, incident management, vendor escalation and cross-functional collaboration with engineering/product teams.
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