Customer Service Manager

Summary: The Customer Service Manager leads WhisperKOOL's Customer Service team and owns the customer experience across the post-sale journey: order processing, returns, warranty, and technical support; ensuring requests are handled accurately, service standards are met, and the team has the training and tools to succeed. The role is a key cross-functional partner to Sales, Operations, Finance, Shipping, and Product Development/R&D in resolving customer issues and driving continuous improvement. Essential Duties and Responsibilities: Team Leadership & Development Lead, coach, and manage the Customer Service team (order processing, returns, warranty, and technical support), including hiring, onboarding, training, performance reviews, staffing plans, and schedules. Set clear service-quality expectations and provide ongoing coaching and feedback; foster a customer-focused culture of accountability, teamwork, and continuous improvement. Customer Experience & Escalation Management Own Customer Service standards and serve as the primary escalation point for complex customer concerns, disputes, warranty issues, and technical support cases, ensuring commitments are documented and resolved. Identify recurring customer pain points and recommend policy, process, or product changes that balance customer satisfaction with company policy and business needs. Order Processing Oversee accurate, timely order processing from receipt through fulfillment, and establish procedures for order entry, changes, cancellations, and backorders. Coordinate with Sales, Finance, Operations, and Shipping to resolve order issues, prevent delays, and meet turnaround targets. Returns & Warranty Administration Oversee return and warranty processes end-to-end, ensuring authorizations, claims, replacements, and credits are processed accurately and communicated clearly to customers. Coordinate with Finance, Operations, Shipping, Technical Support, and Product/R&D on cases; review trends in returns and complaints and recommend improvements to reduce repeat issues. Technical Support Provide managerial oversight of Technical Support, ensuring cases are documented, prioritized, and resolved professionally, with clear escalation paths for complex issues requiring Product Development/R&D or Engineering. Ensure staff maintain strong product and troubleshooting knowledge; monitor recurring issues and partner cross-functionally on product, documentation, or service improvements. Processes, Systems & Continuous Improvement Develop, document, and standardize Customer Service policies, procedures, workflows, and escalation guidelines across order processing, returns, warranty, and technical support. Evaluate workflows to improve efficiency, accuracy, and response times; maintain accurate system data and lead or support cross-functional improvement initiatives. Performance Management & Reporting Establish and monitor Customer Service KPIs (order accuracy, response/resolution time, case volume, backlog, returns/warranty activity, complaints) and analyze trends to identify gaps and opportunities. Maintain accurate records and provide management with regular updates on performance, significant issues, and recommended actions. Cross-Functional Collaboration Serve as the primary liaison between Customer Service and Sales, Operations, Finance, Shipping, and Product Development/R&D, resolving customer-impacting issues quickly and communicating recurring feedback to stakeholders. Advocate for the customer while balancing operational feasibility, company policy, and business objectives. Lead the AMP Committee in partnership with Marketing to strengthen customer outreach and grow the technician referral program. Competencies: To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies: § Customer Focus: Maintains a strong understanding of customer needs and consistently promotes a high standard of service. § Leadership & Coaching: Develops employees, establishes accountability, provides constructive feedback, and builds an effective team. § Problem Solving: Evaluates complex customer and operational issues, identifies root causes, and develops practical solutions. § Communication: Communicates clearly and professionally with customers, employees, management, and cross-functional partners. § Decision Making: Uses sound judgment to resolve escalated situations while appropriately balancing customer and business needs. § Organization & Prioritization: Effectively manages competing priorities, workloads, escalations, and deadlines. § Process Management: Develops and maintains effective procedures and identifies opportunities for greater consistency and efficiency. § Technical Aptitude: Develops sufficient understanding of company products and technical issues to effectively lead the Technical Support function and manage escalations. § Data & Performance Management: Uses service metrics and operational data to evaluate performance and drive improvements. § Cross-Functional Collaboration: Builds productive relationships across departments and coordinates resources to resolve customer-impacting issues. Qualifications: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Demonstrated experience leading or supervising a Customer Service, Customer Support, or similar customer-facing team. Experience managing multiple customer-service workflows, preferably including order management, returns, warranties, and/or technical support. Demonstrated ability to coach employees, manage performance, and develop effective teams. Experience resolving complex or escalated customer situations. Strong process-development and continuous-improvement skills. Ability to analyze service metrics and use data to identify trends and improve performance. Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment. Strong written and verbal communication skills. Ability to collaborate effectively with Sales, Operations, Finance, Shipping, Product/R&D, and other internal stakeholders. Education and Experience: High school diploma or equivalent required. Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Management, Communications, or a related field preferred. Minimum of 3-5 years of progressive customer service or customer support experience, including supervisory or management responsibility. Experience in a product-based, manufacturing, distribution, durable-goods, or technical-support environment preferred. Experience overseeing order processing, returns, warranty claims, or technical support strongly preferred. Computer & Systems Skills: Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications. Experience with CRM, ERP/order-management, case-management, and shipping systems. Salesforce CRM and UPS shipping systems experience preferred. Ability to learn company products, systems, technical documentation, and customer-service tools quickly. Reasoning & Problem Reasoning Ability: Ability to analyze customer, technical, and operational issues involving multiple variables and determine an appropriate course of action. Must be able to recognize problems quickly, gather relevant information, coordinate appropriate resources, and reach sound decisions using good judgment and diplomacy. Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those required to perform the essential functions of the position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The employee is regularly required to communicate verbally, use a computer and keyboard, and perform other standard office activities. The employee may occasionally be required to stand, walk, reach, handle products or materials, and lift and/or move up to 15 pounds. Work Environment: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.