Customer Service Specialist - Merchant Services

Smart Service has been building software for the trades for 35 years: plumbers, HVAC techs, electricians, pest control, lawn care. Thousands of contractors across North America run their entire business on our platform. We're independent, profitable, and still growing, which means we hire slowly and keep people a long time. Our merchant services team is how those contractors get paid, and we're adding to it. This is not an entry-level role. We want someone who already knows the industry and can tell a routine underwriting request from one that signals a problem. Compensation is a competitive base pay plus commissions on your book of business. The merchants you bring on and keep processing show up in your paycheck rather than someone else's. And because every contractor we sign is already a software customer, you're building that book from an existing customer base instead of cold-calling strangers. Job Responsibilities: Onboard new merchants. Walk business owners through the application, translate underwriting's questions into plain English, and stay with the file until they're approved and processing. Some of these owners have never taken a card payment in their life, and you're the reason it doesn't feel complicated. Catch problems before the merchant does. Processing that stops, deposits that look wrong, volume that quietly drops. The merchants who stay with us are usually the ones who got a call before they had to make one. Handle support directly. Calls, emails, and chats about a transaction, a deposit that looks short, or a rate that doesn't make sense. Explain it plainly and follow up when you said you would. Live in the details. Spreadsheets, application statuses, follow-up dates. If you're the type of person who color-codes unprompted, you'll be right at home. Be the hero. The merchant who got declined and doesn't understand why. The chargeback that's worth disputing. The high-risk application that needs a real conversation with underwriting rather than another form resubmission. These come to you because you've handled them before and you know how those conversations go. Make us better at this. You've worked somewhere that ran payments well and somewhere that ran them badly, and we want to hear about both. Our process is good, but you can make it better. If you see a faster path from application to first transaction, tell us and we'll change it. Job Requirements 3+ years in merchant services, payment processing, or ISO/acquirer operations, covering onboarding, underwriting support, merchant support, or account management Real fluency in the vocabulary: interchange, MCC codes, underwriting criteria, PCI, chargebacks and representment, gateways, terminals, funding timelines Experience in the full merchant application process from application to approval. The ability to judge a merchant issue as a training problem, a technical problem, or a risk problem Strong Excel skills and the discipline to keep a pipeline clean without being asked Helpful but not required: experience with the trades (plumbing, HVAC, electrical), or with a software platform with embedded payments. Your first 90 days You already know payments, so we won't spend six weeks explaining what a rate is. The ramp looks like this: Weeks 1-2: Learn our stack, our processor relationships, our merchant base, and how payments work inside our software. You'll meet the trades customers we serve and see why their business differs from a retail storefront. Weeks 3-6: You're handling live merchants and asking fewer questions than we expect. Weeks 7-12: The book is yours. You're the person others come to when something's unusual, and you've probably already told us one thing we should be doing differently. This role is a good fit if You've spent years in payments and you're tired of being a queue number at a large processor You want upside on your own book rather than a flat salary against someone else's quota You like talking to people on the phone instead of always emailing them You love being the hero for someone and solving problems rather than closing a ticket. You want your experience to shape how things get done here You want to work somewhere your name is known and your work is visible This role is a poor fit if You want to work from home. This position is fully in office, and it's how we back each other up. You're new to merchant services and hoping to learn on the job You want a job where the work stays the same week to week You need someone checking in on you to stay on track Merchant services experience is a hard requirement here, not a preference. If you've never worked in payments, this isn't the right opening, though we'd encourage you to watch for other roles. Location: 495 Metro Place South, Dublin, OH 43017, just off 270 in Metro Center. You must be local to the Columbus area. This position is 100% in office. Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM. No evenings or weekends. Compensation: Starting at $25/hr plus commissions on your book of business Benefits: Health, dental, vision, and life insurance. 401(k) with company match. Paid time off after six months. Experience: 3+ years in merchant services or payment processing required. Education: No degree requirement; we care about the work you've done. One last thing We're a company of 40 people, so there's no such thing as a faceless role here. Your wins get noticed and so do your ideas. At this size, people who show initiative here end up running things. #J-18808-Ljbffr Smart Service