Technical Support Lead

We’re on the hunt for a part time technical support lead for a custom software business.

We’re looking for a ‘problem solver’ who loves to be the hero who solves the problem and saves the day!   Our perfect technical support lead is great with data, has an analytical brain, and can learn software systems quickly.  Being able to read code and write queries to dig into the database is a HUGE plus!

About Us

Excel Software Services, Inc.  (Essi)  is a Texas software business.  We write software and web apps for manufacturers and distributors.  It may not seem very exciting; but some of our projects are pretty ‘geek-out’ worthy.

We started in 1979 as BFE Systems, a family business founded by my father creating software for the forms manufacturing industry. In 2001 we bought him our and emerged as Excel Software Services, Inc. We just celebrated 20 years as Excel Software in November!

You can learn more about us on our website at https://excelss.com

Why work for us?

• Our office is completely virtual…which means you can wear yoga pants, or pajamas, or anything!   And you won’t be ‘the virtual’ person in a mostly co-located team.  We are all virtual and Slack is our ‘office’.

• The team is awesome. We have a small, friendly team. Most have been here between 6-15 years.

• The work is fun and satisfying.  If you love solving problems and being the hero,  you will absolutely love this job.

• We aren’t big on stress. While we love to see customer’s problems solved quickly, we aren’t creating oxygen,  so there’s rarely a problem that causes our blood pressure to rise!

• The hours are super flexible. We will create a routine that works for you.  Do the morning hours work best for you? No problem.  Would you rather work a little in the morning and some mid-afternoon (maybe while the baby naps)?  We can do that too.

• You are in control of your destiny.  If you are just looking for a few hours a day long term,  that’s OK.   But if you decide you want to grow your role, that’s great also.  We would love to help you find your dream job right here at Excel Software.

Strengths we’re looking for: 

We’re looking for someone who:

• Is a team player.  If you don’t want to be part of a team,  you won’t last long here.  These are some of the things our coworkers have to say about the Essi team:  family oriented, flexible, always willing to help, happy, trusting, rewarding, nurturing, supportive, respectful, fun, inspiring, diverse, appreciative.
• Is a problem solver.   Every day, you will face a new challenging problem and learn a new aspect of one of our systems.  When something new pops up, you’re comfortable thinking your way to a logical answer, finding the information you need that keeps you moving forward in resolving a customer’s issues.
• Is able to put themselves in our customer’s shoes. You’re warm, empathetic and relatable. You can communicate with customers on their level (not getting too technical) and are always friendly and kind.
• Is tech savvy and ok with troubleshooting tech issues.  Our software applications are not always the source of a customer’s problem.  Things can also go wrong with their hosting, emails, or other technical areas and research or troubleshooting is often needed.
• Is excited about helping others.  This is key to us continuing to provide stellar support to our growing client base and will be super important to your success with us.
• Is able to learn new software applications easily.  You enjoy learning the ‘ins and outs’ of different applications and can pick up new ones quickly.

Bonus strengths and skills:

We’re looking for an all-around all-star… so you’ll be super duper successful with us if you also:

• Have some experience developing software.   Writing code isn’t part of the job description,  but understanding how software is built and the ability to read code is a definite bonus.  Most of our work is done in PHP, with some older apps in Visual Basic.
• Have experience working with databases and can analyze data.  It would be super helpful if you understand relational databases and can write queries to dig into the data as you are troubleshooting issues for a customer.
• Have some experience with cPanel, phpmyadmin, SSH, or CLI tools.  These are all things we can teach you,  but it would be awesome for you to join the team with well rounded experience in a few of these devops tools.

Who this is not for:

• Someone who’s always right or feels the need to ‘pass the buck’ when mistakes happen. We’re all human… and humans make mistakes
• Someone who lets their device do their proofreading for them
• Someone who isn’t comfortable with being challenged to try something new, do it a different way or get out of their comfort zone
• Someone who asks questions without first working out what information is needed to answer the question or how they might answer the question themselves if there was no one about to ask
• Drama queens. We try and keep things positive and moving in a forward direction around here

What you’ll do (but also not limited to these tasks):

• Use a help desk software (TeamWork Desk) to monitor incoming support tickets
• Respond to customers with answers to their question or to gather details about their issue
• Troubleshoot or research software or technical issues
• Work with developers to resolve software issues
• Follow up with customers to keep them informed on open tickets
• Create ‘canned responses’ or ‘help docs’  for common responses to customer inquiries

We hire for strengths – not job positions or job descriptions.

We’re a small company with some big goals! …we work hard and we have some fun while we get the work done.

If your written grammar is awesome and you’re the kind of person who loves to help people and solve problems … then you’ll fit in well with us.

It’s important to us that you enjoy what you do, so we’ll find ways to move you towards the tasks you enjoy doing and that come more easily to you within the business

Job details: 

• This is a part time job
• The pay is $25 an hour
• The schedule is 10-20 hours a week

In addition to being a problem solver,  you must follow our systems and processes. In fact, just to prove that you can follow procedures, when you apply for this position in the subject line of the email you must include “I found my people” somewhere in the cover letter. Yes, that’s our little trick to sort out the people who blanket send their resume to anyone and everyone, from the folks (like you) who are truly interested in this position.

I’m looking to bring our new team member on board as soon as possible, but I will spend the necessary time to find the best fit both in abilities and culturally. One thing that will give you a BIG leg up (but is optional) is to send a quick video in along with your resume. In your video tell me why you think you’re perfect for this job and why you will rock this position. This is purely for me to get a sense of your personality. And if you decide not to send a video (that’s ok), please tell me why you chose not to send in a video.

I can’t wait to meet you!

How to apply: 

1.  Write a cover letter introducing yourself and answering the following questions:
   1. Why do you think you’re the new “technical support all-star” we’re looking for? Give us some SPECIFIC examples of how your strengths have helped you ‘get the job done’ in the past
   2. What kind of work are you doing now or what was your most recent work?
   3. Why are you wanting to work with us?
   4. What do you do for fun?
2. Create ONE document. (Word or PDF) that contains both your custom cover letter and your resume. Cover letter first, resume second
3. Click this link to complete your application online
   Apply to work with Essi