In customer service, you can find a wide variety of job titles, each with a unique set of key responsibilities — everything from answering phones at a call center to setting up automations, developing strategies for customer retention, and much more.
If you’re looking for a job in customer service, you’re in the right spot. Customer support can be a great way to transition industries and work your way toward a satisfying and rewarding career. Below, you’ll learn about 7 types of customer service roles, including typical daily duties and qualifications.
If you’re hiring customer support team members, you can also adapt the job posting templates to help you find talented new employees. Plus, you’ll hear from a couple of top ecommerce brands about why it’s important to give everyone on your team some customer service responsibilities, regardless of their role.
Customer Service Agent (or Representative)
Customer Service Agents (or Customer Service Representatives) are the most junior role on a customer support team. Support Representatives are customer-facing employees on the frontline. They receive incoming support messages and calls, answer basic questions, and pass along complex or technical questions as needed.
Of course, even at this stage, Agents can play a major role in helping improve workflows, tagging and organizing incoming support requests, passing along customer feedback, and more.
If you’re a recent graduate or trying to pivot to a career in customer service, becoming an Agent is a great option.
Customer Service Representative job description template
We are seeking a dedicated and friendly Customer Service Agent to join our team. In this role, you will be the face of our company, assisting customers with their inquiries, resolving any issues, and ensuring a positive customer experience.
The ideal candidate will have excellent communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and a passion for delivering exceptional customer service.
Duties and responsibilities
- Provide prompt and efficient responses to customer questions via phone, email, social media, and chat
- Address and resolve customer complaints or concerns in a professional and timely manner
- Maintain a high level of company product knowledge to effectively answer customer queries
- Identify opportunities to upsell or cross-sell products and services to customers
- Collaborate with other team members and departments to ensure customer satisfaction
- Keep accurate records of customer interactions and transactions in the CRM system
- Follow company policies and procedures when handling customer requests and issues
- Continuously strive to improve customer service skills and knowledge through training programs
Qualifications and requirements
- Previous experience in customer service or a related field is preferred
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, plus active listening skills
- Experience with a helpdesk, CRM software, and other customer service tools
- Ability to multitask and prioritize tasks effectively in a fast-paced environment
- Strong problem-solving and decision-making abilities
- A positive and empathetic attitude toward customers
- Availability to work flexible shifts, including evenings, weekends, and holidays
- High school diploma or equivalent work experience
- Additional certifications in customer service or related fields are a plus
Benefits
- Competitive salary ($40,000 – $55,000)
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- 401(k) retirement plan
- Paid time off (15 days) plus holidays and sick days
- Ongoing training and development opportunities
How to apply
Interested candidates should submit their resume and cover letter to [email].
How Gorgias supports this role
Gorgias is chock-full of features and automations to help Customer Service Agents offer quick, helpful responses.
For instance, Gorgias centralizes messages from all communication channels (email support, live chat support, social media support, SMS support, WhatsApp support, and more) into one shared inbox so Agents don’t have to spend all day switching tabs. This helps your team offer omnichannel customer service.
Also, when Agents are answering incoming support tickets, Gorgias displays customer information (including past conversations and orders) to give Agents all the context they need to answer the question. This also helps Agents offer personalized customer service.
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Customer Service Specialist (or Level 2 Agent)
Customer Service Specialists have many of the same day-to-day responsibilities as Representatives. The main difference is that Specialists typically have more experience and can handle more complex, sensitive, and challenging interactions with customers.
In most teams, tickets get “escalated” to Level 2 Agents (or Specialists) if they’re beyond the skillset of an Agent. Often, Agents get promoted to Specialists once they understand the company’s policies, procedures, and products. It can be a great stepping stone to managing a team.
Customer Service Specialist job description template
We are seeking a Customer Service Specialist to join our team who will respond to customer inquiries by phone call, email, or chat. As a Specialist, you will be responsible for resolving mostly routine customer inquiries with some non-routine, more complex problems.
The ideal candidate will have excellent communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and a passion for delivering exceptional customer service — including to angry or escalated customers.
Duties and responsibilities
- Provide excellent customer service by responding to customer inquiries by phone, email, social media, SMS, or chat in a friendly and professional manner
- Analyze customer service needs and refer to other service or technical departments for follow up as needed
- Use customer relationship applications or databases to record activities and research product information
- Resolve mostly routine and some non-routine, more complex problems like processing orders and multitasking
- Document customer inquiries and monitor responses for quality assurance purposes
- Proactively engage with customers, identifying opportunities for improvements and suggesting potential solutions
- Stay up-to-date with industry trends and best practices in customer service
Qualifications and requirements
- 1-3 years of related experience preferred, or additional specialized training and/or certification
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Ability to empathize with customers and remain calm and composed in difficult situations
- Strong problem-solving abilities with a focus on finding effective solutions for customers
- Familiarity with CRM systems and other relevant software tools
- Availability to work flexible hours, including evenings and weekends
- High school diploma or equivalent work experience
- Additional education or certification in customer service is a plus
Benefits
- Competitive salary ($45,000 – $60,000)
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- 401(k) retirement plan
- Paid time off (15 days) plus holidays and sick days
- Ongoing training and development opportunities
How to Apply
To apply, please submit your resume and a cover letter detailing your relevant experience to [email].
How Gorgias supports this role
Gorgias makes escalating tickets to Level 2 agents extremely easy. You can even set Gorgias up to automatically assign angry customers to certain agents — this works because Gorgias scans the sentiment and intent of every incoming ticket, and can assign, tag, and even respond automatically based on what it finds.
Here’s a visualization to help explain how Gorgias can automatically detect the contents of a ticket, and assign or tag it however works best for your team.
Customer Service Team Lead
The Customer Service Team Lead is directly responsible for managing a team of Agents. As a Team Lead, you’ll spend less (or no) time answering tickets, and more time hiring, onboarding, and training new support agents. ’
In some companies, the Customer Service Team Lead also acts as the Customer Service Manager (which we’ll cover below). But most companies separate the roles: The Team Lead manages the people, while the Manager manages the strategy and business impact.
Customer Service Team Lead job description template
We are seeking a customer service team lead to join our team. Reporting to the customer service team manager, the Customer Service Team Lead will be responsible for leading Customer Support Agents to provide the highest level of support and service to all internal and external customers.
The ideal candidate will have experience in team leadership, customer service, and problem-solving, with an understanding of industry best practices.
Duties and responsibilities
- Lead the customer service team to achieve key performance indicators (KPIs) and customer satisfaction goals
- Develop and implement departmental systems, policies, and procedures to maintain a high level of service
- Identify opportunities to enhance internal processes and promote best practices that lead to overall performance improvement and organizational efficiency
- Monitor and evaluate customer feedback to ensure that the team exceeds customer expectations
- Assist with the recruitment and selection of new team members
- Provide onboarding, coaching, and mentoring to new and existing team members
- Conduct regular performance evaluations and provide development plans that encourage employee engagement
- Plan team rotas to ensure adequate coverage at all times
- Administer the Time Management System (TMS), recording holiday and sickness absences
- Support the team in answering customer inquiries by phone, email, or chat
- Monitor and coordinate the post-sales support process, ensuring all orders are reconciled accurately and progressed through the system correctly
- Evaluate trends in customer inquiries and identify ways to improve customer satisfaction and retention
- Collaborate with other departments to handle customer complaints and issues
- Produce written reports when required to do so
Qualifications and requirements
- Proven experience as a customer service team lead or a relevant leadership role (3+ years)
- A minimum of a high school diploma or equivalent; additional education/training in customer service, leadership, or a related field preferred
- Excellent organizational and problem-solving skills, with a focus on finding effective solutions for customers
- Exceptional verbal and written communication abilities and a customer-centric mindset
- Strong interpersonal skills and experience working as part of a team
- Experience with a helpdesk, CRM software, and other customer service tools
Benefits
- Competitive salary ($55,000 – $70,000)
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- 401(k) retirement plan
- Paid time off (15 days) plus holidays and sick days
- Ongoing training and development opportunities
How to apply
To apply, please submit your resume and a cover letter detailing your relevant experience to [email].
How Gorgias supports this role
Gorgias gives Team Leads a helpful overview of the team’s performance. Specifically, you can see each agent’s essential metrics — like CSAT, response times, resolution time, conversion rate, and more.
You can use these metrics to evaluate each agent and inform the type of training and coaching each one needs. Speaking of training, Gorgias also offers Gorgias Academy, which features dozens of courses to help teach your agents how to upskill, including how to use the helpdesk.
Customer Service Manager
Customer Service Managers are responsible for implementing the department’s tools and strategies. Unlike Team Leads, who are responsible for people management and coaching, Customer Service Managers are more responsible for setting up tools and automation, making sure the team is working toward business goals, and generating reports about the state of the department.
Customer Service Manager job description template
We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Customer Service Manager to oversee our customer service operations and ensure the highest level of customer satisfaction. The Customer Service Manager will be responsible for leading a team of customer service representatives, implementing effective strategies, and continuously improving customer service processes.
The ideal candidate will have a strong background in customer service, excellent leadership skills, and a passion for delivering exceptional customer experiences.
Duties and responsibilities
- Lead and manage a team of Customer Service Representatives and Team Leads, providing guidance, training, and support
- Develop and implement customer service standards, policies, and procedures to ensure consistent and high-quality service delivery
- Handle escalated customer inquiries or complaints, resolving issues and ensuring customer satisfaction
- Monitor and analyze customer service metrics, identify areas for improvement, and implement strategies to enhance performance
- Collaborate with other departments to improve customer service processes and optimize customer interactions
- Identify training needs and provide ongoing coaching and development opportunities for the customer service team
- Stay up-to-date with industry trends and best practices in customer service management
- Conduct regular performance evaluations and provide feedback and recognition to team members
- Foster a positive and collaborative work environment, promoting teamwork and employee engagement
- Implement customer feedback mechanisms to gather insights and make data-driven decisions
Qualifications and requirements
- Proven experience in a customer service management role (5+ years)
- Strong leadership skills with the ability to motivate and inspire a team
- Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
- Strong problem-solving and decision-making abilities
- Proficient in customer service software and CRM systems
- Experience in analyzing customer data and using it to drive improvements
- Excellent organizational and time management skills
- Ability to work well under pressure and meet deadlines
- Customer-centric mindset with a passion for delivering exceptional service
- Bachelor's degree in business administration, communications, or a related field (preferred), or equivalent work experience
Benefits
- Competitive salary ($65,000 – $80,000)
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- 401(k) retirement plan
- Paid time off (15 days) plus holidays and sick days
- Ongoing training and development opportunities
How to apply
To apply, please submit your resume and a cover letter detailing your relevant experience to [email].
How Gorgias supports this role
Gorgias is full of automations that Customer Service Managers can set up to make their team more efficient and productive.
For instance, imagine you’re a Customer Service Manager looking for solutions to answer more tickets without hiring additional agents. You could set up the Automation Add-on to let customers answer FAQs, track orders, request returns, and more in the chat widget and Help Center.
The Manager can also review the performance of these (and other) automations to understand the impact and find areas for improvement.
Technical Support Engineer
Technical Support Engineers provide support to customers experiencing issues with software and other IT equipment. Most Technical Support Engineers are hired for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies or universities, hospitals, and other large companies that need support for technical equipment and issues.
Note: Gorgias is 100% built for ecommerce. You can send images, videos, and other files to solve complex issues, but the tool isn’t built for software companies that need to offer very technical support. Check out our list of the best customer service software if you’re a non-ecommerce company.
Technical Support Engineer job description template
We are seeking a skilled and customer-oriented Technical Support Engineer to join our team. The Technical Support Engineer will be responsible for providing technical assistance and support to our customers, ensuring timely resolution of technical issues, and delivering exceptional customer service.
The ideal candidate will have a strong technical background, excellent problem-solving skills, and a passion for helping customers.
Duties and responsibilities
- Take ownership of customer issues reported and see problems through to resolution
- Research, diagnose, troubleshoot, and identify solutions to resolve system issues
- Follow standard procedures for proper escalation of unresolved issues to the appropriate internal teams
- Provide enterprise-level technical assistance to customers, including software and hardware support
- Resolve network issues and configure operating systems as needed
- Use remote desktop connections, email, and chat applications to provide immediate support and answer client queries
- Ask customers targeted questions to quickly understand the root cause of the problem
- Track computer system issues through to resolution, within agreed time limits
- Properly escalate unresolved issues to the appropriate internal teams for further investigation and resolution
- Provide prompt and accurate feedback to customers
- Refer to internal databases or external resources to provide accurate technical solutions
- Ensure all customer issues are properly logged and prioritized
- Manage and prioritize multiple open issues at a time
- Follow up with clients to ensure their IT systems are fully functional after troubleshooting
- Prepare accurate and timely reports
- Document technical knowledge by creating notes and manuals
- Maintain positive and professional relationships with clients
Qualifications and requirements
- Proven work experience as a Technical Support Engineer, Desktop Support Engineer, IT Help Desk Technician, or similar role
- Hands-on experience with Windows/Linux/Mac OS environments
- Good understanding of computer systems, mobile devices, and other tech products
- Ability to diagnose and troubleshoot basic technical issues
- Familiarity with remote desktop applications and helpdesk software
- Excellent problem-solving and communication skills
- Ability to provide step-by-step technical help, both written and verbal
- Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a relevant field, or equivalent work experience
- Additional certification in Microsoft, Linux, Cisco, or similar technologies is a plus
Benefits
- Competitive salary ($75,000 – $90,000)
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- 401(k) retirement plan
- Paid time off (15 days) plus holidays and sick days
- Ongoing training and development opportunities
How to apply
To apply, please submit your resume and a cover letter detailing your relevant experience to [email].
Customer Success Manager
Customer Success Managers are responsible for maintaining client relationships. They don’t answer tickets at all — instead, they meet regularly with clients to understand their business goals, help implement solutions, and ensure the client remains happy and satisfied.
Most Customer Sucess Managers work for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies, agencies, and other kinds of client-based companies. Because Gorgias is built for ecommerce support teams, it’s not recommended for Customer Success Managers.
Customer Success Manager job description template
Duties and responsibilities
- Establish clear client retention goals and develop strategies to achieve them
- Collaborate with sales and account management teams to onboard new customers and ensure a smooth transition
- Analyze customer data to gain insights and identify opportunities for improving customer experience and increasing revenue
- Conduct product demonstrations and train customers on how to effectively use our products or services
- Upsell additional services and products that align with customer needs and company offerings
- Act as the main point of contact for customer inquiries, concerns, and escalations, and ensure timely resolution
- Regularly engage with customers to check on their satisfaction, gather feedback, and identify areas for improvement
- Create and deliver customer success metrics and reports to internal stakeholders
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to implement solutions that address customer needs and enhance their experience
- Assist in creating training courses and educational materials to help customers optimize their usage of our products or services
- Monitor customer health metrics and proactively intervene to prevent churn and increase customer loyalty
Qualifications and requirements
- Proven work experience as a Customer Success Manager or similar role
- Strong track record in managing and growing customer accounts
- Exceptional communication and relationship-building skills
- Technical aptitude with the ability to understand and explain complex products or services
- Experience in promoting and delivering value through exceptional customer experiences
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a dynamic, fast-paced environment
- Strong problem-solving and analytical skills
- Ability to build and maintain long-term relationships with clients
- Proficient in using CRM software and tools for tracking customer interactions and metrics
- Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, or a related field, or equivalent work experience
Benefits
- Competitive salary ($85,000 – $100,000)
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- 401(k) retirement plan
- Paid time off (15 days) plus holidays and sick days
- Ongoing training and development opportunities
How to apply
To apply, please submit your resume and a cover letter detailing your relevant experience to [email].
Director of Customer Service
The Director of Customer Service oversees the entire department and reports directly to executive leadership. They are responsible for managing the budget, reporting to executive management, and shaping the future of the department.
Director of Customer Service is the most senior role we’ll cover in this article. But depending on your business’s size and makeup, you could hire additional executive-level roles like Vice President of Customer Experience or Chief Customer Officer (CCO).
Director of Customer Service job description template
We are seeking a skilled and experienced Director of Customer Service to oversee our company's customer service policies, initiatives, and operations.
The ideal candidate will possess a deep understanding of customer needs and expectations, a passion for delivering exceptional customer experiences, and a proven track record of managing high-performing customer service teams.
Duties and responsibilities
- Direct and oversee all aspects of the company's customer service policies, initiatives, and operations
- Develop service level standards to improve response times, reduce customer complaints, and increase customer satisfaction
- Establish and implement best practices to improve service delivery quality, efficiency, and effectiveness
- Develop and institute systems to capture and analyze customer feedback, service metrics, and trends
- Manage resource allocation and budgeting to ensure the delivery of world-class customer service across all communication channels
- Align customer service activities with business objectives and support cross-functional initiatives
- Manage and coach customer service staff and enhance their skills delivery for excellent customer service
- Regularly report to top management and inform them of the progress on customer service KPIs and metrics
- Collaborate with other departments to identify areas for improving customer experience
- Maintain up-to-date knowledge of industry trends in customer service management, customer support software and industry software.
Qualifications and requirements
- 7+ years of progressive management experience in customer service, preferably at a leadership level
- Deep knowledge of best practices in customer service experience management
- Proficient in using and managing customer services systems
- Excellent communication, interpersonal, and conflict resolution skills
- Deep understanding of customer needs and expectations
- Excellent problem-solving skills
- Proven track record collaborating with other internal departments
- Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Customer Services Management, or related fields, or equivalent work experience
Benefits
- Competitive salary ($95,000 – $110,000)
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- 401(k) retirement plan
- Paid time off (15 days) plus holidays and sick days
- Ongoing training and development opportunities
How to apply
To apply, please submit your resume and a cover letter detailing your relevant experience to [email].
How Gorgias supports this role
Gorgias features a suite of tools and dashboards that the Director can use to communicate the department’s performance to executive leadership. On top of Agent Performance, which we mentioned above, you can see a variety of other data.
For example, you can see an overview of your support performance, benchmarked against other support teams in your industry:
You can also see data about your team’s contribution to revenue, to run and report on experiments like using chat campaigns or live chat to generate sales.
Tip: Get your whole company involved in customer support
While you’re building a dedicated customer service team, consider requiring non-support team members to spend some time answering support tickets — either during onboarding or periodically as ongoing training. This helps non-support members:
- Understand your customers: Customer support speaks directly to customers, and it’s a great way to gain a first-hand understanding of their challenges, preferences, and more. Non-support team members can take these insights back to their own roles.
- Answer questions during busy seasons: If non-support team members understand customer support best practices and already know how to use your helpdesk, they can step in during Black Friday — Cyber Monday and other busy seasons.
- Learn the value of good customer support: Often, businesses take customer support for granted. They don’t understand the skill good customer service requires, and they don’t always understand the insights and feedback support conversations can provide.
If you use Gorgias, you’re in luck. While nearly every other helpdesk charges for additional seats, Gorgias gives you unlimited seats so everyone can make a profile and get involved with support at no extra cost.
Plus, Gorgias is easy for anyone — even non-support folks — to pick up and use. Here’s what a Marketing employee at Chomps, a Gorgias user, says:
“As a non-CX'r, Gorgias has made helping out the CX team so much easier. The platform is intuitive. And because our team has built out many Macros, I can easily answer common questions and concerns. Although I'm not on the platform every day, I can toggle between open and closed tickets if I need to reference an old situation and get up to speed quickly and efficiently.”
Read more about how Chomps uses Gorgias to share customer insights across the whole company.
Manage all your customer service roles inside Gorgias
Gorgias is a customer service platform built for teams of all sizes. And to accommodate all the different roles and responsibilities, Gorgias lets you select a role for each user, giving them (only) the permissions they need to do their jobs.
This helps keep everyone focused on their role’s scope, and ensure privacy and security — especially if you outsource customer service and want to limit access to sensitive information.
User Roles include:
- Observer agent: View customers and tickets and add internal notes.
- Lite agent: Modify (but not delete) customers and tickets and send messages.
- Basic agent: Modify (and delete) customers and tickets and send messages. Delete customers and tickets.
- Lead agent: Manage customers, tickets, and tags; send messages; and manage the Help Center.
- Admin: Manage everything.
Want to learn about how Gorgias can help you make your customer service team more efficient and effective? Claim your demo today.
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