Customer Support Specialist

Special Instructions to Applicants : All interested applicants must attach a cover letter and a resume in the Supporting Documents section of the application in a PDF format . Please note that the applicant tracking system does not convert attachments in Word format successfully.

Position Summary

OpenStax (part of Rice University) is a non-profit textbook publisher, learning software producer, and platform for learning research. Our mission is to provide every student and instructor with free access to high-quality teaching and learning resources that help them succeed in their educational journey. We have created a library of more than 50 free and openly licensed college textbooks that have served millions of students across the globe, resulting in over one billion dollars in savings. We have created additional software and course materials to help students read with more engagement and practice more effectively, incorporating our research team’s expertise in cognitive science and machine learning. OpenStax seeks to become an organization that continuously strives to learn, reflect, and make actionable better policies and practices for diversity, equity, and inclusivity at work and in education.

We are seeking a committed and dynamic Customer Support Specialist to work with faculty and other college and administrative staff at colleges and universities across the world to provide answers to their questions and respond to any additional customer service needs for our products, OpenStax.org, OpenStax Kinetic, and OpenStax Tutor Beta.

This position will use the phone and an online customer support system as well as a customer relationship management database to provide answers to technical questions as well as questions about the organization, collect, upload and analyze data; and provide a high level of customer service to OpenStax users and potential users.

This position is grant funded and continuation of this position is dependent on funding and need. This position is fully remote.

You will join a team who is driving change at a pivotal phase of our evolution, as we deliver high quality educational content, ranging from textbooks to simulations and videos to exercises to full courses, and give educators and learners the support they need in core college and high school disciplines.

We celebrate diversity of all kinds and we are committed to nurturing an inclusive environment. We seek to hire, develop, and retain talented people from all backgrounds. We are part of a private university, but our team comes from a variety of backgrounds and includes people who attended universities and community colleges, as well as people who did not graduate from college.

Salary commensurate with skills and experience within the annual range of $38,440 to 42,000.

The ideal candidate has experience in a customer support role or similar role, possesses excellent communication and problem-solving skills. The ideal candidate also has the ability to multi-task and patience when handling tough cases.

Essential Functions

• Provides the first line of response to requests for various hardware, software, peripheral, and networking technical assistance. Provide remote problem resolution when possible
• Resolves basic end-user problems, escalate as appropriate
• Installs, upgrades, configures, and troubleshoots computing and communication devices and peripherals
• Performs, schedules, and monitors system alerts, work queues, backups, and recovery activities
• Updates daily status reports and shift handover reports if applicable
• Applies security best practices
• Gathers and records asset inventory and software license information
• Performs other duties as assigned

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree
• 6 months related customer service and/or technical support experience
• Good computer, office, telephone and presentation skills
• Ability to work in a team environment
• Ability to communicate effectively in English both verbally and in writing with individuals and groups of diverse backgrounds
• Strong attention to detail and accuracy
• Clear and effective oral and written communication skills
• Strong and effective interpersonal and customer service skills
• Ability to multitask
• Strong computer skills such as Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint)

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, sales, communication, or a related field
• Two or more years of customer service experience, specifically with software and product support

Rice University HR | Benefits: https://knowledgecafe.rice.edu/benefits

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Rice University is an Equal Opportunity Employer with commitment to diversity at all levels, and considers for employment qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, genetic information, disability or protected veteran status.

Current Rice University COVID policies, which include vaccination, face mask, testing, gatherings, occupancy limits, and travel policies can be found here: https://coronavirus.rice.edu/policies