Support Specialist, Web Services

Please note that at this time this is temporary contractor project, scheduled to end on or about June 30, 2021. There is the possibility, but no guarantee, of the individual in this role transitioning to ongoing status in a full-time position in July 2021.

About NAF

NAF is a national network of education, business, and community leaders who work together to ensure high school students are college, career, and future ready. 

NAF’s educational design ignites students’ passion for learning and gives businesses the opportunity to shape America’s future workforce by transforming the learning environment to include STEM infused industry-specific curricula and work-based learning experiences, including internships.

Since 1980, NAF has been partnering with high-need communities to improve outcomes for students by implementing NAF academies – small learning communities within existing high schools.

NAF has grown from one NAF Academy of Finance in New York City to hundreds of academies across the country focusing on growing industries including: finance, hospitality & tourism, information technology, engineering, and health sciences. During the 2020-2021 school year, over 117,000 students attended 619 NAF academies across 37 states, plus DC, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. In 2020, NAF academies reported 99% of seniors graduated with 87% of graduates planning to go to college.

Summary 

• The Support Specialist will work with the Research and Tech team at NAF.
• This role is for 25 hours/week
• Overnight travel may be required up to 10% of the time (assuming safe future travel conditions)

This person is a wizard for relationship management and loves quality service and enhancing the experience of end-users. This project acts as a voice of our network of over 600 academies to NAF tech developers and helps to coordinate technical communication from the organization to end-users. Their duties include: 

• Technical assistance for academy-level staff. This will include responding to tickets, providing remote support (virtual meetings, phone calls, webinars), and occasional on-site training.  
• Analysis of school-level needs based on a variety of data sources. 
• Support and training of NAF’s portfolio managers to handle first-level tech tickets and identify needed areas of additional support.
• Reporting and tracking help activity for the web services team. 
• Supporting user experience work by tracking data and anecdotes to strengthen products. 
• Working alongside developers and key staff designing tech-driven supports for NAF learning. 
• This role will start out 100% virtual. With NAF's offices in NYC currently closed, candidate must have a suitable home working environment. This contractor may work from the office in the future but some work from home is regularly permitted by company policy.

Responsibilities 

The Support Specialist will be the primary point of contact for academies using NAF web services.  As the first responder, this role focuses on intake, resolving and leveling-up issues as necessary. This person also cultivates and maintains a proactive relationship between academies and product, serving to provide timely information and identify potential problems before they become critical.

Membership Services (60%) 

• Provide exemplary customer service to all network members (replying within 24 hours) 
• Serve as a key element of customer support for NAF’s web-based systems, including responding to tickets and taking inbound calls for technical issues and data requests – from NAF Network Specialists and Portfolio Managers 
• Assist network members in completing necessary data transactions through NAF tools 
• Provide proactive training and webinars to network members on high priority topics and aid in enhancing knowledgebase materials 

Tech Development and Support Services (40%) 

• Track and report help desk issues to relevant stakeholders 
• Assist in developing support tools like knowledge base articles and training media 
• Aid in rollout of new products and services, developing testing scripts, and supporting the product launch and data collection   
• Coordinate supplemental support with third-party vendors  

Qualifications

Educational/Training Requirements: 

• Help desk experience and demonstrated passion for tech support. 

Previous Experience: 

Required:  

• Experience working at a level-one tech help desk or a combination of “help” and online community management 
• A passion for non-profit mission 
• Communication skills (written and verbal) 
• Fire to learn 

 Preferred:  

• Experience with schools or district IT or NAF’s technology systems 
• Presentation skills 
• Knowledge of user experience 
• SQL Knowledge a plus 

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: 

• Electric demeanor and attitude 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills – especially able to describe technical issues to non-technical staff 
• Extreme comfort with tech, data systems, and troubleshooting  
• Demonstrated track record of working well with and supporting team environments – both remotely and in-person 
• Ability to work well unsupervised 
• Comfort managing multiple workstreams