The Opportunity
Shorthand is a growing company that provides a digital publishing platform to many of the world’s best-known publishers, brands, not-for-profits, and universities. With customers on every continent (except Antarctica!), there’s never been a more exciting time to join Shorthand. Our company has the rare distinction in this era of money-burning startups of being both investor-backed and comfortably profitable.
We aim to enchant our customers, and one of the ways we do this is through the stellar technical support we provide. It’s part of our magic, and that’s where you can help.
The Role
We tend to do things a little differently at Shorthand. For one thing, we’re a small team distributed around the world. You’ll be working from home or at a co-working location of your choice.
In this role, you will report to the VP of Engineering and be mentored by our Storytelling technical team lead, and work closely with your colleagues in engineering, customer support and customer success.
For this role, we will accept applicants from anywhere in Europe or East-Coast USA, but applicants must be fluent in English.
We are looking for someone who:
- Is a savvy, customer-focused problem solver, with empathy in spades and always willing to go that extra mile.
- Is whip-smart, as demonstrated by career achievements or school/university results.
- Thinks through problems analytically and rigorously.
- Has a technical background in software development or a closely related field.
- Is proficient in CSS, HTML and JavaScript, and has some understanding of NodeJS.
- Has experience in designing, managing and updating websites.
- Has a good working knowledge of different CMSs, web hosting, SEO and analytics.
- Has impeccable communication skills, particularly with respect to writing. (We will be asking you to write your own Shorthand story as part of the recruitment process!)
- Is interested in storytelling, creative writing, web design or a related field.
Core Responsibilities:
- Work closely with colleagues in engineering, customer support and customer success to quickly and efficiently solve customer problems.
- Respond to and resolve technical support enquiries from customers, including those relating to hosting, CMS integration, SEO, bugs in the Shorthand editor and minor design changes.
- Become intimately familiar with the entire Shorthand application stack.
- Become an expert in the use of Shorthand if not already.
- Report bugs in the product as they are found.
- Assist in the long-term resolution of bugs.
- Pitch new product features and improvements based on customer requirements.
- Assist with creating and managing support collateral, including support documents and blog posts, when required.
- Assist with QA and testing when required.
Qualifications:
- A minimum 1-2 years of experience in a customer-facing role (need not be in a software business).
- Qualification in a relevant field, or the ability to demonstrate your passion for web design and tech if you are self-taught. (Role would suit a new Computer Science graduate seeking to gain experience working alongside a high-performance engineering team.)
- Experience of working in a small business or startup environment is desirable but not required.
- Experience collaborating with diverse, geographically dispersed teams preferred.
- Experience working remotely is preferred.
- Enthusiasm for writing, visual communication and storytelling is a must.
Personality Attributes:
- You are a proactive self-starter who does not need to be told what to do and will be resourceful to find solutions to any challenge.
- You are not afraid to get your hands dirty, but you’re also collaborative and consultative when necessary.
- You thrive in a fast-paced and demanding environment, possess a high level of intellectual curiosity, and demonstrate strong judgment in the face of ambiguity.
- You are an agile, goal-oriented personality, driven to succeed and always up for a challenge!
- You are happy when our customers are happy.