Customer Support Manager

About CurbWaste

CurbWaste is an early-stage vertical SaaS company backed by venture funding, focused on updating how the waste and recycling sector operates. The company supports practical, hands-on operators with an integrated platform designed to simplify complex business workflows. With $50M raised and more than 150 customers already using the product, the team is working toward becoming the core operating system for the waste industry.

The company culture emphasizes trust, accountability, curiosity, and team learning. The team values resourcefulness, steady growth, and putting customers and the industry first.

Role Overview

The company is hiring an experienced Customer Support Manager to build, lead, and scale a high-performing support team that delivers a premium customer experience. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who has already created support structures, introduced tiered support systems, documented SOPs, and built escalation processes from the ground up.

The ideal candidate can work independently, shape support strategy, and execute without needing close day-to-day oversight. The role requires both leadership and individual ownership, including personally handling critical escalations when needed and coaching team members through difficult customer situations.

What You Will Do

• Lead, coach, and grow a customer support team through regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and career development planning.
• Set team targets and monitor KPIs such as CSAT, first response time, resolution time, and escalation rate.
• Create onboarding and ongoing training programs so new hires reach full productivity within 30 days and continue building product and industry knowledge.
• Support the growth of team members into higher-level roles, with progress shown through certifications and lower escalation volume.
• Build a strong customer-first team culture focused on accountability, ownership, and continuous improvement.
• Design and roll out a tiered support structure with clear responsibilities, ownership, and escalation routes.
• Develop playbooks and SOPs that help Tier 1 resolve more than 80% of incoming issues independently.
• Define rules for ticket routing, escalation, and expected resolution times.
• Improve support workflows to increase speed, consistency, and quality.
• Set a high service standard for every customer interaction, with urgency, clarity, and professionalism.
• Own complex escalations and serve as the last coordination point before issues are escalated to CX leadership, Product, or Engineering.
• Create and enforce an escalation framework covering SLAs, communication expectations, and ownership during business hours and after hours.
• Own the after-hours coverage model, including rotation planning, on-call responsibility, escalation paths, and service consistency outside standard working hours.
• Support customers during critical situations such as post-launch problems, billing issues, and operational disruptions.
• Act as the main support contact for SMB accounts without a dedicated CX manager, ensuring they receive a consistent experience.
• Use ticket reviews and trend analysis to stay close to customer issues while reducing direct ticket handling as the team grows.
• Identify repetitive work and introduce AI and automation to reduce manual ticket volume quarter over quarter.
• Train and tune AI tools such as Intercom to handle Tier 1 deflection, auto-triage, suggested replies, and proactive status updates.
• Evaluate and adopt tools that improve support scale and response speed.
• Build real-time dashboards to track response time, resolution time, escalation rate, and deflection rate.
• Provide visibility into team performance without needing to inspect every ticket personally.
• Track demand trends and adjust staffing, workflows, and processes proactively.
• Run weekly and monthly performance reporting against SLAs and surface corrective actions when targets are missed.
• Review support tickets to identify recurring issues, failure patterns, and systemic gaps.
• Convert ticket trends into actionable feedback for Product and Engineering, with clear business and operational context.
• Drive root-cause fixes with Product and Engineering and track decreases in repeat ticket volume after issues are resolved.
• Maintain a self-service knowledge base that stays current with product changes and frequent support topics.
• Work closely with Implementation, Customer Experience, and Sales to ensure smooth handoffs and lifecycle support.

Requirements

• 5 to 8 years of customer support experience, including 2 to 3+ years leading a support team directly.
• Demonstrated success building or significantly scaling support operations, including tiered models, SOPs, and escalation frameworks.
• Background in B2B SaaS, with vertical SaaS or industry-specific software considered a strong advantage.
• Ability to operate with minimal supervision and make strong prioritization decisions without being guided step by step.
• Clear examples of developing support representatives into higher-level contributors or team leads.
• Willingness to personally manage escalations and after-hours critical incidents, not only delegate them.
• Experience designing and running after-hours coverage, on-call schedules, escalation routes, and off-hours SLAs.
• High expectations for customer service, with a natural fit for white-glove support.
• Strong analytical ability to interpret large ticket volumes, identify root causes, and present findings in business terms.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to calm frustrated customers and coach junior team members.
• Comfort using dashboards and metrics to improve team performance and guide cross-functional decisions.
• Hands-on experience with AI or automation in support, including measurable gains in deflection or efficiency.
• Familiarity with support platforms such as Zendesk, Intercom, Freshdesk, or similar tools.
• Experience in waste management, logistics, field service, or municipal services is preferred but not required.
• Exposure to Aircall or Fathom is a plus.
• Experience creating internal playbooks, SOPs, or help center content at scale is a plus.

Compensation and Benefits

The expected salary range for this position is $115,000 to $125,000 per year, depending on experience.

• Opportunity to join a mission-driven team building technology for a critical industry.
• Competitive compensation, flexible time off, and strong learning and development opportunities.
• Employer-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance, plus 401(k).
• An inclusive workplace that values individuality and diverse perspectives.

Location

This role is based in New York City and requires working in the office three days per week. The position is hybrid, not fully remote.

Mission and Inclusion

CurbWaste is working to improve how waste companies run their businesses. The company was founded by haulers and built for haulers, with a focus on supporting the environment and contributing positively to the future of the waste industry.

The organization encourages applications from people of all backgrounds, including underrepresented groups. Employment decisions are made without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, gender identity or expression, age, disability, pregnancy or related medical conditions, genetic information, protected military or veteran status, sexual orientation, or other legally protected characteristics.