Customer Service Manager in Aurora, Oregon at Van's Aircraft, Inc.

The Customer Service Manager leads Van's Aircraft's customer service and builder technical support functions, and is responsible for delivering an exceptional, consistent customer experience across every touchpoint. This role oversees both the Customer Service Representative team and the Builder Technical Support team, manages the end-to-end order lifecycle within our business systems, drives continuous process improvement, and partners closely with Supply Chain, Warehouse, Engineering, Sales, and other departments to ensure customer and builder needs are met efficiently and accurately. The Customer Service Manager also serves as the voice of the customer and builder inside the organization, translating feedback into actionable improvements.

Responsibilities
• Champion an exceptional customer and builder experience by setting service standards, modeling the behavior expected of the team, and ensuring every interaction reflects Van's Aircraft's commitment to its builders and owners.
• Lead, coach, and develop the Customer Service Representative team and the Builder Technical Support team, including hiring, onboarding, performance management, and ongoing upskilling.
• Ensure builders receive timely, accurate technical support throughout their build journey, and partner with Engineering to resolve complex technical inquiries and feed recurring questions back into documentation and training.
• Manage daily workflow across both teams, including queue coverage, escalations, and workload balancing.
• Respond personally to elevated or complex customer and builder inquiries when escalation is warranted.
• Oversee order management and system workflows (e.g., Magento, SYSPRO, ShipStation), ensuring orders move accurately and efficiently from entry through fulfillment.
• Identify and lead process improvement initiatives focused on the customer and builder experience — reducing friction, shortening response times, improving first-contact resolution, and eliminating recurring pain points.
• Track, analyze, and report on key service metrics for both teams (response time, resolution time, customer satisfaction, order accuracy, backlog, escalation rates, technical support volume by topic) and use data to drive decisions.
• Partner closely with Supply Chain, Warehouse, Engineering, Sales, Finance, and other departments to resolve customer issues, coordinate on order exceptions, and align on service commitments.
• Gather customer and builder feedback systematically and deliver it to the appropriate departments with clear context and recommendations, ensuring the business learns from and acts on what our customers and builders are telling us.
• Generate detailed reports on customer interactions, builder support trends, and team performance for leadership review.
• Create, track, and iterate on service goals aligned with company objectives.
• Oversee the budget for the customer service and builder technical support functions.
• Document customer and builder interactions and maintain accurate records within our CRM and business systems.
• Maintain customer confidentiality in accordance with company policy.
• Other duties as assigned.
Skills and Qualifications
• 5+ years of demonstrated experience in customer service, with exposure to order management, e-commerce, or manufacturing environments preferred.
• 3+ years of management or team leadership experience, ideally including oversight of both customer service and technical support functions.
• Familiarity with experimental, kit-built, or general aviation aircraft strongly preferred; ability to understand and communicate technical concepts to support a builder audience.
• Proven track record of leading process improvement initiatives that measurably improved the customer or builder experience.
• Strong working knowledge of CRM platforms and ERP/order management systems; experience with SYSPRO, Magento, or ShipStation a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to partner cross-functionally with Engineering, Supply Chain, Warehouse, and other operational teams.
• Comfort working with metrics and data to identify trends, diagnose issues, and communicate performance.
• Clear, professional verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong problem-solving, negotiation, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Ability to meet and exceed customer needs while balancing business priorities.
• Ability to maintain customer confidentiality.
• Collaborative mindset with the ability to give and receive constructive feedback across departments.

Equal Employment Opportunity Van's Aircraft is an Equal Opportunity Employer that is committed to ensuring equal employment opportunities for all job applicants and employees. Employment decisions are based upon job related reasons regardless of race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability, gender identity, genetic information, veteran status, or any other status protected by law.