M365 Operations Lead

The Freelancer will utilize their experience in Microsoft 365 administration support and in managing customer support teams to lead their designated shift team in providing high quality technical support to Microsoft’s clients. 

The operations lead will be responsible for the following, including but not limited to: 

●  Be responsible to support operations and Agents for any shift they lead to meet established SLAs.

●  Meet weekly deadlines for ticket auditing of technical and soft skills application of Agents. This includes making assessments on ticket resolution quality and providing and implementing a solution for improvement within the specified week timeline. 

●  Manage all day-to-day operations, escalations, and general needs of Agents in time zone coverage and regular performance evaluations of Agents.  

●  Provide team leadership and mentorship to Agents per time zone.  

●  Provide insights based on Agent knowledge and previous experience in the area. 

●  Be responsible for screening internal candidates on technical & soft skills as needed for role changes.

●  Assess capabilities of potential candidates coming to pipeline

●  Ensure Agents complete their contract deliverables with respect for customers. For any incident where evidence is found proving with facts or data that an Agent treated a customer with disrespect or unprofessionally, the Operations Leads will analyze the situation and report it to Microsoft Operations Management to terminate access to Microsoft tools or systems for the Agent, pursuant to the terms of the applicable independent contractor agreement or employment agreement.

●  Provide feedback and insights to Microsoft Operations Management to make Agents’, customer support and Microsoft services experience better.

●  Communicate with Upwork regarding talent needs.

• Experience with M365 Administration and technical support
• Experience managing customer support teams
• Experience leading technical support teams
• Strong technical support knowledge, particularly within the M365 environment
• Experience with SLA management and ensuring teams meet established service-level targets
• Experience with ticket auditing and quality assurance
• Experience providing coaching, leadership and mentorship
• Experience handling escalations and day-to-day operational issues
• Experience conducting performance evaluations and providing constructive feedback
• Ability to assess technical and soft skills when screening candidates
• Experience evaluating candidate capabilities for internal role changes or hiring pipelines
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to use date/evidence to assess situations and recommend improvements
• Strong communication skills, particularly when working with Microsoft Operations Management
• Customer-focused mindset, with a strong understanding of professional customer service standards
• Ability to work across different time zones/shifts and manage shift-based operations
• Ability to identify process and performance improvement opportunities
• Experience working with staffing/talent needs or recruitment coordination

Freelancer Hardware and Network Requirements

The Freelancer will provide their own tools at their own expense, including necessary hardware and software, and further agrees that the freelancer’s tools will meet the following device and tool requirements. Accepting this agreement without meeting these requirements will be considered a material breach and possible grounds for terminating the agreement:

Device and Tool Requirements

• A laptop/PC with DUAL boot:

  • Boot 1: Personal and work partition.

  • Boot 2: Environment dedicated to the project.

• Operating System: Windows 11 Pro compatible (latest updates installed and activated with a genuine product key).

• Memory: Minimum of 16GB RAM

• Processor: At least Intel 8th generation (Coffee Lake / Newer) or equivalent in AMD.

• Module: Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 version is required.

• Storage: Minimum of 160GB SSD with 64 GB free space for the partition.

• Network: LAN (local access network) required. Freelancers will not connect to the provided systems and tools using WiFi.

• Internet Speed: Minimum of 50 Mbps upload/download speed.

• Antivirus: No 3rd-party antivirus software installed. Only Microsoft Defender is allowed with the latest update.

• Webcam: Required and must be Microsoft Teams compatible with at least 720p resolution.

• Microphone and Headset: Required and must be USB type 3.0, Microsoft Teams compliant, with background noise cancellation.

• Monitor: Strongly suggest and prefer that freelancers use dual monitors. At least one monitor is required to have at least 1368x720 or higher resolution.