Role: Senior Manager, Technical Services
Department: Tech Services
Reports To: VP of Finance
Compensation Range: $130,000 - $165,000 annual salary
About Us
Headquartered in Berkeley, CA, Bellwether Coffee is working to positively transform the coffee industry by making coffee roasting more accessible and sustainable.
Our revolutionary electric, ventless commercial coffee roaster does not require gas lines or expensive ventilation. It’s the most consistent and controllable roaster available, has the lowest carbon footprint of any commercial roaster ever made, and was designed by coffee people who want a better future. Our roasting platform allows Bellwether customers to easily and responsibly source green coffee from incredible coffee farms around the world, expertly roast using artisan-crafted roast profiles, and share fresh, delicious coffee!
About this Role
The Senior Manager, Technical Services leads the Technical Services team and is responsible for how it operates: the diagnostic process, the documentation standard, the partner network, the information flow back to Engineering, Operations and Finance. The right candidate is a problem solver by nature, data-driven in how they make decisions, and business-minded in how they weigh cost against customer outcome. They are as comfortable writing a procedure as working a ticket.
Job Location
The role requires on-site presence at Bellwether’s Berkeley HQ.
Primary Responsibilities
Team Leadership and Service Operations
- Lead the Technical Services team across remote diagnosis and on-site coordination. Support owns the customer relationship; Technical Services owns diagnosis, the fix decision, and execution.
- Define the operating standard for the team: what a complete handover looks like, what is documented on every case, and when work is complete.
- Set service targets (acknowledgement, time to diagnosis, first-time fix, remote resolution rate), run the operating cadence against them, and report performance to leadership.
- Develop the team through coaching, clear expectations and cross-training.
- Partner with the Customer Experience leader on escalations for machine-down customers and high-visibility accounts, owning the technical resolution.
Process and Documentation
- Own the diagnostic framework: a structured, consistent troubleshooting method the whole team follows.
- Define the catalog of service types, each with work instructions, parts and labor expectations.
- Ensure Technical Service Bulletins issued by Engineering are checked and completed on every repair and maintenance visit.
- Ensure on-site work is authorized after remote troubleshooting is complete and warranty status is confirmed.
- Keep Technical Services documentation current, versioned and usable by internal teams and partners.
Engineering Feedback Loop
- Maintain a structured, continuous information loop to Engineering covering symptoms observed, troubleshooting performed, and resolution achieved, for every case.
- Deliver quantified failure feedback to Engineering ranked by frequency, cost and customer impact.
- Partner with Engineering on remote diagnostics, telemetry use, and the evolution of the troubleshooting framework as the product changes.
Cost and Warranty
- Manage Technical Services spend against the approved budget, including third-party labor, parts, freight and warranty cost.
- Make or approve the warranty-versus-billable determination on every parts order and dispatch, and ensure it is recorded accurately.
- Manage cost per service event and warranty cost per unit while protecting customer outcomes.
- Manage service partner rate cards, scopes of work and performance terms.
- Partner with Finance on warranty accuracy, service profitability, and the business case for billable maintenance and paid service offerings.
Field Service and Partner Network
- Manage dispatch of Bellwether technicians and third-party partners across the service territory, with complete briefs so partners arrive prepared.
- Recruit, onboard, certify and manage service partners to Bellwether standards. Maintain partner scorecards for quality, speed, cost and customer satisfaction.
- Coordinate with Supply Chain on parts availability and stock levels.
- Coordinate coverage for outlying markets and UK/EU customers served through established partners.
Systems and Data
- Drive configuration, adoption and data discipline in the service tools (ticketing, dispatch, knowledge base), in partnership with Finance and Operations, who own the ERP and system architecture.
- Ensure complete, structured data on every case so that failures, partner performance and cost can be measured.
- Build and use reporting on case load, cycle time, parts flow, partner performance and cost per case.
- Apply AI tooling where it improves speed or quality of service.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in mechanical, electrical or mechatronics engineering, or equivalent technical education and hands-on experience.
- 7+ years in technical service or field service for commercial equipment (foodservice, appliances, HVAC, industrial, medical devices or similar), including several years leading a team.
- Experience building or scaling a service function, including process design.
- A natural problem solver: diagnoses root causes rather than symptoms, whether in a machine, a process or a partner relationship.
- Data-driven: builds the report, questions the number, and changes the process. Proficient in spreadsheets and reporting tools.
- Business-minded: weighs cost, customer outcome and risk together, and can make and defend a commercial call.
- Hands-on technical depth: able to diagnose electromechanical and thermal faults remotely and evaluate a technician's work.
- Direct experience managing outsourced service providers and field technicians, including commercial terms and performance.
- Working fluency with connected products: telemetry, remote diagnostics, firmware updates and connectivity troubleshooting.
- Proficiency with a ticketing or service platform and an ERP; HubSpot and NetSuite preferred
- Authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship.
Skills Required
- Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, electrical, or mechatronics engineering, or equivalent technical education and hands-on experience
- 7+ years of technical service or field service experience for commercial equipment
- Several years of team leadership experience
- Experience building or scaling a service function, including process design
- Root-cause troubleshooting and problem-solving ability
- Data-driven reporting and process-improvement skills
- Ability to weigh cost, customer outcome, and risk in commercial decisions
- Hands-on ability to diagnose electromechanical and thermal faults remotely and evaluate technician work
- Experience managing outsourced service providers and field technicians, including commercial terms and performance
- Experience with telemetry, remote diagnostics, firmware updates, and connectivity troubleshooting
- Proficiency with a ticketing or service platform and an ERP
- Authorization to work in the United States without sponsorship
- HubSpot and NetSuite experience
What We Do
Bellwether is a venture-backed, high-growth tech company working hard—alongside other game-changers—to positively transform the coffee industry. We’re a diverse team of coffee industry veterans, entrepreneurs, engineers, technicians, human-centered designers, and people-focused rule-breakers who have a passion for making the “impossible” a reality.
