Principal Support Engineer
Description
It's fun to work in a company where people truly BELIEVE in what they're doing!
Job Description:
Principal Support Engineer
Escalations & Customer Experience Engineering
Role Overview
The Principal Support Engineer is a senior, hands-on technical expert responsible for driving rapid resolution of complex customer issues. This role blends deep technical troubleshooting, advanced log and API analysis, Datadog monitoring expertise , and leadership of high‑severity escalations. The engineer will collaborate tightly with Engineering, Product, and external vendors to eliminate root causes, improve MTTR, and elevate the overall customer experience.
This is a high‑visibility individual contributor role requiring strong ownership, urgency, and the ability to translate complex technical problems into clear, actionable paths forward for both customers and internal stakeholders.
Key Responsibilities
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Perform hands‑on technical troubleshooting using Datadog (logs, traces, dashboards), API tools (Postman/ cURL ), and distributed log tracing.
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Lead high-severity and strategic customer escalations, providing authoritative technical direction and t imely communication.
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Drive vendor ticket escalations, ensuring SLA adherence and proactive follow‑ups with Microsoft, Adobe, AWS, Cisco, and others.
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Collaborate with Engineering to deliver root-cause fixes, submit detailed technical findings, and validate permanent resolutions.
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Partner with Product to identify platform gaps, recurring customer pain points, and areas for workflow or UX improvement.
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Analyze MTTR performance, SLA trends, and operational bottlenecks; publish weekly metrics and insights.
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Develop SOPs, escalation workflows, and troubleshooting guides that improve global support operations.
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Identify automation opportunities and collaborate with internal teams to enhance Zendesk workflows and self-service deflection.
Required Skills & Qualifications
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10+ years in Technical Support Engineering, Escalations, SRE, or related roles.
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Expertise with Datadog (log search, traces, monitors, dashboards).
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Strong REST API troubleshooting using Postman, cURL , authentication flows, and JSON payload analysis.
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Experience diagnosing distributed systems, integrations, and SaaS platform behavior.
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Proven ability to interface with strategic enterprise customers and communicate complex technical issues clearly.
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Hands‑on experience with vendor escalation processes and SLA governance.
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Strong working knowledge of MTTR, incident management, and technical support KPIs.
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Familiarity with Zendesk or similar ticketing platforms.
Performance Expectations & KPIs
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Resolve ≥90% of escalated tickets within SLA.
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Engage vendors within 15 minutes of SLA risk detection.
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Drive MTTR improvements of 40–50% for assigned ticket categories.
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Maintain CSAT ≥90% for escalated interactions.
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I dentify and support permanent fixes for at least 2 recurring root-cause issues per quarter.
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Deliver 3–5 workflow, automation, or SOP improvements each quarter.
*This is not a complete listing of the job duties. It’s a representation of the things you will be doing, and you may not perform all of these duties.