Director of Customer Service

Job Summary:equivant is looking for a Director of Customer Care to lead the Customer Care organization supporting our Court product portfolio, spanning roughly ten current and legacy court case management products. Reporting to the CIO, you will own the strategy, structure, budget, and staffing for a team of roughly 20 across analysts and team leads. You will own the standards, metrics, and escalation model that keep court customers well supported, and you will partner with Product, Development, QA, Operations, and Deployment leadership to turn recurring customer issues into product and process improvements. This is a hands-on, customer-facing leadership role: you will engage with court customers every day and conduct regular onsite check-ins to strengthen relationships and stay close to their needs. You will also lead the adoption of AI and automation to increase ticket-resolution throughput and speed and to streamline how the team operates. You will build and mature the function so it scales with a growing customer base while operating within equivant's security and compliance obligations. Job Description:ResponsibilitiesLead the Customer Care organization supporting equivant Court's product portfolioOwn planning, budget, hiring, and organizational design for the function; build the staffing and coverage model needed to scale with the customer baseDevelop the leadership layer: coach and manage team leads, own performance standards, and create individual development plansOwn the support strategy, including SLAs, KPIs, queue health, and coverage across products and time zonesEstablish and own the escalation framework; serve as the senior escalation point for high-severity or high-visibility customer issuesImplement and manage the team's on-call and after-hours support model, ensuring appropriate coverage for high-severity customer issuesOwn the support tooling strategy (Zendesk and related platforms) and lead the adoption of AI and automation to measurably improve ticket-resolution throughput and speed, reduce manual effort, and streamline the team’s workflowsUse support data to identify trends and systemic issues, and translate them into staffing, process, and product recommendationsPartner with Product, Development, QA, and Deployment leadership to prioritize fixes, coordinate resolution, and feed voice-of-customer into the roadmapEngage directly with court customers daily to build relationships, gather firsthand feedback, and ensure customers feel supported and heardContinuously streamline Customer Care workflows and team structure as AI and automation mature, reinvesting freed capacity into faster resolution and a stronger customer experienceRepresent Customer Care to leadership, reporting on performance, trends, risks, and investment needsPartner with Security and Compliance to ensure the team handles customer data and operates within equivant's security and compliance controls, including support for a SOC 2 programLead the team through change, fostering a culture of accountability, ownership, and continuous improvement QualificationsBachelor's degree in Business Administration, Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent experience8+ years in customer support, technical support, or customer service, including 4+ years in leadership with experience managing managers or team leadsDemonstrated ownership of support operations for enterprise or B2B software, including SLA and KPI definition and accountabilityExperience owning budget, headcount planning, and hiring for a support or service functionStrong people-leadership track record: coaching leaders, performance management, and organizational designExperience with Zendesk or comparable ticketing and support platformsData-driven approach, using support metrics to guide decisions and drive measurable improvementSignificant hands-on exposure to AI and automation in support environments, with experience using them to improve ticket-resolution throughput and speed and to streamline support operations; proven, measurable results are a strong differentiatorExcellent communication and stakeholder-management skills, with executive presence across technical and non-technical audiencesAbility to lead through change and to build or mature a function rather than only run an established oneWillingness to travel for regular onsite customer check-ins (approximately 25–35%) PreferencesBackground in legal tech, court or case management systems, or other complex, regulated business softwareWorking familiarity with web applications and the ability to engage technically with the teamExperience supporting multiple product lines simultaneously, including legacy productsITIL 4 Foundation or equivalent service-management groundingExperience standing up or significantly maturing a support functionFamiliarity with operating a support team within SOC 2 or similar compliance obligationsKnowledge of Document Management Systems and imaging technologiesExperience with workforce management or support-forecasting toolingDemonstrated, quantified results from AI-driven support transformation, for example, measurable gains in resolution time, first-contact resolution, ticket deflection, or cost-to-serve