Call Center: Escalations Lead at Careers in US-IN-Indianapolis

Job description

• Escalations Lead
• Location: Onsite, Indianapolis, IN
• Reports to: Customer Service Manager (CSM)
• Works Closely With: Market Area President, General Managers, Operations Leaders, Customer Service Supervisors, Dispatch Teams, and Field Leadership
• Compensation: $70,000 Base Salary + $10,000 Annual Performance Bonus (Paid Monthly)
• We're hiring an Escalations Lead to own the end-to-end escalation process across our multi-brand home services call center supporting heating, cooling, plumbing, electrical, and drain services.
• You'll be the single point of accountability for every escalated customer issue, sourced from Medallia, Google reviews, internal reports, leadership requests, and frontline employee escalations. Once an issue moves beyond standard frontline resolution, you become the primary owner responsible for coordinating, communicating, tracking, and driving resolution.
• When you're not actively working escalations, you'll serve as the go-to resource for CSRs, supervisors, and managers who need assistance resolving customer issues in real time.
• This is a dedicated problem-solving seat focused on protecting customer trust, uncovering trends, improving processes, and reducing future escalations through proactive action.
• You're the last line of defense for customer trust and the first call our teams make when they need help solving a difficult problem.
• Done well, this role doesn't just resolve customer issues. It identifies trends, drives accountability, strengthens relationships between departments, improves the customer experience, and helps prevent future escalations from happening in the first place.
• The Escalations Lead serves as both a customer advocate and a business partner, ensuring every concern is addressed, every trend is tracked, and every lesson learned becomes an opportunity to improve.

Responsibilities

• Escalation Ownership
• Monitor and triage all incoming escalations from Medallia, Google reviews, internal reports, leadership requests, and frontline employee referrals.
• Serve as the primary customer-facing point of contact once an issue escalates beyond frontline resolution.
• Personally manage or coordinate resolution for complex, high-risk, and sensitive customer concerns across all trades and brands.
• Classify escalations by severity and ensure appropriate response times based on urgency and business impact.
• Determine when issues require involvement from branch leadership, operations leadership, or executive stakeholders.
• Coordinate with dispatch, field management, customer service teams, and operational leaders to drive resolution while maintaining ownership of the issue from start to finish.
• Ensure customers receive timely updates throughout the resolution process and feel heard, informed, and supported.
• Tracking & Systems
• Log every escalation, including source, trade, location, root cause, resolution, ownership, and time-to-resolve in a centralized tracking system.
• Maintain a clean and accurate system of record that provides complete visibility into escalation activity.
• Build and maintain a searchable knowledge base of past escalations, resolutions, and best practices.
• Identify recurring customer concerns, operational breakdowns, and training opportunities through escalation data.
• Recommend and implement process improvements designed to reduce future escalation volume and improve customer outcomes.
• Establish clear documentation standards to ensure consistency and accountability across all brands.
• Reporting & Business Insights
• Deliver weekly escalation reports to General Managers and customer service leadership.
• Report on escalation volume, aging open cases, resolution status, average resolution time, source trends, detractor recovery, and recurring complaint categories.
• Provide reporting by brand, trade, location, escalation type, and source.
• Identify emerging trends before they become systemic issues.
• Highlight recurring challenges that may require operational, training, staffing, or process improvements.
• Partner with operational leaders to develop action plans addressing recurring customer concerns.
• Present findings in a concise, actionable format that drives decision-making, not just status reporting.
• Internal Support & Coaching
• Serve as the primary escalation resource for CSRs, supervisors, and managers.
• Provide real-time guidance on difficult customer interactions and complaint resolution strategies.
• Assist leadership teams with handling high-risk customer conversations.
• Identify coaching opportunities and partner with training leadership to address performance gaps.
• Share best practices and lessons learned from escalations to improve frontline effectiveness.
• Support ongoing quality and customer experience initiatives across the organization.
• Process Improvement & Customer Experience
• Act as the voice of the customer within the organization by identifying gaps that negatively impact customer satisfaction.
• Partner with operations, field leadership, and customer service teams to eliminate recurring issues.
• Develop recommendations that improve customer experience, operational efficiency, and employee effectiveness.
• Track the effectiveness of corrective actions and ensure improvement initiatives produce measurable outcomes.
• Help establish escalation standards, workflows, and response expectations across all brands.

Requirements

• Average escalation resolution time
• Percentage of escalations resolved without GM or executive involvement
• Customer satisfaction improvement following escalation resolution
• Medallia detractor recovery rate
• Google review recovery rate
• Escalation aging and backlog management
• Escalation volume trends by brand and trade
• Reduction in recurring escalation categories
• Accuracy and timeliness of reporting
• Adoption and effectiveness of process improvement initiatives
• 3+ years of experience in customer service, escalation management, call center operations, or field service environments.
• Home services experience (HVAC, plumbing, electrical, or similar industries) strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success resolving complex customer issues and de-escalating emotionally charged situations.
• Strong conflict resolution and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to operate independently and make sound decisions in ambiguous situations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to interact effectively with customers, frontline employees, managers, and executives.
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple active issues simultaneously.
• Experience building, maintaining, and improving tracking systems, workflows, or operational processes.
• Comfortable analyzing data and translating customer feedback into actionable business recommendations.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, and CRM platforms.
• Experience with Medallia, ServiceTitan, Salesforce, or similar customer experience tools preferred.
• A continuous improvement mindset focused on solving root causes, not just immediate issues.

Skills

Required

• Conflict resolution
• Problem-solving
• Communication
• Organizational skills
• Continuous improvement mindset
• Customer advocacy
• Microsoft Office
• Google Workspace
• CRM platforms
• Medallia (preferred)
• ServiceTitan (preferred)
• Salesforce (preferred)