Customer Support Lead

CUSTOMER SUPPORT LEAD At Cardless, we're building a credit card and loyalty platform that consumer businesses use to engage their customers. We've launched over a dozen credit card programs, including for Coinbase, Bilt, and Qatar Airways. We help businesses bring imaginative card programs to life, and have pioneered technology to embed credit card features natively into their products. We value curiosity, humility, and intensity — we move fast and take outsized ownership. This is a place where a motivated, resourceful individual can have an enormous impact on our trajectory. We're headquartered in San Francisco, and have raised about $150M in equity funding from top venture capital firms including Spark Capital, American Express, Activant Capital, and more. THE JOB We're looking for a sharp, strategic support operator to own our most complex escalations and then systematically work to reduce them. This role won't have direct reports, but management skills over our T2 and T1 teams are an important part of the role. You'll handle our most complex cases: disputes with compliance implications, fraud scenarios that require cross-functional coordination, and edge cases that don't fit any existing playbook. But just as importantly, you'll treat every escalation as a signal, something to be documented, analyzed, and resolved at the root so it stops climbing the queue. This role isn't about being the best at resolving hard tickets. It's about being the person who builds the systems, SOPs, and capability so that hard tickets become routine and routine tickets get handled without you. If you're someone who gets restless just closing cases and wants to own the whole improvement loop, this is for you. EXAMPLE PROJECTS Rebuilding a broken escalation path: You notice T2 agents are escalating a specific scenario to T3 that they should be able to resolve themselves. You diagnose where the confusion is, write the SOP, build the macro, and validate that T2 is executing correctly. Escalations on that issue drop. Closing a knowledge gap: You keep seeing the same edge case come through escalations. You document the resolution path, work with the frontline team to make sure they understand it, and update the internal knowledge base so it stops reaching you. Digging into a complaint pattern: CSAT scores dip after a product change. You pull the tickets, identify the common thread, and surface a clear summary to the Product team with enough context for them to act on it. Surfacing a product problem: CSAT dips after a product change. You pull the tickets, identify the pattern, and bring Product a tight summary. Not just "customers are unhappy," but a specific root cause with enough context that they can act on it. BEFORE YOU APPLY A few things worth knowing: We work in the office 5 days a week. We know that's a dealbreaker for some people, and that's okay. Escalated support doesn't follow a neat schedule. Complex cases surface at inconvenient times and sometimes need a fast response. Flexibility matters here. This role requires both execution and strategy. You need to be able to close a hard case and step back and ask why it got to you in the first place, then do something about it. There's real ambiguity. Card programs are complex and every situation is a little different. You won't always have a clear playbook, and you'll need to be comfortable figuring it out. If that sounds like your kind of work, keep reading. WHY THIS ROLE IS COOL The cases are genuinely interesting. Tier 3 support at a fintech isn't answering "where's my card." You're handling disputes, fraud scenarios, and compliance-adjacent situations that require real judgment. You'll develop deep fintech fluency. Credit cards sit at the intersection of product, compliance, fraud, and banking. You'll build expertise across all of it working cross-functionally every day. Your work has a direct feedback loop. When you close a case and document the fix, you can watch it reduce future escalations. The impact of good work here is visible and fast. You'll work on programs people actually care about. Coinbase. Bilt. Qatar Airways. These are programs with engaged, passionate users — which makes getting it right matter. RESPONSIBILITIES - Own Tier 3 escalations — complex cases with financial, legal, or regulatory implications that require cross-functional coordination - Work directly with Engineering, Product, Fraud, and Compliance to resolve issues and identify root causes - Document resolution paths and update the internal knowledge base so cases don't repeat unnecessarily - Identify patterns in escalations and CSAT data and surface them clearly to the relevant teams - Contribute to SOPs and training materials that help frontline and BPO agents handle more on their own - Publish Help Center content that reduces inbound volume on common issues REQUIREMENTS - 4+ years in customer support, with substantial time spent at a lead level. - Demonstrated experience reducing escalation volume: you've identified a pattern, built the fix (SOP, macro, training), and measured the result. - Experience enabling other tiers to handle more, whether through writing documentation or running training that demonstrably expanded what frontline or T2 agents could resolve. - Strong cross-functional instincts: you've worked directly with Engineering, Compliance, or Legal to resolve issues, not just flagged them upward. - Strong written communication. You can document a resolution path clearly enough that someone else can follow it without you in the room. - Analytical enough to pull ticket data, spot a pattern, and present a clear, actionable point of view, not just a summary. - BPO experience: you've managed or closely supported an outsourced team and understand how to build for that environment. - Fintech, payments, or financial services background is a meaningful plus. - San Francisco-based and in-office 5 days a week. COMPENSATION This role has an annual starting salary range of $120,000–$160,000 + equity + benefits. Actual compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skills, experience, and specific work location. BENEFITS We're headquartered in San Francisco, CA We're proud to offer our team excellent benefits: 💸 Meaningful startup equity 🏥 100% health, vision & dental primary coverage ➕ 75% health, vision & dental dependent coverage 🍱 Catered lunches 🚎 $250/month commuter benefit 👶 Parental leave ✈️ Team building events & happy hours 🌴 Flexible PTO with a minimum of 15 days off per year 🖥️ Apple equipment 💸 401k plan LOCATION We're headquartered in San Francisco, CA, with a beautiful office in the Jackson Square neighborhood. This role is in-office 5 days a week.