Field Technical Support Engineer Job Description

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• What is a technical field support engineer?
• What are the responsibilities of technical support engineers?
• Field technical support engineer qualifications
• Software for Field Support Engineers
  • Omnichannel support software
• See Gladly in action

What is a technical field support engineer?

Technical support engineers, also called field support engineers, are individuals hired to oversee the software and hardware of a company. They manage a range of tasks, from assisting in resolving technical issues with customers to maintaining the infrastructure of an organization’s systems.

This is an important role because field support engineers are responsible for maintaining the entire infrastructure of your company’s systems and software, and they’re often the first line of defense when a system issue occurs. Field support engineers also play a vital role in building knowledge bases for other customer service professionals to build off of.

This post is ideal for:

• HR professionals who need to write a technical support engineer job description
• Managers who are hiring or promoting technical support engineers
• Department heads who are looking to better understand the role and responsibilities of support engineers
• Individuals who are exploring careers or roles in field technical support

What are the responsibilities of technical support engineers?

• Engineers must maintain, update, and oversee every aspect of computer networks
• Assist customers in their inquiries and provide troubleshooting support when needed
• Provide training and assistance to IT technicians and help desk technicians
• Design computer systems to meet the particular needs of the organization
• Act as the first point of contact for clients concerning their computer systems and hardware issues
• Ensure proper logging and documentation of all issues
• Monitor daily performance of systems
• Turn in detailed reports for technical assistance requests, including the procedure utilized to resolve the issue, dates and times, and the individuals involved in the case
• Engineers will be expected to install and configure computer applications

For HR Professionals or Managers:

When defining the technical support engineer tasks for your job description, don’t be afraid to be as transparent or demanding in your needs for the role. By creating a thorough list of tasks that accurately reflect the demands of the position, you’re ensuring that only the most qualified candidates apply.

Field technical support engineer qualifications

Because this role is technically-focused, it’s important to compare or consider the expected tasks of the role against the qualifications you have as a candidate, or are looking for as a hiring professional.

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For HR Professionals or Managers:

The best way to attract high-quality candidates (and save time eliminating candidates who lack the skills or experience for the job) is to provide a thorough and clear qualifications list. Below is a list of the standard qualifications employers typically look for in this role.

Technical support engineer skills and qualifications:

• 3+ years of experience in customer service positions involving technical support
• BA in software engineering or related field, though Masters degree is often preferred
• Excellent communication and soft skills
• Extensive experience working with Windows and Mac OS
• Excellent, speaking, writing, and interpersonal skills when working with customers
• Ability to work with others through help desk software, including remotely to other desktop programs
• Engineers should be extremely organized
• Demonstrate strong problem solving abilities and critical thinking
• Relevant technical certifications, such as:
  • Cisco certifications (CCNA, CCNP, and CCIE)
  • Certified Telecommunications Network Specialist (CTNS)
  • Certified Telecommunications Analyst (CTA)
  • Certified IP Telecom Network Specialist (CIPTS)
  • Certified Wireless Analyst (CWA)

Software for Field Support Engineers

When your field technical support engineers need to work with a customer one-on-one, they need flexible tools that provide access to comprehensive customer data. They’ll need to meet customers on their preferred communication channel and to provide optimal support for the customer’s issue on that channel.

Solution: Omnichannel support software

The right customer service platform will allow your technicians to move seamlessly between communication channels, and to understand each unique customer via a profile. With this setup, the engineer can understand who the customers are in the first five seconds of a conversation–before even saying hello. Gladly delivers these engineer-friendly features and capabilities out-of-the-box:

• Customer Profiles
• Conversation Timeline
• Robust integrations library
• Insights reporting

See Gladly in action

Schedule a free, no-obligation demo to learn more about how Gladly enables field support engineers, customer service agents and support teams to work smarter, not harder, or take a self-guided product tour on your own time.

About Gladly

Gladly is a customer service platform for digitally-focused B2C companies who want to maximize the lifetime value of their customers. Unlike the legacy approach to customer service software, which is designed around a ticket or case to enable workflows, Gladly enables radically personal customer service centered around people to sustain customer loyalty and drive more revenue.

The world’s most innovative consumer companies like Godiva, JOANN, and TUMI use Gladly to create lasting customer relationships, not one-off experiences.

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