The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), an established San Francisco-based nonprofit organization defending online privacy and free expression, is looking for a technology generalist to join our Information Technology team as a Staff Support Engineer.

As a Staff Support Engineer you will be primarily responsible for ensuring our staff suffers as little as possible in their daily interactions with the technology required to do their jobs. You will perform technical support tasks including listening patiently to problems and frustrations, troubleshooting, and communicating relevant trade-offs when offering solutions. You will triage incoming issues and know how to prioritize based on a holistic view of the needs of the organization. You will strive to uphold our organizational ethos of privacy and security in all that you do.

This position will work in conjunction with our Client Platform Engineer to maintain the overall health and security of our fleet of devices including user laptops, mobile devices, printers, and audio/visual equipment. You will work alongside and escalate issues to our System Administrators, Web Engineers, and Security team.

We value candidates who bring diverse experiences and perspectives, professional and otherwise, to our team and to EFF as a whole. If you can add value to EFF’s Information Technology team, please apply.

What You’ll Do
The Staff Support Engineer who reports to the Associate Director of Information Technology, is responsible for:

• Maintaining a user-first approach to technical support. This includes performing timely ticket triage and escalation; creating and maintaining technical and process documentation; and performing onboarding/training/offboarding of users. Above all, you will instill our users with the confidence that comes from the knowledge that they are not alone in the never-ending struggle to ensure technology behaves as expected and is there to work for them, not against them
• Supporting our user ecosystems: Apple devices, Microsoft 365 (including SharePoint for document management), and other online services.

What We’re Looking For
To be successful in this job you’ll need:

• Kindness, patience, empathy, a customer service-oriented attitude with the ability to anticipate the needs of users and the organization
• A broad base of foundational technical skills to help you quickly diagnose issues coupled with a desire to always be learning. You will be sharing what you learn and applying what you know.

Experience or expertise in any of the following areas would also be advantageous:

• MDM systems and configuration profile management
• Microsoft Purview/eDiscovery
• PowerShell & the community PnP module
• Endpoint detection and response schemes

What Else You Should Know
Compensation for this position is $110,000 to $116,700 dependent on experience. This is a hybrid work position; you must be located in the San Francisco Bay area and are expected to work in the San Francisco office at least 2 days of the week. Applicants seeking to work entirely remotely will not be considered for this role

EFF is a great place to work! We offer a supportive and empowering environment, along with an excellent benefits package including housing cost assistance, student loans assistance, medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 403(b) retirement savings program with matching, paid time off, holiday benefits, paid parental leave, a dog-friendly workplace, and more.

EFF is looking to fill this position as soon as possible and will review applications on a rolling basis so please submit your completed application promptly. Please know we value hearing about you, so applications without a cover letter and/or response to the writing prompt will not be considered.


Detailed Job Description

Position Summary

The Staff Support Engineer provides technical support, triages incoming issues, works with users to troubleshoot, and provides sound solutions based on expertise and research. The position reports to the Associate Director of Information Technology, and collaborates with the Client Platform Engineer, System Administrators, Web Engineers, and Security team to solve problems.

Essential Functions

• User Support (60%)
  • Shepherds users through technical onboarding and offboarding and handles their technical support requests in between. This includes but is not limited to desktop support, networking, printing, data management, and online service use.
  • Manages device lifecycle for laptops, mobile devices, printers, and audio/visual equipment
  • Collaborates with Client Platform Engineering staff to ensure devices stay up-to-date and backed up, suggesting improvements based on technical support trends and industry changes
  • Performs timely ticket triage, routing, and escalation based on SLAs. The expected average ticket volume for triage is 10 per day.
• Documentation & Training (30%)
  • Ensures our team processes, procedures, and knowledge base are well-documented and available
  • Attends conferences, webinars, and makes use of other available training opportunities to keep technical skills fresh
• GDPR Requests (10%)
  • Works with other teams to ensure we stay compliant with our GDPR commitments. The expected average GDPR request volume is 1 per week.

Qualities We’re Seeking

• Friendly, patient, empathetic, and customer service-oriented attitude.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, including context-switching and supporting users of all levels of technical skill.
• Ability to anticipate user needs and plan accordingly.
• Understand and exemplify the importance of security and privacy.

Required Education & Experience

• Experience administering Apple ecosystem devices
• Experience managing cloud services (Microsoft, Google, Zoom, 1password, etc.)
• Experience providing general technical support, including device hardware, networking, printing, and troubleshooting web/email issues.

Preferred Education & Experience

• Familiarity with Microsoft 365, Office suite & SharePoint (including PowerShell and the PnP module)
• Familiarity with Microsoft Purview/eDiscovery
• Familiarity with MDM systems
• Familiarity with Endpoint Detection and Response systems
• Familiarity with scripting languages for device/service management

Classification: Full-time, Union, 1 FTE (40 hours/week)
Compensation: $110,000 to $116,700 depending on experience
Expected hours of work: Typically, Monday - Friday
Reports to: Associate Director of Information Technology
Supervisory Responsibilities: None
Travel: EFF hosts two one-week all-staff gatherings in the Bay Area each year in the spring and fall, and all staff are expected to attend.
Location: You must work from the San Francisco Bay Area and are expected to work from the office at least 2 days of the week.

Commitment to Diversity
As an advocacy organization, EFF is committed to being part of a diverse community. Diversity of life experiences makes a big difference in how we identify and litigate legal issues, design privacy-enhancing software, and organize our activism. To that end, we deliberately seek applicants with different perspectives, identities, and experiences to build an inclusive workplace to better inform our advocacy and defense of freedom in our digital world. EFF is an equal opportunity employer and encourages people of all races, genders, ages, abilities, orientations, ethnicities, and national origins to apply. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.