Customer Support Associate

Title: Customer Support Associate

Location: Waukegan, Illinois (in office 2-3 days/week)

Reports To: Customer Support Manager

Compensation: $24.00/hour plus benefits

Brilliant is an innovative branded products and corporate gifting company. Built with our clients in mind and a focus on creativity and technology, Brilliant curates, produces, and helps companies distribute memorable branded merchandise and custom products. Whether it's newsworthy press kits, welcome gifts for new employees, merchandise sets to promote a product launch, or giveaways people love - our team of retail trend experts and designers work together to produce impactful products that bring brands to life.

As a full-service partner, we offer product concepting, sourcing, design, custom packaging, merch collections, company stores, touchpoint gifting, warehousing, fulfillment and distribution.

Technology is part of our DNA. Our proprietary systems gives clients instantaneous access to important information and tools, including real-time inventory data, on-demand fulfillment services, and convenient 3rd party system integrations, such as Salesforce, Workday, and Zapier - reducing busy work and creating a seamless experience for gift givers and receivers. 

What You’ll Do:

The Customer Support Associate is responsible for the day-to-day execution of customer order issue resolution within the fulfillment operation. 

Reporting directly to the Customer Support Manager, the Associate is the first point of escalation for the team and acts as a subject matter expert and resource for resolving difficult, time-sensitive, or high-impact customer issues. This role carries significant operational responsibility and is expected to model excellence in execution, communication, and professionalism.

Success in this role means tickets move fast, escalations are handled with ownership, and teammates have a trusted resource to turn to when issues get complex.

Day-to-Day Ticket Oversight

• Monitor the ticket queue throughout the day to ensure all open issues are progressing, prioritized correctly, and on track for SLA compliance
• Partner with peers to Identify tickets that are stalled, mis-categorized, or at risk of breaching SLA and take immediate action to move them forward
• Identify and route non-fulfillment customer issues to the appropriate internal teams (e.g., Finance, Sales, Engineering, Production) ensuring clear handoffs, ownership, and timely follow-through on resolution
• Ensure all tickets are documented accurately and completely, including root cause, resolution steps taken, and any corrective actions noted
• Manage ticket volume during peak periods, redistributing workload across the team as needed to maintain throughput and service quality
• Maintain the team's communication standards, response tone, accuracy, and timeliness, on all customer-facing interactions

Escalation Handling

• Own the triage and resolution of all escalated customer issues, including order discrepancies, mis-ships, damages, shortages, and delivery exceptions
• Investigate escalated issues thoroughly, pulling order data, coordinating with warehouse operations, and determining root cause before communicating resolution to the customer or client
• Communicate resolution status to customers and internal stakeholders with clarity, professionalism, and appropriate urgency
• Ensure every escalation is documented
• Route non-fulfillment escalations (e.g., billing disputes, sales issues, engineering or production-related matters) to the correct internal team with a clear handoff and ownership transfer
• Flag high-risk or recurring escalation patterns to the Customer Support Manager with supporting data and recommended corrective actions

Team Support & Collaboration

• Act as a working resource and knowledge partner for the customer support team — answering process questions, clarifying SOPs, and modeling best practices in real time
• Support the onboarding of new team members 
• Partner with the Customer Support Manager to identify recurring issues or process gaps observed in daily operations
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of standard operating procedures, communication templates, and knowledge base documentation
• Provide informal feedback and encouragement to team members to reinforce quality standards and a culture of accountability

Reporting & Visibility

• Track and report on daily ticket volume, queue health, and escalation status, providing the Manager with a clear operational picture at any point in the day
• Identify and surface trends in issue types, resolution times, or recurring root causes to support the Manager's weekly reporting and continuous improvement efforts
• Maintain accurate records of all escalation handling for audit, compliance, and performance reporting purposes

What You’ll Bring

• 3+ years of experience in customer service within a fulfillment, distribution, or logistics environment
• Demonstrated experience handling complex customer escalations and high-priority issue resolution with professionalism and urgency
• Strong working knowledge of fulfillment processes including order management, shipping, and warehouse operations
• Proven ability to manage multiple open issues simultaneously while maintaining accuracy and attention to detail
• Clear, professional written and verbal communication skills, comfortable communicating directly with clients and internal stakeholders
• Experience with ticketing systems, WMS, or ERP platforms preferred
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities and time-sensitive demands

Why Join Us

Brilliant Perks & Benefits: We’re pleased to offer our full-time teammates  Medical, Dental, & Vision benefits in addition to perks like flexible PTO, paid company holidays, and a work from home stipend for new hires!
Impact at scale: Work with top brands and support thousands of personalized gifting experiences annually

Cutting-edge tech stack: By building our technology in-house as well as hosting our own fulfillment center, we blend curated technology and powerful systems to provide curated offerings, fulfillment workflows, and automation 

Hands-on collaboration: Join a team that’s passionate about providing high quality, curated offerings, that enhance brand and employee loyalty, while working cross-functionally across the organization.  

Global footprint: Support clients across 180+ countries and impact the full giftee journey

Growth & innovation: Contribute to developing new platform capabilities and workflow possibilities

EEOC Statement:
Brilliant is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, genetic information, or pregnancy, or any other characteristic protected by law. Our policy of equal employment opportunity applies to all aspects of employment, including recruitment, hiring, promotions, transfers, discipline, terminations, wage and salary administration, benefits, and training. We are committed to fostering a fair and merit-based workplace where every employee feels valued and respected.”