FLSA/DOL: Exempt, Full Time
Reports to: Head of Operations
Location: Onsite in Gig Harbor, WA (No remote or hybrid, no exceptions so please don't try to convince us otherwise!)
Compensation: Salary is $82,000 annually + benefits including medical/dental, open PTO, and 401(k)

About the Role

As the Customer Care Manager, you'll lead our Customer Care team while remaining one of its most active contributors.

This is not a role for someone who wants to manage from the sidelines. We believe the best leaders set the standard through their own actions. That means staying deeply connected to our customers, handling support tickets yourself, taking on the most complex and escalated cases, and demonstrating the level of service, productivity, empathy, and accountability you expect from your team.

On a typical day, you'll spend part of your time coaching, developing team members, improving processes, and collaborating across departments-but you'll also spend a meaningful portion of your day actively serving customers. Under normal operating conditions, you should expect to personally maintain a ticket volume equivalent to at least 50% of a Customer Care Agent's daily production. During peak periods, staffing shortages, holidays, or high-volume events, you should expect to work tickets at the same pace and productivity level as the agents you manage. Our Customer Care Agents average approximately 100 tickets per eight-hour shift, and we believe leaders should be willing and able to meet the same standards when the business requires it.

This role is also expected to provide hands-on leadership and support during Farmgirl's major holiday and peak-volume periods, including Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, when exceptional customer care is most critical to the business.

You'll also serve as the escalation point for the team, taking ownership of our most challenging customer situations and demonstrating what exceptional customer care looks like in practice.

Just as importantly, we're looking for someone who leads with positivity, wisdom, and care. Our ideal candidate assumes positive intent, looks for solutions instead of blame, remains calm under pressure, and helps create a culture where people feel supported, accountable, and motivated to do their best work. We believe great customer experiences start with great leadership, and great leadership starts with how you show up for others every day.

We believe leaders set the tone. The energy, attitude, and behaviors you bring to work each day will have a direct impact on your team and the broader organization. We're looking for someone who helps create an environment where people feel respected, supported, accountable, and motivated to do great work together.

What You'll Do

Lead from the Front: Serve as a working member of the Customer Care team by personally handling customer interactions every week. Maintain productivity standards comparable to those of Customer Care Agents, take ownership of the team's most challenging and escalated cases, and set the example for service quality, responsiveness, professionalism, accountability, and customer care.

Lead and Develop the Team: Manage and develop an in-person team (with remote help during peak times) of Customer Care Agents. Recruit, onboard, train, coach, and mentor team members while fostering a culture of accountability, growth, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Hold team members accountable to productivity, quality, attendance, and customer satisfaction standards while providing the support and coaching necessary to help them succeed.

Coach Through Example: Provide regular coaching, feedback, and development opportunities while demonstrating the behaviors, work ethic, productivity, and customer-first mindset expected from every member of the team. Lead weekly team meetings and communicate company updates clearly and consistently.

Drive Operational Excellence: Develop and implement strategies to improve workflows, operational efficiency, service levels, team productivity, and the overall customer experience. Continuously evaluate emerging technologies, AI tools, automation opportunities, and customer support platforms to identify ways to improve response quality, reduce manual work, increase team effectiveness, and create a better experience for both customers and team members.

Enhance the Customer Experience: Set, maintain, and strive to exceed service level expectations while ensuring every customer interaction reflects our high standards for empathy, responsiveness, professionalism, and customer satisfaction.

Problem Solve in Real Time: Bring an authentic, caring approach to every interaction, genuinely prioritizing our customers and resolving issues thoughtfully. Analyze trends in customer feedback, complaints, refunds, replacements, and service failures to identify root causes and partner with cross-functional teams to proactively improve the customer experience and prevent recurring issues.

Build Cross-Functional Relationships: Partner with teams across the company with a spirit of collaboration, respect, and shared ownership. Approach challenges with a solutions-oriented mindset, assume positive intent, and help foster strong working relationships that enable teams to work effectively together toward common goals. Represent Customer Care professionally and constructively, helping identify solutions rather than assigning blame when challenges arise.

Refine Policies and Procedures: Constantly evaluate and improve CRM systems, workflows, policies, reporting, and operational protocols to meet evolving business needs.

Manage the Metrics: Track and analyze key performance indicators, prepare reports, identify trends, and ensure the team consistently meets or exceeds performance expectations. Use data and reporting to identify opportunities for coaching, improve workflows, drive operational decisions, and enhance the customer experience.

Drive Compliance: Partner closely with stakeholders to ensure legal compliance related to team members in multiple states and remain informed on employment trends and regulations that may impact the team.

What You'll Bring

• 5+ years of experience leading customer service, customer support, or customer experience teams.
• Proven success building, developing, and motivating high-performing teams while creating a positive, accountable, and collaborative culture.
• A genuine passion for customer experience and a willingness to lead by example as a hands-on contributor.
• A track record of handling difficult customer situations with empathy, professionalism, sound judgment, and a solutions-oriented mindset.
• The ability to assume positive intent, approach challenges with curiosity, and navigate difficult conversations with emotional intelligence and professionalism.
• Strong coaching and leadership skills that build accountability, trust, respect, and high performance.
• The ability to build strong collaborative relationships across departments and work effectively through disagreement, change, and operational challenges.
• Curiosity about emerging technologies and AI tools, with the ability to identify and implement practical solutions that improve efficiency, productivity, and the customer experience.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to adapt your style to different audiences.
• Strong organizational, analytical, and project management skills, with experience improving workflows, implementing process improvements, and leading cross-functional initiatives.
• Proficiency with customer support platforms, CRM systems, reporting tools, and customer service technologies.
• A belief that leadership is a service role and that managers should be among the strongest contributors on their teams.

Benefits

Employees (and their families) are eligible for medical, dental, and vision insurance. Basic life insurance and accidental death and dismemberment coverage are also available for employees. Employees can enroll in our Flexible Spending Accounts program and the company's 401(k) plan, which includes a company match. Fringe benefits are available for this role. Lastly, this role is subject to our paid time off/sick policy and will receive ten (10) paid holidays throughout the calendar year.

Ready to Join Us?

Send us your resume and a note about why you'd be a great fit. We can't wait to hear from you!