Audience Support Associate, App Retention

OVERVIEW

A thriving, mission-driven multimedia organization, NPR produces award-winning news, information, and music programming in partnership with hundreds of independent public radio stations across the nation. The NPR audience values information, creativity, curiosity, and social responsibility – and our employees do too. We are innovators and leaders in diverse fields, from journalism and digital media to IT and development. Every day, our employees and member stations touch the lives of millions worldwide. 

Across our organization, we’re building a workplace where collaboration is essential, diverse voices are heard, and inclusion is the key to our success. We are committed to doing the right thing in our journalism and in every role at NPR. This means that integrity, adherence to our ethical standards, and compliance with legal obligations are fundamental responsibilities for every employee at NPR.

Intro to Position

The Audience Support Associate, App Retention will help shape an audience-centric culture that will drive improvements to NPR digital platforms by being a tireless advocate for our users.  

In this role, you will be the voice of the NPR App user, working to earn and maintain the trust of our audience with every single interaction.This person will work across divisions to ensure our NPR owned-and-operated platforms continue to evolve to meet and exceed user expectations. 

You will advocate fiercely for the audience by turning user feedback and app reviews into actionable insights for our product, design and engineering teams. And you will build trust with our audience by being responsive to their concerns and helping to overcome challenges they may have. 

Responsibilities

• Work end-to-end resolution of user issues, treating every technical glitch or user experience problem as an opportunity to deepen audience loyalty.
• Proactively identify trends in app performance and user sentiment, moving swiftly to improve the digital product experience.
• Identify communications that are sensitive and timely in nature and create strategies to respond  or escalate to other stakeholders as appropriate. 
• Maintain a high standard of service, ensuring that bugs are not just patched, but structurally addressed so they stay fixed.
• Review documentation and help maintain an extensive database of audience help articles & response templates, ensuring they are up to date and easily discoverable, to reduce dependencies on institutional memory. 
• Triage, test and verify user-reported issues, partnering closely with product managers and engineering staff to diagnose and resolve problems. Manages sensitive audience interactions with deep care and thoughtfulness. Collaborates closely with the stakeholders to create response language that is accurate, concise, actionable, and clear for a largely non-technical audience.
• Partner closely with audience support staff across divisions to identify trends and coordinate responses when necessary.
• Regularly represent the audience in conversations with a range of stakeholders including executives, product managers, engineers, and designers.

The above duties and responsibilities are not an exhaustive list of required responsibilities, duties and skills. Other duties may be assigned, and this job description can be modified at any time.

Minimum Qualifications 

• 3-5 years of experience in customer service or audience relations 
• Experience with software development process 
• Interest and enthusiasm for technology
• Passion for your customers with a strong drive to represent them

Preferred Qualifications

• Stay current with new major technological developments, such as new operating systems and surfaces.
• Interest in mobile and audience-revenue technologies.

Required Skills/Competencies

• Audience-Obsessed Mindset: A proven track record of going above and beyond to satisfy users, with an ability to turn frustrated users into lifelong brand advocates.
• Data-Driven Empathy: The ability to look at support metrics and patterns (ticket volumes) without losing sight of the human anecdote behind the screen.
• Bias for Action: A self-starter who doesn't wait for a process to be built; someone who spots a flaw in the user journey and coordinates across divisions to fix it immediately.
• Implementation proficiency: Ability to translate user frustrations into clear and detailed tickets.
• Excellent communication skills: Demonstrated success in creating clear, easy-to-follow documentation to reduce user frustration.
• Ability to Multi-task: Manage a high volume of audience correspondence to resolution. 
• Technical aptitude: Ability to understand and discuss technical issues with experts and non-technical staff and translate to audience members

Education Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience

Work Location & Requirements

• NPR Remote-Permitted: This is a remote-permitted role. This role is based out of our Washington, D.C. office, but the employee may choose to work on a remote basis from a location that NPR approves. You will have the option of working (a) remotely from a location of your choosing within the United States that is supported by NPR; (b) on-site at an NPR facility, based on the availability of desks and approval from NPR; or (c) a combination of both. Regardless of where you choose to work from, you may be expected to travel to other locations from time to time to perform the duties of your position.

Job Type

• This is a full-time, exempt position.

Compensation

Salary Range: The U.S.-based anticipated salary range for this opportunity is $71,000-$80,000  plus benefits. The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum salaries NPR expects to provide for new hires for the position across all US locations.

NPR Benefits: NPR provides comprehensive benefits for employees and dependents. Regular, full-time employees scheduled to work 30 hours or more per week are eligible to enroll in NPR’s benefits options. Benefits include access to health and wellness, paid time off, and financial well-being. Plan options include medical, dental, vision, life/ accidental death and dismemberment, long-term disability, short-term disability, and voluntary retirement savings to all eligible NPR employees. 

Does this sound like you? If so, we want to hear from you.

#LI-REMOTE

NPR is an Equal Opportunity Employer. NPR is committed to being an inclusive workplace that welcomes diverse and unique perspectives, all working toward the same goal – to create a more informed public. Qualified applicants receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, national origin, ancestry, age, religion, religious belief, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions, lactation, and reproductive health decisions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, transgender status, gender non-conforming status, intersex status, sexual stereotypes, nationality, citizenship status, personal appearance, marital status, family status, family responsibilities, military status, veteran status, mental and physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, genetic characteristics of yourself or a family member, political views and affiliation, unemployment status, protective order status, status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, or any other basis prohibited under applicable law.

If you are a person with a disability needing assistance with the application process, please reach out to employeerelations@npr.org.

You may read NPR’s privacy policy to learn about how NPR may handle information you submit with any application.

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