IT Support Team Lead

About the Company

We are a renewable energy and ocean technology company committed to rapidly developing and deploying technologies that will ensure a sustainable future for Earth by unlocking the vast energy potential of its oceans. Our focus is on capturing civilizational levels of ultra-low-cost renewable energy for applications including computing and affordable renewable fuels delivered to shore.

The company is a public benefit corporation headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and backed by leading venture capitalists, philanthropic investors, university endowments, and private investment offices. We operate as an idea meritocracy in which the best ideas change the company’s direction on a regular basis.

About the Job

We’re looking for a manager for our IT support function at Panthalassa. This is a player-coach role: you’ll directly manage our IT Support Specialist, support hiring our future IT Support team, improve the systems and processes that keep our help desk running smoothly, and stay technically hands-on yourself. You’re not a manager who delegates and steps back — you’re someone who can run a ticket queue in the morning and redesign the onboarding workflow in the afternoon.

You’ll set the standard for how IT support feels at Panthalassa — building the processes, documentation, and culture that scale with us as we grow. You’ll support the full employee IT lifecycle from day-one through offboarding, define and hold the team to SLA targets, and serve as an escalation path for complex issues. You’ll also collaborate closely with our IT Engineer on larger infrastructure and compliance initiatives.

This is a full-time, on-site role in our Portland office. You should be comfortable doing hands-on work — setting up workstations, resolving tricky support issues, or helping run a cable — while also holding the team accountable to process and quality.

Candidates should have strong interpersonal skills and be able to thrive in a creative, scrappy, and collaborative environment in which the best ideas change the company’s direction on a regular basis. Our team members have worked at organizations such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, Boeing, Virgin Orbit, Virgin Galactic, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, New Relic, Bridgewater, Raytheon, Disney Imagineering, and the naval architecture faculty of the University of Michigan. The company is structured as a public benefit corporation and backed by leading venture capital firms.

What You'll Do

Team Leadership & Mentorship

• Directly manage and develop our IT Support Specialist, providing regular 1:1s, coaching, and clear performance expectations
• Model strong technical and customer service standards, setting the bar for how the team shows up for employees
• Identify growth opportunities and skill gaps, and create structured paths for the team’s development
• Collaborate with our IT Engineers on escalations
• As the team grows, participate in hiring and onboarding future IT support staff

Ticket Queue Management & SLA Ownership

• Own the day-to-day health of the IT support queue in Jira Service Management — triage, prioritization, and resolution quality
• Define and maintain SLA targets across ticket categories; track and report on performance, trends, and recurring issues
• Establish escalation paths, on-call coverage, and workload distribution across the support team
• Identify patterns in ticket volume and use them to drive proactive improvements — documentation, self-service, or infrastructure fixes that reduce repeat requests
• Ensure intake channels (Slack, Jira, walk-ups) are well-managed and response times are consistent

Hands-On Technical Support

• Serve as the escalation point for complex or unresolved support issues across laptops (Windows, macOS, Linux), mobile devices, A/V systems, printers, and peripherals
• Troubleshoot identity and access issues across Microsoft Entra ID, Google Workspace, Slack, Atlassian, and other SaaS tools
• Contribute directly to ticket resolution, working alongside our support specialists to manage the queue
• Maintain familiarity with our MDM environment (Intune, JumpCloud) to support device troubleshooting and policy questions

Process, Documentation & Tooling

• Build and maintain a high-quality internal knowledge base in Confluence — clear, current, and actually used by the team
• Define and enforce ticketing hygiene standards: categorization, time logging, resolution notes, and closure quality
• Evaluate and recommend improvements to IT support tooling and workflows as our needs evolve

What We're Looking For

• Experience in IT support with expertise as a lead or people manager
• Ability to build and run help desk operations: SLA management, queue ownership, and process design
• Strong technical chops across Windows and macOS endpoints, identity platforms (Entra ID, Google Workspace), and common SaaS tools
• Excellent written communication skills, especially with knowledgebase documentation
• A natural collaborator who earns credibility by being technically capable and genuinely helpful
• Effectiveness in a startup environment where processes are still being built and priorities shift
• Excited about renewable energy and the opportunity to build IT from the ground up at a mission-driven company

Bonus Points

• Experience with Jira Service Management as a queue and SLA management platform
• Familiarity with Microsoft Intune or other MDM platforms (JumpCloud, Jamf, Kandji)
• Exposure to compliance frameworks (SOC 2, ISO 27001, or similar) and how they touch IT operations
• Scripting or automation experience (PowerShell, Python, or Bash) — you don’t have to be an engineer, but you appreciate automation
• Experience hiring and growing an IT support team

The above qualifications are desired, not required. We encourage you to apply if you are a strong candidate with only some of the desired skills and experience listed.

Why Join Us?

At Panthalassa, you’ll be part of a team that values curiosity, collaboration, and impact. In this role, you’ll get the chance to build systems from the ground up, learn from experienced IT and infrastructure teammates, and grow alongside a company that’s scaling rapidly in the renewable energy space.

Compensation and Benefits

If hired for this full-time role, you will receive:

• Cash compensation of $95,000 - $145,000
• Equity in the company. We’re all owners and if we’re successful, this equity should be far and away the most valuable component of your compensation.
• A benefits package that helps you take care of yourself and your family, including:
  • Flexible paid time off
  • Health insurance (the company pays 100% of gold level PPO plan for full time employees, their partners, and dependents)
  • Dental insurance (the company pays 100% for full time employees and 100% for their partners and dependents)
  • Vision insurance (the company pays 100% for full time employees, their partners, and dependents)
  • Disability insurance (the company pays 100% for a policy to provide long term financial support if you become disabled)
  • Ability to contribute to tax-advantaged accounts, including 401(k), health FSA, and dependent care FSA
• Relocation assistance to facilitate your move to Portland (if needed).

Location

This is an on-site position. Our offices, lab, and shop are located in Portland, Oregon.