Senior Manager Global Customer Support

About Nearfield Instruments

Nearfield Instruments develops advanced metrology solutions for the semiconductor industry. Our technology helps the world's leading chipmakers measure and control increasingly complex manufacturing processes, enabling the next generation of semiconductor innovation.

Founded in 2016, we have grown from an ambitious start-up into a rapidly expanding global scale-up. As our installed base grows across Europe, North America, and Asia, we continue to strengthen the global organization that supports our customers throughout the entire lifecycle of our systems.

To support this growth, we are looking for a Senior Manager Global Customer Support who will build and scale the global support organization behind our customer success.

What will you be doing?

As Senior Manager Global Customer Support, you will be responsible for building, leading, and continuously improving our global customer support organization.

You will create the structure, processes, and capabilities needed to support a growing installed base while ensuring customers receive world-class technical support throughout the lifecycle of our systems.

This role combines organizational leadership, technical support excellence, new product readiness, customer site enablement, and continuous improvement. You will work closely with Customer Service, Engineering, Product Management, Operations, and Quality to ensure Nearfield is ready to support its next phase of growth.

Your responsibilities

Build and scale Global Customer Support

• Develop and implement a scalable global customer support model.

• Define organizational structures, governance, KPIs, and support processes.

• Build the capabilities needed to support a rapidly expanding installed base.

• Drive operational maturity while maintaining the agility of a growing company.

Lead Global Technical Support

• Build and lead the global technical support function supporting our Field Service teams.

• Act as a senior escalation point for complex customer and technical issues.

• Implement knowledge management, training, support tools, and best practices.

• Increase support effectiveness and first-time-right resolution.

Drive Site Start-Up & Enablement

• Lead the global team responsible for customer site start-up and operational readiness.

• Ensure successful commissioning, qualification, ramp-up, and handover of new systems.

• Develop standardized readiness criteria, training programmes, and handover processes.

• Enable customers to become operational and self-sufficient as quickly as possible.

Own Service Readiness for New Products

• Define service requirements for new product introductions.

• Ensure documentation, tools, diagnostics, training, and spare parts are available before launch.

• Embed serviceability and supportability into product development.

• Coordinate readiness activities across Customer Support, Engineering, Product Management, and Field Service.

Improve Installed Base Performance

• Drive improvements in uptime, reliability, service efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

• Use customer feedback and field data to identify improvement opportunities.

• Lead cross-functional continuous improvement initiatives.

• Translate field learnings into sustainable improvements across products and processes.

What do we expect from you?

You are an experienced service leader who enjoys building organizations, creating structure, and leading change in a fast-growing technology environment.

You know how to balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution and are comfortable operating in an environment where not everything is fully defined yet. You bring people together, build strong teams, and create alignment across multiple functions and regions.

You bring

• Significant leadership experience in customer support, technical support, service operations, or field service within a high-tech capital equipment environment.

• Proven experience building and scaling international service organizations.

• Experience leading customer-facing technical teams.

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering, Physics, Mechatronics, Electronics, or a related technical field, or equivalent experience.

• Strong technical affinity and the ability to engage effectively with Engineering, Product Management, and Customer Service teams on complex technical topics.

• Strong understanding of technical support models, service readiness, system commissioning, qualification, and installed-base support.

• Experience leading geographically distributed teams.

• Strong stakeholder management and cross-functional leadership skills.

• The ability to create clarity and structure in a scale-up environment.

• Excellent communication skills in English.

What do we offer?

At Nearfield Instruments, you will have the opportunity to shape a global organization during an exciting period of growth.

We offer:

• The opportunity to build and shape a global customer support organization during a critical phase of international growth.

• A highly visible leadership role with direct impact on customer success, operational excellence, and company performance.

• The chance to work with some of the most advanced metrology technology in the semiconductor industry.

• A fast-paced scale-up environment where decisions are made quickly and your contributions have a tangible impact.

• Significant ownership and freedom to define strategy, build capabilities, and drive change.

• Close collaboration with senior leaders across Engineering, Product Management, Operations, and Customer Service.

• The opportunity to influence how future products are launched, supported, and adopted by leading semiconductor customers worldwide.

• An international and ambitious team united by a shared passion for innovation and technology.

• Excellent opportunities for personal and professional growth as the company continues to scale globally.

In addition, we offer:

• A competitive salary aligned with your experience and expertise.

• A one-year contract with the intention of permanent employment.

• A strong pension scheme and commuting allowance.

• 30 vacation days based on a full-time contract.

• 8% holiday allowance.

• Flexibility to exchange public holidays for days that are meaningful to you.

• A structured onboarding programme.