Operations + Customer Service Associate

BreakShuttle has successfully provided safe and reliable academic break transportation at colleges and universities throughout New England, the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, the South, and Texas.  In 2017, BreakShuttle became a part of Wells + Associates, a transportation consulting firm that has been involved in planning and improving transportation systems in college communities for more than two decades. 

Many college students have limited options to travel home and back to school during academic breaks. Families with students who don’t live near campus know the frustration of last-minute rides with friends, bus and train stations and airports that are too far away, and long, tiring drives (many times provided by busy parents) to get home and back to campus.  

BreakShuttle brings a trusted shared mobility solution to college campuses by providing direct, reliable, safe, and affordable transportation during academic breaks. With BreakShuttle, universities make their campuses more accessible and help families reduce the financial and logistical stress of having a child in college.  

• We contract with transportation companies across the United States.
• We work with schools to develop unique routes that match the needs of their students.
• We sell tickets through our website.
• We communicate with customers and potential customers through email, social media platforms, and by telephone.

The Operations + Customer Service Associate will be responsible for assisting customers with issues and maintaining a high customer satisfaction level (our customers are a mix of both students and parents). This involves answering calls and emails from our customer base and addressing issues and concerns with their travel experience and our company. The Operations + Customer Service Associate will also be involved with the planning, contracting, and support of the transportation services we provide. This includes:

• Planning routes and stop locations
• Communicating with contracted transportation companies and university administrators
• Using our ecommerce platform (Shopify) to update trips for sale, monitor capacity and create reports
• Maintaining and utilizing our connected applications (Shopify, MailChimp, and Zendesk) to communicate with passengers before and during travel times
• Communicating with the W+A accounting team to make sure invoices are paid on time
• Communicating with the W+A/BreakShuttle marketing team as necessary

A start up mentality

BreakShuttle is a startup company within an established consulting firm that is in its 26th year of serving clients nationwide. You need to show up to work with a get-stuff-done attitude and an understanding that no work that needs to be done is above or below you. While our company culture is friendly, we are hyper focused on growing the BreakShuttle business and building the operations and customer service infrastructure necessary to sustain it.

A drive for success and growth

BreakShuttle is in a period of rapid growth and success in this position will be fundamental to the short, mid, and long-term goals of the company. While there are established responsibilities of the job starting on day 1 and plenty of executive support, the possibilities for professional growth are real. We are looking for someone to “own” it and “run” with it.

Strong values and work ethic

BreakShuttle provides an important service to students and families and has a strong social media presence. It is critical that we maintain absolute integrity in our business dealings and focus on the safety of our customers. You will have the full support of an employee-owned, award-winning transportation firm and you will be a valuable member of that team.

Be comfortable and professional speaking with people

During your day, you will interact with colleagues, executives, college administrators, concerned parents, confused students, and vendors. It is important to communicate in a professional manner and to be empathetic, firm and effective at bringing resolution as needed. Even though BreakShuttle is in “startup mode,” our firm takes seriously our approach to always treat our customers with decorum and professionalism, based on the positive reputation our consulting firm has earned over the decades.

Attention to detail and organization

There are many moving pieces and rapidly changing details that are critical to delivering our service. The operations & customer service associate must be able to stay calm and focused, maintain accuracy in complex environments, document their work, and build systems that enable additional resources to support them.

What success looks like:

After 3 months:

• You will have a solid understanding of the technical and operational systems that enable us to deliver our service.
• You will help to plan the fall 2018 schedule and support marketing efforts
• You will get the tickets for the fall schedule for sale on our website

After 6 months:

• You will be responsible for the operations and customer service processes and service delivery
• You will have actionable ideas about how we can use technology and other resources to expand and support our business
• You will have been a key part of the team that will have run over 80 trips from more than 20 universities during Fall and Thanksgiving breaks

After 12 months:

• You will have a solid understanding of all aspects of the business and how operations and customer service impact our KPI’s
• You will feel comfortable and motivated to train and lead a team of people to run operations and customer service
• You will share in a vision of how to grow and build BreakShuttle and demonstrate the confidence and ingenuity to make that happen