Job Opportunity

COUNTER Technical Support Specialist and Helpdesk

About the role

This role is focused on supporting Release 5 of the COUNTER Code of Practice. It’s a diverse role and is a great opportunity to get wide-ranging experience of usage metrics and SUSHI.  You’ll be working closely with and supporting our volunteer TAG and COUNTER community across the world. You’ll be helping the COUNTER community by resolving their queries and you will make sure that our support materials meet their needs.

This is an important new role, supporting the experts in the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) develop and maintain the Release 5 Code of Practice. We aim to provide the COUNTER community of publishers, vendors, libraries and consortia with timely advice, which will help them implement and use the new usage reports in the most efficient and effective way.

Key responsibilities

• Provide support for queries from the COUNTER community about the Code of Practice Release 5 and the COUNTER_SUSHI API specification.
• Triage queries when advice from the TAG is required and provide the group with proposed resolutions.
• Log and keep records of incoming queries, responses and response times.
• Analysing query logs so you can spot common trends and underlying issues and inform the TAG to inform future development.
• Work closely with and support the TAG with its projects in the development of tools, the updating of the Code of Practice and the COUNTER_SUSHI API specification and the development of sample usage reports, carrying out support tasks as required.
• Attend monthly meetings of the TAG.
• Update self-help documents and FAQs, so that community members can help themselves.
• Work closely with the content providers to proactively communicate with then about technical issues.
• Support the Project Director in the development of educational resources for the COUNTER community.

About you

We’re looking for a smart, practical person who can wear many hats, has a collaborative style, and determination to help. You’ll be a quick learner and ideally have an understanding of COUNTER usage reports and SUSHI. You’ll have a blend of analytical skills and customer service skills. You’ll be able to build relationships with our members and serve their diverse needs – from the very technical to the straightforward. You are:

• Ideally familiar with COUNTER usage reports and the COUNTER_SUSHI API specification.
• Able to balance a diverse role providing a wide range of support.
• Experience helping customers and solving problems in collaborative and calm manner.
• Able to communicate technical issues to a non-technical audience and use open questions to find the underlying issue when queries are not clear.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate clearly.
• A global perspective – we have member organizations from across the world.
• Extremely organized and attentive to detail.
• Experience REST/JSON is desirable.

About COUNTER

We provide the standard that enables the knowledge community to count the use of electronic resources. Release 5 of our Code of Practice became effective in January this year, ensuring that vendors and publishers can provide their library customers with consistent, credible and comparable usage data.

We are a membership organisation with global membership.

Employment Type

Part-time, fixed-term contract for c.6 months. Hours will be between 16-24 per week and remuneration £12-15k, depending on skills, experience and number of hours. (The remuneration equivalent can be paid in local currency.

Location

It is anticipated that the Technical Support Specialist will work from home (providing their own laptop, hardware and software). They can be based anywhere in the world but must be available for TAG meetings which usually take place at 3pm UK time, and catch up call with the Project Director based in the UK and other ad hoc calls from time to time.

To apply

If you’d like to join the COUNTER team and support our TAG, please send a cover letter and your CV to lorraine.estelle@counterusage.org . Deadline: 19 July 2019. We look forward to finding out about you!

No agencies please.