Customer Support Engineer

Job description

PlanetScale is growing rapidly and reinventing the database space. The PlanetScale platform offers both Postgres and Vitess clusters. Vitess, an open-source database clustering system for horizontal scaling of MySQL, enables businesses to efficiently handle large-scale data workloads — without sacrificing developer experience. Our customers entrust us with what is often their most precious digital asset, their data, so the stakes couldn’t be higher. We’re looking for a Customer Support Engineer to help developers and businesses get the most out of PlanetScale, resolve issues quickly, and build the support function that helps us scale. ### What’s the job to be done? - You will advise and handle support requests from customers and developers on the PlanetScale platform. - You will respond to, debug, and resolve customer support issues through support tickets, customer Slack channels, public discussions, and other support channels. - You will help customers understand how to use PlanetScale effectively, including how to reason about queries, schema changes, application behavior, database connectivity, and production workflows. - You will create and improve internal and external documentation, support playbooks, troubleshooting guides, and customer-facing materials. - You will identify product gaps and recurring sources of customer friction, then work with Engineering to prioritize improvements. - You will contribute to the systems, processes, and practices that help PlanetScale deliver excellent developer-focused support at scale. ### These attributes best describe you. - You are customer-focused, empathetic, and clear in how you communicate, while knowing when to push back in ways that help customers become successful on their own. - You have excellent debugging and troubleshooting skills, with the curiosity and persistence to follow issues across applications, databases, infrastructure, and product behavior. - You are comfortable stepping outside your comfort zone. Whether that means reading unfamiliar application code, digging into database behavior, testing a new framework, or learning a connector you haven’t used before, you’re willing to go where the problem leads. - You are a self-starting, enthusiastic individual who takes responsibility for outcomes and wants to make a meaningful impact on the business. - You can operate independently, but you know when to ask for help and how to bring the right people into an issue. - You are highly organized and able to operate in ambiguous or changing situations. - You are data-driven, team-oriented, and comfortable communicating across many audiences. - You enjoy working cross-functionally and translating customer pain into actionable product, documentation, and process improvements. ### What you will need. - Experience supporting production applications, databases, developer tools, infrastructure, or other technical products. - Working knowledge of SQL, preferably with experience in MySQL and/or PostgreSQL. - Strong debugging skills and the ability to reason through application and database behavior. - Programming experience. You will not be programming full-time, but you should be comfortable reading and navigating unfamiliar code to understand customer issues. - Experience with common application frameworks, ORMs, database connectors, or application deployment patterns. - Willingness to explore new languages, frameworks, tools, and customer environments as needed. - Strong written and verbal communication skills. - Strong empathy for customers, developers, and teammates, with the ability to advocate for customer needs clearly and constructively. ### What else will help you be successful. - Experience working in a remote organization. - Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP, or Azure. - Knowledge of monitoring, observability, and debugging tools. - Experience helping build support processes, documentation systems, or teams from an early stage. ### Why PlanetScale. We’re redefining how high-growth companies manage data at scale — and we work with some of the most exciting brands in gaming, consumer tech, and B2B SaaS. As a Customer Support Engineer, you’ll be on the front lines helping developers and businesses solve real production problems, while also shaping the product, documentation, and support systems that make PlanetScale better for every customer. PlanetScale is a profitable company with a philosophy centered around building small teams of p99 individuals and is recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in America. At PlanetScale we believe in supporting people to do their best work and thrive no matter the location. Our mission is to build a diverse, equitable, and inclusive company. We strive to build an inclusive environment where all people feel that they are equally respected and valued, whether they are a candidate or an employee. We welcome applicants of any educational background, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age, citizenship, socioeconomic status, disability, pregnancy status, and veteran status. If you have a disability, please let us know if there’s any way we can make the interview process better for you; we’re happy to accommodate! ### Total Compensation and Pay Transparency An employee’s total compensation consists of base salary + variable comp where appropriate + benefits + equity. A member of our Talent Acquisition team will be happy to answer any further questions when we engage with you to begin the interview process. Base salary range: $150,000 - $200,000 USD