Support Engineer - Thorn

At Thorn, our cause is our code. We are a nonprofit whose mission of defending children from sexual exploitation and abuse is deeply embedded within our core—a shared code that drives us to do challenging work with resilience and determination.

Here, you’ll work and grow among the best hearts and the best minds in tech, data, and business alongside our network of independent partners, NGOs, and law enforcement agencies. Together, we’re focused on building technology that protects children’s futures.

About the Role

Our Build Team develops and supports the products and tools that empower our industry and law enforcement partners to combat child sexual abuse online. As a Support Engineer, you’ll provide deep technical guidance and reliable support to ensure a top-tier experience for our growing and diverse customer base across products like Safer and Thorn Detect.

What You’ll Do

• Work closely with customers to guide them through the onboarding process for products like Safer and Thorn Detect, helping them understand setup and troubleshoot common technical issues.
• Provide timely, thoughtful support to users with varying technical backgrounds, managing the day-to-day customer experience and escalating issues or feedback to Product, Engineering, or Account Managers when appropriate.
• Operate as a technical advocate for customers by clearly communicating their needs, questions, and constraints to internal teams, while balancing customer expectations with technical realities.
• Collaborate with Product, Engineering, Data Science, UX, Account Managers, and Sales to support a cohesive experience for prospects and customers from onboarding, support, and ongoing product use.
• Use support tooling such as ticketing systems, Slack, Zoom, and email to track requests, document resolutions, and ensure clear communication and timely follow-through internally and externally.
• Contribute to internal and customer-facing documentation by helping keep onboarding materials, support guides, and best practices accurate and up to date.
• Participate in an on-call rotation and respond to critical issues outside of regular business hours when required.

What We’re Looking For

• Experience providing technical support to customers, with strong troubleshooting skills and the ability to analyze issues, resolve common problems, and escalate effectively.
• Clear, efficient, and thoughtful communication with both technical and non-technical audiences, particularly in written formats like Slack and technical documentation.
• Comfort in a fast-paced, reactive environment, adapting to the shifting needs of customers and the team.
• Ability to manage time effectively, handling multiple support cases simultaneously while meeting deadlines.
• Strong documentation habits and persistence in problem-solving.
• Solid technical or engineering foundation and an interest in growing skills in systems, technology, and customer needs.

Technologies We Use

• Docker / Kubernetes / Terraform
• Node / Python 3 / TypeScript
• AWS / Google Cloud
• Amazon SQS / Google PubSub / RabbitMQ / Kafka
• PostgreSQL / Elasticsearch
• Jira Service Manager (JSM) / Github / Docusaurus