About Kerno
Kerno is building operations software for product makers and small-batch manufacturers. Our platform is designed to help growing businesses manage formulas, materials, inventory, production batches, quality checks, costs, and day-to-day operations in one connected workspace.
As Kerno enters Beta, we need someone who can help customers learn the platform, work through confusion, and feel supported. This person will also help our product and development teams understand what customers experience once Kerno is in their hands.
About the position
The Customer Success & Product Support Specialist will be the first person many customers and Beta users meet at Kerno. You will conduct product demonstrations, help users get started, answer questions, troubleshoot problems, and make sure customer issues reach the right internal team with enough detail to act on them.
This is not a traditional call-center position. You will become one of Kerno's internal product experts and an early member of the team shaping how we support customers.
The position is based in our Winchester, Virginia office. You will work directly with customers, demo users, Sales, Marketing, the Product Owner, developers, and Kerno's AI agents.
What you will do
- Learn Kerno's platform, workflows, current capabilities, and limitations
- Conduct clear, friendly product demonstrations for prospects and Beta users
- Help new users through onboarding and their first Kerno workflows
- Welcome and support customers inside the Kerno community
- Answer first-line product, account, and workflow questions
- Support the Sales team during discovery, demonstrations, follow-up, and customer handoff
- Listen carefully to customer confusion and identify whether the issue is training, documentation, product design, a missing capability, or a software defect
- Reproduce reported problems before escalating them
- Create incident reports for the Product Owner and development team
- Include reproduction steps, customer impact, expected behavior, actual behavior, screenshots, device or browser details, and available workarounds
- Track reported issues and keep customers informed
- Close the loop after an issue is resolved
- Identify repeated questions that should become documentation, training, community guidance, or product improvements
- Maintain accurate customer notes, follow-up commitments, and next actions
- Work alongside Kerno's specialized AI agents as part of daily operations
- Review AI-generated work for accuracy and apply human judgment before using it with customers
- Protect customer information and avoid making promises about unconfirmed fixes, features, or timelines
Who we are looking for
You are outgoing, approachable, and comfortable starting conversations. More importantly, you genuinely enjoy helping people. You can stay patient when someone is confused or frustrated, and you do not make them feel embarrassed for asking questions.
You can explain software in plain language without sounding scripted. You are also organized enough to turn a vague customer complaint into a useful incident report that a product owner or developer can investigate.
You should be comfortable working in a startup where processes are still being built. Some days will involve scheduled demonstrations and onboarding. Other days may involve testing a reported issue, updating documentation, following up with customers, or helping the team improve a workflow.
Required qualifications
- Strong verbal and written communication
- Comfortable conducting live product demonstrations
- Patient, curious, and genuinely interested in helping customers
- Able to communicate with customers, prospects, internal staff, product owners, and developers
- Able to learn new software quickly and explain it clearly
- Organized approach to follow-up, documentation, and issue tracking
- Comfortable troubleshooting software and reproducing user-reported problems
- Able to work independently while keeping the team informed
- Comfortable working alongside AI agents and learning AI-supported workflows
- Willing to verify AI output rather than accepting it blindly
- Able to work on-site in Winchester, Virginia
Helpful experience
- Customer success, customer support, SaaS support, implementation, product training, or sales support
- Conducting software demonstrations or onboarding sessions
- Writing bug reports, incident reports, or support documentation
- Working with CRM or ticket-management systems
- Supporting Beta software or early-stage products
- Experience with inventory, production, manufacturing, quality control, costing, or product-based businesses
- Experience as a maker, small-business owner, or member of a product-based business
- Experience moderating or supporting an online customer community
A degree is not required if you can demonstrate the communication, product-learning, troubleshooting, and customer-service skills needed for the position.
Working with AI at Kerno
Kerno uses specialized AI agents as working members of the team. You do not need to be an AI expert, but you should be curious and comfortable collaborating with them.
You may use AI agents to organize customer context, improve documentation, prepare for demonstrations, or turn support information into structured reports. You will remain responsible for accuracy, privacy, empathy, and the final customer experience.
What success looks like
- Beta users receive prompt, helpful responses
- Demonstrations are clear, accurate, and relevant to the user's business
- New users understand how to complete their first meaningful Kerno workflow
- Customer commitments and next actions are documented
- Incident reports give the product and development teams enough information to investigate
- Recurring customer confusion is identified and addressed
- Customers feel heard, respected, and kept informed
- Sales, support, product, and development maintain a shared understanding of customer needs
Application instructions
Please submit your resume and a short note explaining:
1. Why you enjoy helping customers
2. Your experience learning or demonstrating software
3. How you would respond to a frustrated Beta user who cannot complete an important task
4. Your comfort level working alongside AI agents
Selected candidates will complete a practical interview exercise involving a short product demonstration, a customer-support scenario, and a sample incident report.
Pay: $20.00 - $30.00 per hour
Work Location: In person
