Who we are
The American Physical Society (APS) is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities. APS represents over 55,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world. Society offices are located in College Park, MD (Headquarters), Ridge, NY, and Washington, D.C.

Position Summary
The Technical Support Specialist, as part of the society-wide help desk, provides high level technical support at the College Park, MD (Headquarters) and Washington, DC APS offices.  This person will configure and support individual workstation hardware and software, printers and faxes, audiovisual equipment, third party applications, VoIP phone system, remote access software, and special purpose servers.  

We're looking for someone who loves working with people to help resolve their technology-based headaches. Ideally, this person will already have several years of experience in a help desk role, and will be able to confidently tackle more complex projects and issues. This position is part of a small, nimble team with ample opportunities for learning and passing on knowledge to others.

A Typical Week May Look Like This…

• Configure laptops (Mac) for new employees, walk through setup of password, email, calendar, network file system, chat, printers, phone, network file system.
• Train a new employee on macOS, Gmail, Google Calendar.
• Investigate laptops and other hardware that will not boot; gather diagnostic information, arrange for warranty repair as necessary; configure and set up temporary equipment for employee.
• Engage in chat discussions with the entire help desk team regarding troubleshooting of software issues.
• Write user-facing documents for new systems to be introduced to APS staff; send broadcast email to announce.
• Test results of firewall changes with systems administration team; modify local printer configurations accordingly.
• Apply operating system updates and software updates to laptops used for off site meetings; prepare for shipping.
• Connect audiovisual equipment for company-wide video conferences; test with other offices and remote attendees prior to start; monitor and adjust settings during meeting.

Is This You?

The Technical Stuff:

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years experience providing hands-on technical support in a Mac based environment.
• Deep knowledge of Mac hardware and software required; additional knowledge of Windows preferred.
• Proficiency with Google Suite required.
• Experience configuring and supporting printers, faxes, audiovisual equipment, VoIP phones, mobile phones.
• Knowledge of networking strongly preferred.

The Not-Technical Stuff:

• Strong customer service mindset - you love working with people.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills - you can speak to both technical and non-technical teams.  
• Proven ability to handle multiple projects and adapt to quickly changing schedules - you don't get flustered easily when new priorities pop up.
• Exceptional attention to detail.
• Proven ability to work well with small interdepartmental teams as well as independently.

This is Us!
The American Physical Society strives to: 

• Be the leading voice for physics and an authoritative source of physics information for the advancement of physics and the benefit of humanity.
• Provide effective programs in support of the physics community and the conduct of physics.
• Collaborate with national scientific societies for the advancement of science, science education and the science community.
• Cooperate with international physics societies to promote physics, to support physicists worldwide and to foster international collaboration.
• Promote an active, engaged and diverse membership, and support the activities of its units and members.