WHAT DOES A FIELD SERVICE SPECIALIST DO?
Published: Mar 19, 2025 - The Field Service Specialist ensures safety and training standards are met, streamlines processes through feedback, and enforces improvements. This position manages work distribution, fleet operations, and employee accommodations in alignment with district standards and client expectations. Additionally, this role is responsible for motivating technicians, enhancing customer service, and maintaining accountability for safety and production outcomes.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Field Service Specialist
1. Field Service Specialist Duties
- Advanced Technical Support: Provide advanced technical support for the installation, testing, maintenance, troubleshooting, overhaul, or repair of critical equipment.
- Training Program Development: Develop and lead a training program focused on Condition Monitoring Technologies and Electrical systems operation, troubleshooting, and repair for technicians within the Solar and Battery Storage group.
- Reliability Plan Coordination: Coordinate with field and Solar & BESS Reliability Engineers to assist in developing a Reliability Maintenance plan for each operational asset.
- Commissioning Support: Provide commissioning and start-up support on projects under construction.
- Technical Documentation Creation: Create and review technical documentation, specifications, operating procedures, and troubleshooting support for equipment associated with the company’s Solar and Battery Storage project portfolio.
- Analysis Assistance: Assist in the development of Root Cause Analysis, Asset Criticality Analysis, and Failure Mode & Effect Analysis for the Solar and Battery Storage portfolio.
- Global Technical Support: Provide expert technical support for the Global fleet of Solar and Battery Storage of Enel as requested.
- Instrument Installation and Repair: Install, maintain, and repair a wide variety of industry-leading QIAGEN instruments such as the QIAsymphony, QIAcube Connect, and QIAcuity Digital PCR systems.
- Customer Relationship Maintenance: Maintain and develop positive relationships with QIAGEN customers and internal colleagues, providing cross-border/district/region support.
- Field Service Promotion: Promote and sell Field Service products and assist Sales in lead generation.
- CRM Software Utilization: Use Salesforce CRM software to improve the efficiency of repairs and service satisfaction.
- Inventory and Equipment Management: Self-manage stock inventory, test equipment, service reports, vehicle maintenance, and case information.
2. Field Service Specialist Details
- Safety and Training Oversight: Provides expectations on safety and training requirements, while eliciting feedback that will improve processes and procedures.
- Process Improvement Implementation: Implement process improvement processes.
- Work Distribution Management: Work will be distributed in accordance with district standards and dispatched by the Field Coordinator, who will communicate client expectations.
- Scope and Tools Knowledge Application: Contribute by applying generalized knowledge of the scope of work and understanding time constraints and basic tool/part requirements.
- Technical Aptitude and Personnel Dispatching: Understand timelines and technical aptitude requirements in order to select and dispatch the appropriate personnel to the job.
- Service Delivery Communication: Communicate the expected delivery of services to meet the customer’s expectations.
- Employee Housing and Maintenance Assignment: Assign an employee to housing as well as address maintenance issues and supplies needed for the accommodations.
- Fleet Management: Responsibilities include fleet management of the company vehicles, assigning and tracking vehicles while working with a third-party vendor to ensure proper maintenance and repairs are completed in a timely cost-efficient manner.
- Technician Motivation and Training: Motivate, train, and encourage technicians on excellence in customer service and production.
- Production and Safety Accountability: Accountable for production results and safety performance.
3. Field Service Specialist Responsibilities
- Process Change Management: Manage process changes in accordance with defined processes.
- Issue Resolution Strategy: Address issues by identifying and selecting a course of action that takes into account various factors to achieve the desired outcome.
- Relationship Building: Develops and maintains constructive and cooperative working relationships with other team members.
- Recognition and Praise: Recognizes contributions, and praises people for a job well done.
- Team Building Support: Supports team building, builds mutual trust, and encourages respect and cooperation among team members.
- Contractor Utilization Assessment: Determine if external contractors will be required to meet business demands.
- Contractor Management Response: React quickly and notify management when outside contractors are necessary.
- Team Performance Improvement: Improve team performance by building team cohesiveness, leading, mentoring, training, and motivating to facilitate cooperation, ensure project efficiency, and boost morale.
- Job Monitoring and Technician Evaluation: Monitor results on all jobs and understand strengths and weaknesses of each technician to meet customer demands.
4. Field Service Specialist Job Summary
- Equipment Diagnosis and Repair: Diagnose problems and repair equipment for assigned modalities.
- Escalation Ownership: Acts as escalation owner for the field service team.
- Cost Minimization: Minimize the costs of servicing customer equipment.
- Customer Satisfaction Service: Provide service that supports high levels of customer satisfaction.
- Service Business Support and Development: Support and develop Service Business.
- Administrative Task Handling: Conduct administrative & support tasks as required by Cepheid and Service Management.
- Sales Communication: Consistently communicates with Sales on opportunities and significant service events.
- Relationship Building Assistance: Assists other FSEs in building effective relationships.
- Role Modeling: Serves as a role model for other FSEs regarding integrity and respect.
- Technical Information Communication: Keeps appropriate personnel well informed of technical information during an escalation.
- Technical Resource Provision: Serves as a technical resource for FSEs within the service region/area and occasionally outside of the area, on complex issues.
5. Field Service Specialist Accountabilities
- Escalation Support Provision: Determines the need for and provides escalation support.
- Technical Resource Support: Works directly with 3rd-level support as a technical resource and knowledge multiplier within the field organization.
- Service Metrics Assessment Assistance: Assists RSM in assessing service metrics and historical data.
- Improvement Recommendations: Makes recommendations on improvements.
- Challenging Situation Management: Assists others in managing challenging situations and keeps all levels of appropriate personnel informed.
- New Product Training Assistance: Assist other FSEs in learning about new product offerings.
- Process and Procedure Improvement Recommendations: Recommend process improvements and changes, procedures, and technical bulletins.
- Quality System Compliance Assistance: Assist others in complying with the Quality System.
- Key Performance Indicators Achievement: Meet all Key Performance Indicators (Business KPIs) related to this position.
- Training Completion Enforcement: Ensure that required training courses are completed on time and signed off.
- Individual Additional Responsibilities: Attends DBS training.