We’re hiring a support engineer

We at Datawrapper want to help everyone create better charts, maps, and tables. To achieve this, we offer a data visualization tool that individuals and organizations all over the world rely on to quickly and easily create beautiful visualizations for their online and print publications.

We want Datawrapper to be easy to learn and use, and the software itself is just the start. Equally important are the human interactions with our users, right at those moments when they’re stuck, need help or inspiration, or don’t even know where to start.

We care deeply about our users and about getting them the help they need. On time and exceeding their expectations. That level of personalized support is something we won’t compromise on, even as our user base grows and the number of requests increases. Which is why:

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We’re hiring a support engineer to join our Customer Support and Success team (4-5 days per week).

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You can join remotely (in the time zones around Berlin, so GMT, CET, or EET) or get a desk in our Berlin office.

What is Datawrapper?

Datawrapper’s tool enables people worldwide to build great charts, maps, and tables. We’re used by:

• Print and online news publications like The New York Times, Quartz, Der Spiegel, and The Times of London,
• News agencies like Reuters and The Associated Press,
• Governmental institutions and NGOs like the United Nations, the European Commission, and the World Economic Forum,
• Think tanks like KFF, CFR, and ECFR,
• Financial institutions like Vanguard and Moody’s,
• Cities and municipalities like Madrid, London, and New York City,
• And many more, including statistical offices, market research firms, and design agencies.

We’re a team of 27 people, mostly developers and designers. You’ll find a lot of different backgrounds — but all of us are excited about visualizing data.

The role

You’ll join Margaux, Shaylee, and Michi in helping those that reach out to our support inbox, maintaining and growing customer relationships, and being proactive in getting new customers off the ground. Essentially, you’ll do whatever needs to be done to make sure that all of our users have the help they need to get as much out of the tool as possible.

You can expect that to include:

• Managing customer relationships. You’ll pick up where sales leaves off, taking our customers under your wing and ensuring they have all the resources and assistance they need to be successful. You’ll become their trusted, go-to expert whenever they need a helping hand.
• Helping users to create great data visualizations. When they come to us asking Is it possible to do X with Datawrapper?, you’ll find a solution, even when that means getting creative to solve a problem with no clear answer.
• Troubleshooting. Why isn’t this chart displaying? It could be a problem with the dataset, something gone amiss in the settings, or a bug in our code. You’ll need to investigate, identify, and solve the problem.
• Proactively helping our users get more out of the tool. You’ll direct them to possibilities and features that they could benefit from, but might not come across on their own.
• Working with our customers’ design teams to customize the look of their charts to match their own brand styles.
• Being the voice of our users and helping us improve the tool. You’ll organize feature requests and feedback, presenting them to the product team in a way that’s powerful and useful in informing product decisions.
• Improving and contributing to our help docs, to help our users better help themselves.

Who are we looking for?

This is an exciting and varied role perfect for an all-rounder with a multidisciplinary skill set who’s up for solving fun new problems every day. We are open to any professional background and particular expertise you bring along.

We think you’d be a great fit if:

• You enjoy, care about, and are motivated by helping people and solving their problems, which you do with warmth, kindness, and empathy. You can put yourself in someone else’s shoes to understand what they need, even if they’re not quite sure themselves.
• You have strong written and spoken English communication skills (bonus points for German too). That’s important not only for interacting with our users, but also for bringing ideas and feedback back to the team.
• You’re good at explaining complicated concepts in a simple, digestible way. You’re used to communicating with a range of different stakeholders and adapting your approach and choice of language to your audience.
• You’ve got some technical know-how. You’ve at least dabbled a bit with HTML and CSS, know what a JSON is, and have maybe even done some coding before.
• You love solving problems and are a lateral thinker; it’s easy for you to see things in their wider context and connect the dots. You have the confidence to try and figure something out on your own, but also know the right moment to ask for help and enjoy working with others to find solutions.
• You have a can-do attitude and are a quick learner. You’re not intimidated when faced with something unfamiliar, but instead curious and eager to figure it out.
• You’re organized and have good time-management skills. You can juggle simultaneous to-dos and adapt in the face of shifting priorities.
• You’re thorough, attentive to detail, and on the ball. You’ll remember that one time the same issue came up in another context several months ago.

Bonus points if any of these apply to you:

• You previously worked in a customer-facing role at a software company.
• You’re familiar with JavaScript, Python, and/or R.
• You have design experience and know your way around Adobe Illustrator and/or Figma.
• You have experience working with any of the types of organizations that Datawrapper serves.
• You previously worked with Datawrapper, in data visualization, or in an adjacent field.
• You also speak languages other than English and German.

What to expect from working at Datawrapper

A happy work life! Datawrapper team members appreciate a shared feeling of doing meaningful work, a high degree of freedom, their helpful coworkers, and a nice work environment.

What we believe in

• Growth, development, and personal initiative. We’re a small company with big plans, which means there are lots of opportunities to grow and learn. If you’ve got an idea and the drive to make it happen, we welcome it.
• Flexibility. Some of us start at 7 a.m., others won’t be seen until 11, and some might disappear for two hours in the mid-afternoon to go for a walk. We’re happy for you to organize your day however suits you best.
• A kind and collaborative work environment. You’ll be in touch with everyone from the team and get a chance to make your voice heard. In the support team, we work together closely and help each other out with whatever challenges come our way.

What you’ll get from us and this role

• The chance to collaborate with some of the world’s most prestigious and trusted institutions, empowering them to inform the public with great data visualization, at a time when it has never been so important.
• To contribute to shaping the future of how we interact with our users. We have lots of ideas, and we’re interested in yours too.
• To have real influence on the future of our product.
• To become a true Datawrapper expert, both externally and internally.
• A competitive salary and 30 days of vacation (24 days for a four-day week).
• A 2000 euro yearly education budget to visit conferences, get training, or buy books and online seminars that make you smarter (1600 euros for a four-day week).
• A laptop of your choice and a big external monitor.
• If you join us in our Berlin office: unlimited coffee, tea, and any snacks you like. Plus, a big data vis library.
• Super nice, talented coworkers.

In addition, you’ll learn to work with data and how to create good visualizations. You’ll also get many insights into the world of product development and explore the life at, and culture of, a friendly young software company.

How to apply

Does all of this sound like something you’d like to do? Great! We understand that you might not tick all the boxes — even if that’s the case, we’d love to hear from you!

Send along your CV and tell us about your previous experience and why you think it makes you a good fit for this role.

We also decided to include one small task, which should give you a taste of the kind of problems you might find yourself solving.

We understand if you’re opposed to, or don’t have the capacity for, speculative work for applications, so we will accept applications without this task. But we would love it if you gave it a go, and it’ll be a great opportunity for you to show us how you work.

Task: Help Emily

Emily is a fictional journalist from a big fictional newspaper in the U.K. She’s new to Datawrapper and reached out to our support inbox.

Hi Datawrapper Support, I’m working on a bar chart and I’m a bit stuck, can you tell me if I’m able to change the colour of each bar to match the colour of the corresponding party in this chart? Thanks for any help, Emily

Here’s what she has so far:

Write Emily a reply and help her out as best you can.

If you hover over the chart above, an Edit this Chart button should pop up. Click on it to create your own copy, which you can edit.

We want to see your reply to Emily and a link to your version of the chart, in which you’ve implemented your suggestion.

→ Send it all to hiring@datawrapper.de with the subject line “Support Engineer”

We hope you apply, especially if you’re from a group that’s underrepresented in our office.

We’re looking forward to hearing from you!