Tier 1 Support Engineer at Tailscale | Grow in NetSec in Columbus
Career & Market Insight
Career Trajectory: This Tier 1 Support Engineer role at Tailscale is an excellent entry point into the networking/infrastructure security space. The exposure to DNS, VPN concepts, firewalls, and cross-OS troubleshooting builds a transferable skill set highly valued in DevOps, cloud infrastructure, and security engineering careers.
Compensation vs. Market: The UK range of £49,770–£78,210 is competitive for a Tier 1 support role — the upper band rivals mid-level Tier 2/Tier 3 support salaries at many UK tech companies, suggesting Tailscale respects this function. Equity participation further differentiates this from a typical support job.
Green Flags:
- Tailscale is a well-funded, high-growth startup (Accel, CRV, Insight backed) with a widely adopted product — solid career capital for your CV.
- Direct partnership with Product and Engineering gives Tier 1 engineers unusual visibility into product decisions, uncommon at larger companies.
- $1,500/year professional development budget and explicit internal promotion pathways signal investment in individual growth.
- The "tinkerer's mindset" requirement means colleagues are likely curious, technical people rather than script-readers.
Watch-Outs: High-velocity ticket queues and CSAT targets can be pressure-heavy. Ensure the team culture genuinely supports the work-life balance messaging before accepting. Also note the 0.75% employer retirement match is modest relative to typical UK employer pension contributions (often 5%+).
Skills You'll Build: Network troubleshooting, WireGuard/VPN concepts, cross-platform OS debugging, customer communication under pressure, and cross-functional stakeholder advocacy — all highly marketable in 2024–2025 tech hiring.
About Tailscale
Tailscale is making safe connection effortless by delivering software that makes it easy to securely interconnect people and their devices, no matter where they are. From hobbyists to multinational corporations, teams of every size use Tailscale each day to protect their networks, share access to internal tools, and more. We're building a future for the Internet that's easy, sensible, and safe, like it used to be. Founded in 2019 and fully distributed, we're backed by Accel, CRV, Insight, Heavybit, and Uncork Capital.
About the Role
If you're passionate about solving technical issues and providing high-quality support to a diverse community of users, this is the role for you. We're seeking a motivated Support Engineer (Tier 1) to join our growing team of support professionals. You will serve as the face of the company for a large portion of our community, handling a broad range of tickets that will help flex your technical muscles.
As a Tier 1 engineer, you'll be part of a distributed team focused on delivering excellent support and proactively solving friction by partnering with our broader CX team and Product/Eng. This role reports directly to the Tier 1 Support Team Lead and will play a key role in our journey.
Key Responsibilities
- Act as the primary technical resource for less complex issues, resolving a wide range of configuration and networking challenges to keep users unblocked.
- Manage a high-velocity ticket queue with a consistent focus on meeting targets for time to first response and time to resolution.
- Drive positive user outcomes and maintain high CSAT scores by providing clear, helpful, and accurate technical guidance.
- Balance a high volume of daily ticket replies while maintaining the technical depth required to troubleshoot complex networking issues.
- Partner cross-functionally to identify recurring friction points and advocate for improvements to the user experience.
What We Are Looking For
- A natural tinkerer's mindset and a deep curiosity for how things work, likely demonstrated through personal projects, homelabs, or open-source contributions.
- Foundational understanding of networking fundamentals, including DNS, IP addressing, firewalls, and routing.
- Proficiency in troubleshooting across multiple operating systems such as macOS, Windows, Linux, and mobile OSes.
- Some familiarity with Jira and Slack to manage internal workflows and communicate effectively with the team and customers.
- Excellent written communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts with empathy and clarity.
- A proactive approach to learning new technologies and staying current with evolving infrastructure tools.
As a company, we strive to maintain fair and equitable compensation practices within our team across all roles and all levels. Tailscale's compensation package includes base salary, equity, and comprehensive benefits. The salary range displayed on each job posting represents the target range for a new hire's base salary. Individual offers may vary based on experience and skill set.
UK Pay Range: £49,770 — £78,210 GBP
Frequently cited statistics show that people who identify with historically marginalized groups are likely to apply to jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. We encourage you to help us break that statistic!
What We Offer
- An inclusive, flexible environment where you can be your authentic self. We recognize the impact of diverse voices and backgrounds on the growth of our people, product, and company. Flexibility in how and when you work empowers our team to integrate work and life.
- A competitive total compensation package. This includes a base salary, an equity incentive plan, and variable commission (for quota-based roles).
- Comprehensive group benefits with no waiting period. Coverage for health, vision, dental, and more for you and your family.
- Remote-first company — most of our teams work fully remotely. Enjoy a change of scenery wherever you can get Wi-Fi, participate in virtual and in-person social events, and leverage our corporate co-working program to visit WeWork or similar spaces near you.
- Employer-funded retirement contributions. Tailscale will match your retirement contributions dollar-for-dollar, up to a maximum annual employer contribution equal to 0.75% of your eligible compensation.
- Connect with other Tailscalars IRL. Attend our annual company retreat, participate in team off-sites, and collaborate in person with teammates across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Singapore.
- Support for your personal and professional development. $1,500 USD annually for professional development, plus mentorship, coaching, and internal promotion opportunities.
- Paid time off and a healthy work-life integration. Our flexible, paid time off program supports you for any situation life throws your way, whether moving homes or travelling the world.
- A build-your-own home office setup. Choose your own company-owned laptop (Mac or PC), receive a monthly home internet reimbursement, and $500 USD to customize your workstation.
- Paid parental leave program. 20 weeks for birthing parents, 16 weeks for non-birthing parents.
Tailscale is committed to providing an accessible and inclusive hiring process. If you require an accommodation at any stage of the recruitment process or related to any aspect of this role, please contact your recruiter.
Our hiring process uses AI-assisted tools to help screen and assess candidates. All hiring decisions are made by people.
Please be aware that legitimate emails from Tailscale's talent team will only originate from @tailscale.com, @greenhouse.io, and @interviews.modernloop.io email addresses. For more information about protecting yourself from impersonators and scams, please visit https://tailscale.com/scam-awareness.