Customer Service Specialist

Location: Rockford, IL

Employment Type: Full-Time

Workplace Type: On-Site

Department: Sales

Schedule: Monday-Friday, 7:30 AM-4:00 PM

Compensation: $25.00-$32.00 per hour, depending on experience

Tree Top Staffing is recruiting an experienced Customer Service & Order Management Specialist for a full-time opportunity with an established precision manufacturing organization in Rockford, Illinois.

The Customer Service & Order Management Specialist is responsible for supporting and maintaining positive customer relationships by ensuring customer needs are met throughout the order and service lifecycle. This role serves as a key liaison between customers and internal teams while managing customer orders, work orders, ERP information, production requirements, and timely communication.

This position extends beyond traditional order entry. The selected individual will take ownership of customer requirements from the front end, coordinate with multiple departments throughout the fulfillment process, maintain accurate information and documentation, and proactively follow up when production, purchasing, engineering, finance, shipping, or other activities affect customer commitments.

The ideal candidate will bring previous customer service or order-management experience, preferably within a manufacturing or industrial environment, and will be highly organized, detail-oriented, comfortable managing multiple priorities, and confident communicating with customers and internal teams.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Serve as a primary point of contact for customer inquiries, orders, and support needs
• Enter and process customer purchase orders accurately and ensure requirements are properly communicated
• Release work orders necessary to fulfill customer demand and production requirements
• Coordinate with sales, operations, production, purchasing, engineering, shipping, accounting, and other internal teams to ensure timely and accurate order fulfillment
• Monitor customer orders and proactively communicate status updates, delays, changes, or issues
• Follow up with operations and other departments to obtain order status and help expedite customer requirements when necessary
• Maintain ownership of open items awaiting approvals, information, materials, or action from other departments
• Create, enter, and maintain bills of material within the ERP system based on released engineering drawings
• Process engineering change notifications by updating BOM revisions, component revision levels, applicable sales orders, and related documentation before routing changes for additional review and approval
• Create and maintain work-order documentation and prepare required production packets and supporting information for release to manufacturing
• Maintain accurate customer records, order information, communications, and documentation
• Prepare general customer quotations using established list pricing and applicable customer discounts
• Enter quotation information for custom fixtures or specialized products using information provided by internal technical resources
• Resolve customer concerns related to orders, deliveries, or service issues and escalate matters when appropriate
• Support onboarding of new customers and ensure understanding of processes and expectations
• Assist with customer satisfaction initiatives and continuous improvement efforts
• Maintain professionalism, confidentiality, accuracy, and consistent follow-through in all customer interactions

Qualifications & Requirements:

Skills

• Strong customer service and relationship-management skills
• Strong order-management and order-processing capabilities
• Exceptional attention to detail and accuracy
• Excellent verbal and written communication abilities
• Proficiency with ERP, CRM, or similar business-management systems
• Strong organizational and time-management skills
• Ability to manage multiple customers, orders, tasks, and deadlines simultaneously
• Strong critical-thinking and problem-solving skills
• Sound judgment and ability to make day-to-day decisions independently
• Ability to take initiative and proactively follow issues through resolution
• Confidence communicating with customers and internal departments
• Strong follow-through and sense of ownership
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively across departments
• Working knowledge of manufacturing orders, work orders, bills of material, or production processes preferred
• Ability to learn product and technical information through training

Physical Demands

• Ability to sit for extended periods of time
• Frequent use of computers, keyboards, and office equipment
• Occasional walking and light lifting

Work Environment

• Office-based position within a manufacturing environment
• Regular interaction with sales, operations, production, purchasing, engineering, shipping, accounting, and other departments
• Frequent phone, email, and in-person communication
• Fast-moving environment with changing customer and production priorities
• Standard office equipment and workstation setup

Education: High School Diploma or GED required; associate degree or coursework in business, customer service, manufacturing, or a related field preferred

Experience: Previous professional experience in customer service, order management, sales support, account support, customer success, or a similar role required. Experience within a manufacturing, industrial, or engineered-product environment is strongly preferred.

Manufacturing Systems: Previous exposure to ERP systems and manufacturing processes such as customer orders, work orders, bills of material, production documentation, or order fulfillment is strongly preferred. Specific ERP-platform experience is not required.

Reading Ability: Must be able to read, write, and understand English