Permit Technician Aide

Houston Permitting Center Permit Tech Aide

The Houston Permitting Center (HPC) is looking for tech savvy, friendly, and well-organized Permit Tech Aide to join our Information Desk team supporting our online and in-person customers. This individual is an important member of the team that guides customers through the permitting process. A day in the life of a Permit Tech Aide is fast-paced and highly variable based on customer volume and needs. Daily responsibilities may include, but are not limited to:

• Triaging customer issues and queuing customers to the correct service
• Answering phone calls, live chats, email, or service tickets
• Distributing forms, applications, and other documents to customers to complete the permitting process
• Researching and resolving common customer problems and inquiries, including basic technical support for iPermits and ProjectDox
• Supporting the creation and maintenance of knowledge base articles
• Completing data entry to maintain customer contact records
• Performs other duties as assigned

Your effectiveness in this position will depend on your ability to:

• Work as a team
• Communicate clearly and effectively, be confident in giving customers directions (verbally and written), ask clarifying questions to ensure you understand the customer's problem
• Stay calm under pressure
• Be well organized and capable of handling multiple tasks
• Be proactive and solution-focused, think ahead for potential obstacles as your guide a customer to a resolution
• Build strong professional relationships at all levels of the organization
• Embody the department's Five to Thrive values

When you join the Houston Permitting Center, you'll be part of a dedicated team that provide services for safe community development through the permitting, plan review, and inspection of public and private construction. Our team members issue over 400,000 permits, review 77,000 projects, and conduct 800,000 inspections every year. The Houston Permitting Center is committed to our department's Five to Thrive values as principles that guide our work with customers and team members – Respect, Ownership, Communication, Integrity, and Teamwork. We intend to "roc" it every day!

The position is physically comfortable; the individual has discretion about walking, standing, etc. There are no major sources of discomfort, i.e., essentially normal office environment with acceptable lighting, temperature and air conditioning. Requires the ability to make coordinated gross motor movements in response to changing external stimuli within moderately demanding tolerances; or the ability to make coordinated eye/hand movements on a patterned response space within low tolerance demands with no real speed requirements.

This is a Houston Public Works Emergency Management position at the Tier III Level.

Minimum requirements include a high school diploma or a GED and six months of customer service or general clerical/administrative experience. Preference shall be given to eligible veteran applicants provided such persons possess the qualifications necessary for competent discharge of the duties involved in the position applied for, such persons are among the most qualified candidates for the position, and all other factors in accordance with Executive Order 1-6.

The City of Houston is committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic.