Job Title: Customer Experience Manager
Manager: Operations Director
Location: Carsa HQ
Our Mission & Values
At Carsa, our mission is to evolve the UK's car buying journey with a seamless, convenient, and affordable Omni-Channel experience, offering customers exceptional choice, great value, and a reliable service.
Our company values drive everything we do:
- Customer-Centric Innovation – Delivering Value & Convenience
- Innovation & Agility – Driving the Future of Automotive Retail
- Collaboration & Integrity – Stronger Together
- Sustainable Growth & Responsibility – Building for the Long Term
Role Overview
To lead the Customer Experience Team to ensure customer concerns are professionally and lawfully resolved, regulatory standards (including FCA Consumer Duty) are met, Carsa's legal and reputational risk is well managed, and Carsa's customer reputation continues to improve. This role is Carsa's senior specialist for complex, high-risk, and legally sensitive customer cases, and its main point of accountability if a case proceeds to the Financial Ombudsman Service or the courts.
Advantageous Experience & Person Specification
- Automotive / motor retail or motor finance background
◦ Experience gained within a car dealership group, motor finance lender/broker, or warranty provider, with a working understanding of vehicle sale, PCP/HP finance, and part-exchange processes.
- Complex complaint & legal case handling
◦ Demonstrable experience managing legal disputes end-to-end – small claims and county court proceedings, letters before action, liaison with external solicitors, and preparation of evidence bundles / witness statements.
- Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) expertise
◦ Direct experience preparing and defending FOS referrals, working within DISP complaint-handling rules and final response letter timelines (including the 8-week rule).
◦ Practical, not just theoretical, experience embedding Consumer Duty's four outcomes (products & services, price & value, consumer understanding, consumer support) into complaint handling, including vulnerable customer identification and support.
◦ Sound knowledge of satisfactory quality, short-term rejection rights, and the 30-day / 6-month presumptions as applied to used vehicle sales.
Desirable:
- Background in after-sales, service advisor, warranty administration, or vehicle mechanical & electrical diagnostics – helps assess the technical merit of complaints and challenge supplier/engineer reports.
- Experience working with a motor trade legal partner (e.g. Lawgistics) or similar.
- Relevant regulatory or legal qualification (e.g. CII/ICA compliance qualification, paralegal training, or equivalent).
- Experience with case management systems, complaints MI/dashboards, and root cause analysis methodology.
Key Responsibilities
Leadership & Team Development
- Lead, coach, and develop the Customer Experience Specialists and Support Specialists to deliver consistent, high-quality customer outcomes.
- Manage team workload, resource planning, and prioritisation to ensure service levels and case targets are met.
- Promote a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous learning.
Complaint, Warranty, Legal & Rejection Governance
- Oversee governance of all customer complaints, warranty cases, and vehicle rejections, ensuring compliance with regulatory and internal standards.
- Own and lead complex, escalated, and legally sensitive cases – including legal disputes, finance company complaints, motor finance commission (DCA/non-DCA) complaints, and FOS referrals – from first notification through to resolution or litigation.
- Ensure every case has a robust, contemporaneous evidential trail (documented timeline, communications, and decision rationale) capable of withstanding scrutiny from the Financial Ombudsman Service, regulators, or a court.
- Act as Carsa's day-to-day liaison with external solicitors on litigated cases, coordinating disclosure, witness statements, and instructions in a timely manner.
- Ensure decisions are fair, well-documented, and aligned with company policy, the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and FCA Consumer Duty.
- Identify and appropriately support vulnerable customers throughout the complaints journey, in line with Consumer Duty requirements.
- Coordinate subject access requests (SARs) linked to complaints or legal cases with the Data Protection Officer / Legal.
Process & Continuous Improvement
- Drive continuous improvement across customer experience processes, identifying opportunities to enhance efficiency, quality, and customer satisfaction.
- Implement and embed standardised communication practices, tone of voice, and compliance procedures across the team.
- Lead root cause analysis on recurring complaint themes and feed findings back into Sales, Service, and Product to reduce future risk and complaint volume.
- Support operational excellence initiatives in collaboration with wider departments.
Stakeholder & External Relationship Management
- Maintain constructive working relationships with external partners including Lawgistics, finance companies, warranty providers, and instructed solicitors.
- Work cross-functionally with Sales, Service Centres, and Accounts to ensure joined-up customer outcomes.
- Chair weekly case review meetings with senior stakeholders to review progress, risks, and resolutions, including litigation and FOS case status.
- Monitor regulatory developments affecting Carsa – in particular the FCA's Motor Finance Consumer Redress Scheme – and advise senior leadership on required changes to process or resourcing.
- To adhere to all other duties as and when required by senior company managers that are reasonably within your capabilities and are aimed at achieving the Company's objectives and goals.
Performance, Reporting & Insight
- Own and produce reporting including complaints dashboards, KPIs, legal/FOS case tracking, and trend analysis.
- Report on Consumer Duty outcomes monitoring (products & services, price & value, consumer understanding, consumer support) to senior leadership.
- Provide insights and recommendations to senior leadership on recurring issues, risks, and improvement opportunities.
- Monitor performance against SLA and compliance targets, ensuring corrective actions where necessary.
Pay: £50,000.00-£55,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Employee discount
- On-site parking
- Referral programme
Work Location: In person
