We make custom embroidered pet portraits. Someone sends us a photo of their dog, cat or horse; our artwork team turns it into a stitch file; our production team embroiders it onto a sweatshirt, hoodie or cushion; and it's packed and posted from our studio just south of Cambridge.
We started in lockdown with one secondhand embroidery machine. We've stitched over 200,000 portraits since, exhibited at Crufts and dozens of Dog Fest events, and we now design, make and ship everything in-house.
We're heading into our biggest ever Q4, and we're looking for someone to lead customer service through it.
What the role actually is
It's a hands-on leadership job, not a desk-and-dashboard one. You'll be answering customers yourself, and you'll be the person the rest of the team looks to for how it's done.
You'll lead a small in-house team plus a group of remote virtual assistants, and you'll work daily with our Production Manager, Artwork Manager and packing team so that what we promise customers matches what's happening on the floor. You'll report into our Operations Director.
A lot of our orders are gifts. A meaningful number are memorial pieces for a pet that's died. Getting the response right matters more here than in most places.
Day to day you'll:
- Work the queue alongside the team, and own the hardest tickets yourself: lost parcels, missed deadlines, difficult stitch approvals, upset customers
- Onboard, train and QA the VAs, and write the macros and briefs they work from so quality holds as volume climbs
- Keep response times, resolution rates and CSAT where they need to be, and report on them honestly
- Sit between service, production and packing, flagging early when a promise and the schedule don't line up
- Run the pre-Christmas cut-off comms and the peak staffing plan
- Spot the patterns behind repeat contacts and fix the cause, not just the ticket
- Feed what customers are actually saying back into product, marketing and the website
We're looking for someone who:
- Has led or supervised a customer service team, in ecommerce or in a production, made-to-order or customer-facing operational environment
- Has worked a peak trading season and knows what November feels like from the inside
- Is comfortable with helpdesk software (Gorgias, Zendesk, Freshdesk, Re:amaze or similar) and Shopify
- Writes well. Warm, clear, human, never robotic
- Is organised enough to build process, and calm enough to work without it when the day goes sideways
- Wants to build something rather than maintain something
Experience managing remote or outsourced agents, personalised or made-to-order products, or international shipping and returns is a bonus, as is a genuine soft spot for other people's pets.
What we offer
- £35,000 – £38,000 depending on experience
- 28 days holiday including bank holidays
- Company pension
- Free on-site parking
- Staff discount, and a portrait of your own pet
- Real ownership of how this function gets built, and a direct line to the leadership team
- A studio where you can walk twenty steps and watch the thing you just promised a customer being made
The practical bit
Full time and on site at Copley Hill Business Park, just south of Cambridge. This isn't a hybrid role — being in the room with production, artwork and packing is the point. Free parking, and an easy drive from Cambridge, Sawston, Saffron Walden and the A11/M11.
Peak season runs September to December and is genuinely busy. We'd rather tell you that up front, and we plan for it properly.
Pay: £35,000.00-£38,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Casual dress
- Company events
- Company pension
- Employee discount
- Free parking
- On-site gym
- On-site parking
- Referral programme
Work Location: In person
