JOB DESCRIPTION
HEAD OF CUSTOMER CARE
Salary Guide:
£65,000 - £75,000 DOE
ROLE PURPOSE
The Head of Customer Care is responsible for leading and transforming the customer care function into a high-performing, customer-centric, and data-driven department that delivers exceptional customer experiences while driving operational efficiency and continuous improvement.
This role requires a commercially aware and strategically minded leader who can analyse operational and customer data, identify opportunities for improvement, lead change initiatives, and build a culture of accountability, performance, and service excellence.
The successful candidate will provide leadership across all customer touchpoints, ensuring the department operates proactively rather than reactively, with a strong focus on customer satisfaction, process optimisation, team development, and business performance.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Strategic Leadership & Customer Experience
- Develop and implement the Customer Care strategy aligned with wider business objectives.
- Champion a customer-first culture across the organisation, embedding service excellence and accountability throughout the department.
- Use customer insight, complaints analysis, Trustpilot feedback, and operational performance data to drive continuous improvement initiatives.
- Identify emerging customer trends, operational risks, and service improvement opportunities proactively.
- Act as a senior stakeholder in customer experience and operational decision-making.
2. Operational Management & Service Delivery
- Lead the day-to-day performance of the Customer Care function, ensuring high levels of service delivery across all communication channels.
- Ensure all SLAs, KPIs, quality standards, and customer service objectives are consistently achieved.
- Drive improvements in response times, first-contact resolution, complaint handling, and escalation management.
- Oversee workforce planning, resource allocation, and departmental structure to ensure operational efficiency and scalability.
- Create clear accountability frameworks across management and frontline teams.
3. Data Analysis, Reporting & Commercial Insight
- Analyse customer service, operational, and commercial data to identify trends, root causes, and performance improvement opportunities.
- Develop and maintain meaningful KPI dashboards and reporting frameworks.
- Present operational insights and recommendations to senior leadership.
- Use data to support decision-making, forecasting, resource planning, and strategic initiatives.
- Monitor departmental productivity, service quality, and cost-to-serve metrics.
4. Process Improvement & Change Management
- Continuously review and improve customer service processes, systems, and workflows to improve efficiency and customer outcomes.
- Lead operational improvement and transformation initiatives across the customer journey.
- Identify opportunities for automation, technology enhancements, and process standardisation.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with Operations, Supply Chain, Sales, Logistics, CRM, and IT teams to resolve service issues and improve customer experience.
- Drive a culture of continuous improvement throughout the department.
5. Leadership, Coaching & Team Development
- Lead, coach, and develop Customer Care Managers, Team Leaders, and wider department teams.
- Build a high-performance culture focused on accountability, engagement, development, and customer excellence.
- Conduct regular performance reviews, coaching sessions, and succession planning activities.
- Ensure robust onboarding, training, and development frameworks are implemented across the department.
- Manage performance issues effectively and in line with company procedures.
6. Governance, Risk & Quality Assurance
- Ensure compliance with company policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements.
- Implement and maintain quality assurance frameworks and service governance standards.
- Manage high-risk customer escalations and sensitive complaints professionally and commercially.
- Ensure accurate reporting, documentation, and audit readiness across all customer service processes.
- Protect brand reputation through effective service recovery and issue resolution.
7. Financial & Operational Efficiency
- Monitor productivity, staffing levels, and operational costs.
- Drive improvements in departmental performance through effective planning, process optimisation, and resource management.
- Support sustainable operational growth through scalable customer service strategies.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Essential Experience
- Proven experience leading a complex Customer Service or Customer Care function.
- Experience managing multi-level teams within a fast-paced operational environment.
- Strong background in customer service operations, performance management, and service improvement.
- Demonstrable experience using data and operational insight to drive business improvements.
- Experience leading change management and operational transformation initiatives.
- Experience managing SLAs, KPIs, customer complaints, and escalation processes.
Essential Skills & Competencies
- Strategic thinking and commercial awareness
- Strong analytical and problem-solving capability
- Excellent leadership and people management skills
- Data interpretation and reporting capability
- Operational planning and organisational skills
- Strong communication and stakeholder management
- Decision-making under pressure
- Ability to influence cross-functional teams
- Continuous improvement mindset
- High levels of accountability and resilience
Preferred Experience
- Experience within a multi-channel customer operation
- CRM and customer service platform experience
- Process improvement exposure
- Advanced Excel and reporting capability
- Experience managing Trustpilot or customer review platforms
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs)
The Head of Customer Care will be accountable for delivering and improving key departmental metrics, including:
- Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
- First Contact Resolution (FCR)
- SLA Achievement
- Complaint Reduction
- Escalation Resolution
- Trustpilot Rating Improvement
- Productivity & Efficiency Metrics
- Quality Assurance Scores
- Employee Engagement & Retention
- Cost-to-Serve Reduction
- Service Improvement Delivery
- Operational Performance Against Budget
BEHAVIOURS & LEADERSHIP EXPECTATIONS
- Leads by example with professionalism, accountability, and integrity
- Demonstrates proactive and strategic thinking
- Challenges inefficiencies and drives improvement
- Builds strong relationships across departments
- Creates a culture of ownership and continuous learning
- Remains calm and solutions-focused under pressure
- Encourages collaboration, innovation, and high performance
- Maintains a strong customer-centric mindset at all times
Pay: £65,000.00-£75,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Additional leave
- Bereavement leave
- Casual dress
- Cycle to work scheme
- Employee discount
- Free parking
- Health & wellbeing programme
- On-site parking
- Referral programme
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Huddersfield HD2 1UA: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Application question(s):
- Do you have at least 3 years experience leading a customer contact centre?
Work Location: In person
