Hardship Customer Support Executive

Singtel Group; City of Melbourne; Hybrid; AUD 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive remuneration

Colleague discounts

Flexible working (3 days in office, 2%

On-site campus facilities

Parental Leave 16 weeks

Wellbeing support

Counselling services 24/7

Transport benefits

Job summary

Optus is seeking a dedicated Hardships Customer Support Executive to safeguard customers’ interests and assist financially vulnerable individuals. The role involves daily coordination with Financial Counsellors, guiding customers through hardship processes, and building strong relationships with counselling organisations to ensure timely, consistent support.

You will contribute to reducing complaints and support wellbeing while navigating privacy, safety, and regulatory obligations in a

Qualifications

• Experience in collections, customer service, financial hardship, or related fields with knowledge of privacy, credit and regulatory requirements.
• Previous experience in financial counselling is highly desirable, with understanding of how Financial Counselling teams support customers experiencing hardship.
• Strong communication and negotiation skills to manage enquiries and liaise with authorities across Australia.

Responsibilities

• Assess customers’ financial circumstances and capacity to pay, delivering tailored solutions that support positive financial outcomes.
• Manage hardship cases end-to-end, including assessment, negotiation, implementation, review, escalation and resolution.
• Liaise daily with Financial Counsellors, respond to referrals, enquiries and requests for support, and provide guidance on hardship processes.

Skills

Collections experience

Financial hardship

Customer service

Privacy & regulatory

Communication & negotiation

Liaison with counsellors

Problem-solving

Empathy & advocacy

Job description

Select how often (in days) to receive an alert:

Every day, millions of Australians connect, work, stream, and stay in touch on the Optus network. When it works seamlessly, it’s easy to take for granted. But behind it is a team making thousands of decisions every day - decisions that keep people, businesses and communities connected.

Right now, Optus is focused on getting the fundamentals right - simplifying how we work, lifting standards, and building a more reliable, resilient experience for our customers.

It’s not about surface-level change. It’s about how we make decisions, how we work together, and how we deliver.

As a Hardships Customer Support Executive, you will beresponsible for safeguarding the interests of Optus while supporting financially vulnerable customers and collaborating closely with Financial Counsellors. Daily liaison and communication with Financial Counsellors is the core responsibility of this role. You will develop trusted working relationships, respond to referrals and enquiries, and work closely with Financial Counsellors to progress matters and achieve positive outcomes for customers. Financial Counsellors provide customers with essential information, resources and access to emergency relief during periods of financial uncertainty.

This role will be challenging and requires resilience, as customer and community expectations are high. The successful candidate will embrace these challenges while contributing to a proactive, highly engaged and supportive team culture. They will be empowered to advocate for customers, provide excellent service, support vulnerable customers in achieving positive outcomes, and help reduce internal and Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) complaints.

The Day to Day

• Assess customers’ financial circumstances and capacity to pay, delivering tailored solutions that support positive financial outcomes.
• Manage hardship cases end-to-end, including assessment, negotiation, implementation, review, escalation and resolution.
• Liaise and communicate with Financial Counsellors every day, responding to referrals, enquiries and requests for support, and providing clear guidance on hardship processes, available options, documentation and next steps.
• Build effective working relationships with financial counselling organisations and community support services to ensure matters are progressed promptly and customers receive consistent, well-coordinated support.
• Resolve customer enquiries and minimise complaints through empathetic communication, effective problem-solving and strong customer advocacy.
• Identify and manage risks relating to family violence, financial abuse, privacy, safety and customer wellbeing, ensuring compliance with relevant legislation and industry codes.
• Identify recurring themes, process gaps and customer or Financial Counsellor feedback, escalating systemic issues and contributing to improvements in hardship processes, procedures and stakeholder experiences.
• Build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders while maintaining accurate records and contributing to exceptional customer outcomes and team performance.

What You Bring

• Experience in collections, customer service, financial hardship, or related fields, with knowledge of privacy, credit and regulatory requirements.
• Previous experience in financial counselling is highly desirable, with an understanding of how Financial Counselling teams support customers experiencing financial difficulty, vulnerability or hardship.
• Strong communication and negotiation skills, with the ability to manage hardship enquiries, liaise with financial counselling authorities across Australia, and resolve complex customer matters.
• The ability to communicate confidently and build constructive relationships with Financial Counsellors on a daily basis is essential.
• Ability to assess customer circumstances, identify appropriate support pathways, and balance customer needs with business objectives while delivering positive customer outcomes.
• Highly organised and adaptable, with strong problem-solving skills and the ability to manage high-volume customer enquiries and hardship casework in a regulated environment.
• Proven relationship-building skills, resilience and sound judgement, with a customer-focused approach and commitment to meeting regulatory obligations and delivering exceptional service.

The good stuff

• Competitive remuneration and colleague discounts. Make life easier (and more affordable) with $80 monthly credit and 25% off Optus products and outstanding shopping discounts with our retail partners.
• Flexible working arrangements with opportunities to work three days in the office, two days remote or home.
• Vibrant and collaborative office campus that includes cafes, convenience store, chill out zones, GP, post office, gym, and on-site childcare centre.
• Competitive leave policies, including additional 'Connected’ days to focus on culture, family, health, community, or whatever’s important to you.
• We support growing families with inclusive, carer-neutral paid Parental Leave of up to 16 weeks.
• Build meaningful connections through colleague-led networks and diversity initiatives including Culture Connect, Elevate Women, Disability Network, and Express Yourself (LGBTQIA+).
• Put your wellbeing first with free access to counselling and support services, 24/7 — in-person, by phone, SMS, or video.
• Free Optus bus from Macquarie University Metro Station (every 6-8 minutes); morning and afternoon. Join us for an outstanding career opportunity!

At Optus, we are strengthened by others and that means valuing diversity and saying ‘yes’ to embracing individual differences. We are committed to ensuring that our application process provides an equal employment opportunity to all job seekers, including individuals from diverse gender, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, individuals with a disability, individuals identifying as being part of the LGBTQIA+ community, individuals who may have served in the armed forces or who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. We also want to do our best to make our recruitment process inclusive. If you require any adjustments or accessibility support to participate fairly and equitably in the recruitment process, please email [e-mail] or call 1800 309 170.