Hardship Customer Support Executive

Optus; City of Melbourne; Hybrid; AUD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work arrangements

Office campus facilities

Parental leave

Colleague discounts

Wellbeing support

Job summary

Optus is seeking a Hardships Customer Support Executive to safeguard the interests of customers while supporting financially vulnerable individuals. You will collaborate daily with Financial Counsellors and progress referrals to achieve positive outcomes, while upholding privacy and regulatory requirements in a resilient, team‑oriented environment.

Key duties include assessing financial situations, managing cases end-to-end, and building strong relationships with counselling bodies and community

Qualifications

• Experience in collections, customer service, financial hardship or related fields with privacy and regulatory knowledge.
• Desirable experience in financial counselling and understanding of how counselling teams support hardship.
• Strong communication and negotiation skills for daily liaison with counsellors.

Responsibilities

• Assess customers’ financial circumstances and capacity to pay, delivering tailored solutions.
• Manage hardship cases end-to-end from assessment to resolution.
• Liaise daily with Financial Counsellors, responding to referrals and guidance on processes.
• Build relationships with counselling organisations and community services for coordinated support.
• Resolve inquiries with empathetic communication and proactive customer advocacy.
• Identify risks to privacy, safety and compliance, and escalate systemic improvements.
• Capture feedback and contribute to improvements in hardship procedures and stakeholder experiences.
• Maintain accurate records and collaborate with internal/external stakeholders.

Skills

Customer service

Financial hardship

Collections

Negotiation

Regulatory awareness

Privacy compliance

Relationship building

Job description

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 be responsible 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!

Not every box ticked?

We believe the right mindset matter more than a perfect CV. We’ll back you to grow from there.

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 ***************@optus.com.auor call 1800 309 ***.