National Manager Customer Experience & Strategy

Talentpath Recruitment; Sydney; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work arrangements

Parental leave

Cultural and gender affirmation leave

Wellbeing & lifestyle benefits

Learning & development platform

Job summary

The Smith Family is seeking a National Manager Customer Experience & Strategy in Sydney, NSW, reporting to the Head of Fundraising and Communications. This senior role sits at the heart of aligning supporter insights with strategy across Marketing, Philanthropy and Customer Experience to boost engagement, retention and social impact.

You will lead a national CX function, champion continuous improvement, and work with senior leaders to deliver measurable outcomes that advance educational

Qualifications

• Significant leadership experience within customer operations, supporter services or similar relationship-based environments.
• Proven experience in Agile delivery and ongoing improvement initiatives.
• Strong ability to influence multiple teams and drive cross-functional alignment.
• Qualifications in business, CX, project management or related disciplines; Agile experience is essential.

Responsibilities

• Lead the national contact centre and ensure exceptional supporter experiences across touchpoints.
• Develop a clear vision for customer experience and translate it into measurable improvements.
• Use insights and data to drive satisfaction, retention and long-term engagement.
• Partner with Marketing and Philanthropy to create integrated supporter engagement strategies.
• Drive continuous improvement across operations, service quality and outcomes.
• Coach and develop leaders to build capability and high performance.

Skills

Leadership experience

Agile experience

Stakeholder influence

Change management

Education

Business or related discipline

Tools

CRM systems

Job description

Talentpath Recruitment is proud to be partnering with The Smith Family to appoint their next National Manager Customer Experience & Strategy. Reporting to the Head of Fundraising and Communications, this is a pivotal leadership role at a time of significant organisational evolution, growth, innovation and impact. As one of Australia's leading children's charities, The Smith Family's purpose is to overcome educational inequality caused by poverty so children and young people can thrive now and into their futures.

Leading a national CX function, you will sit at the intersection of supporter engagement, operational excellence and fundraising performance. This role isn't simply about running a contact centre. It's about translating supporter insights into meaningful action, bringing together Marketing, Philanthropy and Customer Experience teams around shared priorities, and helping shape how supporter relationships drive long‑term outcomes for Australian children and families.

This is a rare opportunity to bring your customer experience, operational excellence and stakeholder leadership expertise into a nationally recognised not‑for‑profit, influencing organisation‑wide outcomes while helping drive meaningful social impact.

What's in it for you?

• Attractive remuneration package, with the opportunity to significantly increase your take‑home pay through NFP salary packaging benefits.
• Sydney CBD location, with a modern office conveniently located near Town Hall and major public transport links, complemented by hybrid working arrangements that support flexibility and collaboration.
• Join an organisation that supports life beyond work through a range of inclusive leave benefits, including paid parental, cultural and gender affirmation leave, as well as the option to purchase additional annual leave.
• Access comprehensive wellbeing and lifestyle benefits for you and your family, including a full care and safety platform, unlimited Employee Assistance Program services, Fitness Passport membership and discounts with a wide range of national retailers.
• Continue your professional growth with career development opportunities, leadership programs and access to a dedicated learning and development platform.
• Join a highly collaborative senior leadership group that values authenticity, humility and shared success.
• Lead a national team while contributing to enterprise‑wide priorities across Fundraising, Marketing, Philanthropy and Digital.

About the role

Working closely with senior leaders across Marketing, Philanthropy and Fundraising, you will help create stronger alignment between supporter behaviour, customer insight and organisational priorities. You'll bring curiosity, commercial thinking and a continuous improvement mindset, helping teams identify opportunities to strengthen supporter relationships while navigating an environment that is increasingly embracing change, collaboration and new ways of working.

Leading in a highly agile environment, you'll balance longer‑term thinking with the realities of day‑to‑day operations, supporting your team to deliver exceptional experiences while driving meaningful improvements across systems, processes and customer journeys. You'll do so in a way that reflects The Smith Family's values of respect, integrity, collaboration, innovation and excellence, fostering a culture where people, supporters and organisational outcomes can thrive.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading the national contact centre, ensuring exceptional supporter experiences across every touchpoint.
• Developing a clear vision for customer experience and translating that vision into practical, measurable improvements.
• Using supporter insights, operational data and customer feedback to identify opportunities that improve satisfaction, retention and long‑term engagement.
• Partnering closely with Marketing and Philanthropy leaders to create a more integrated and coordinated approach to supporter engagement.
• Driving continuous improvement initiatives that strengthen operational performance, service quality and supporter outcomes.
• Leading and coaching a team of leaders to build capability, accountability and high performance across customer‑facing teams.
• Influencing priorities, projects and initiatives across multiple stakeholder groups where outcomes rely on collaboration rather than direct authority.
• Supporting the delivery of strategic projects, technology enhancements and customer journey improvements within an Agile delivery environment.
• Ensuring operational excellence across supporter care, administration, complaints management, correspondence and CRM data quality.
• Protecting fundraising performance through effective payment recovery, retention initiatives and supporter engagement programmes.
• Championing innovation, automation and digital enablement opportunities that improve both supporter and employee experiences.
• Contributing to organisational change initiatives and helping build capability, resilience and adaptability across teams.

About you

You are an experienced customer operations and contact centre professional who understands that exceptional customer experiences don't happen by accident. You've built and led high‑performance teams, delivered meaningful operational improvements and successfully balanced strategic priorities with the realities of front‑line service delivery.

Most importantly, you're comfortable operating in environments where influence matters as much as authority. You know how to bring people together around shared goals, navigate differing perspectives and create alignment where decision‑making is distributed across multiple stakeholders.

• Significant leadership experience within customer operations, supporter services, membership, subscription, insurance, recurring revenue or similarly relationship‑based environments.
• Proven contact centre leadership experience, with responsibility for service delivery, operational performance and team development.
• Demonstrated success leading continuous improvement initiatives that have delivered measurable customer, operational and commercial outcomes.
• Experience working within Agile environments and an appreciation for iterative delivery, prioritisation and change adoption.
• The ability to translate customer insights, behavioural data and operational trends into practical recommendations and action plans.
• Strong stakeholder influence skills, including experience bringing multiple teams together around shared objectives where priorities may differ.
• Experience leading organisational change, transformation initiatives or evolving ways of working.
• A leadership style that combines coaching, curiosity and accountability.
• Strong project leadership capability, with experience delivering initiatives that involve technology, process and people change.
• The ability to move comfortably between strategic thinking and operational execution, rolling up your sleeves to get your hands dirty excites you.
• Resilience, adaptability and a genuine enthusiasm for working in environments that are embracing new ideas and evolving ways of working.
• Relevant qualifications in business, customer experience, project management or related disciplines, with Agile experience is essential.
• Due to the nature of this role, the successful candidate must be prepared to undertake a National Police Check and a Working with Children's Check.

We recognise that people are more than just their CVs and take pride in being inclusive and diverse in our recruiting process.

National Manager Customer Experience & Strategy Sydney, NSW, AU