Contact Channel CX Lead

Thames Water Utilities Limited; Reading; Hybrid; GBP 63,000 - 70,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

26 days holiday (plus bank holidays)

Car allowance

Performance-related pay

Generous Pension Scheme

Private Medical Health Care

Wellbeing and employee benefits

Job summary

Thames Water is seeking a Contact Channel CX Lead to shape how customers interact with us, breaking down silos and knitting journeys and channels into seamless, engaging experiences. You will lead storytelling, campaign strategy and journey design to drive cost-effective outcomes.

Base location is Hybrid/Reading with 36 hours per week. You will oversee channels, manage journey managers, and champion best practices while leveraging insights, dashboards, and BI to improve customer satisfaction and

Qualifications

• Proven experience in channel management, campaign management, marketing, communications, or PR—especially in email and SMS channels.
• Expertise in designing and optimising end-to-end customer journeys.
• Experience leading journey managers and channel owners.
• Strong background in gathering insights, business intelligence, and dashboarding.
• Ability to bridge traditionally siloed teams and processes to foster integrated customer experiences.
• Familiarity with communications technology platforms such as SAP, Salesforce, Adobe, and AWS.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and leadership skills.
• Deep knowledge of multi-channel customer journeys and channel best practices.

Responsibilities

• Channel Oversight: optimise customer contact journeys across telephony, IVR, webchat, WhatsApp, email, SMS, and more.
• Lead a team of journey managers and channel owners for cohesive delivery.
• Apply best practices in channel management and campaign strategy to drive performance and satisfaction.
• Integrate customer insights, BI, and dashboards to address drivers of contact.
• Champion cross-channel storytelling and holistic experience design.
• Prepare the organisation for new communications platforms and technologies.
• Facilitate collaboration across traditionally siloed teams and processes.
• Engage stakeholders and drive cross-functional projects.

Skills

Channel management

Campaign management

Marketing communications

Public relations

Service design

Journey design

Stakeholder management

Data analysis

Agile delivery

Cross-functional leadership

Tools

SAP

Salesforce

Adobe

AWS

Job description

As our Contact Channel CX Lead, you'll be at the heart of shaping how our customers interact with us, ensuring the right message reaches the right person, at the right time, through the right channel. You'll lead the charge in breaking down silos, knitting together journeys and channels to deliver seamless, engaging, and cost-effective experiences. If you thrive on storytelling, campaign strategy, and journey design, have experience with implementing communication platforms, and a knack for channel best practice (especially email/SMS), this is your opportunity to make a real impact.

• Channel Oversight: Oversee and continuously optimise customer contact journeys across all inbound and outbound channels, including telephony, IVR, webchat, WhatsApp, email, SMS, online account management, and outbound communications.
• Team Leadership: Lead and manage a team of journey managers and channel owners, ensuring cohesive delivery and ongoing improvement of all customer touchpoints
• Best Practice Implementation: Apply best practices in channel management and campaign strategy to drive performance outcomes and enhance customer satisfaction.
• Insight Integration: Integrate customer insights, business intelligence, and dashboarding to identify pain points and address the drivers behind customer contact.
• Experience Design: Champion cross-channel storytelling and holistic experience design to create seamless and engaging interactions throughout the customer lifecycle.
• Technology Adoption: Prepare the organisation for the adoption of new communications platforms and emerging technologies, ensuring readiness for transformation and innovation.
• Collaboration Facilitation: Facilitate collaboration across traditionally siloed teams and processes, building unified and effective customer journeys.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Engage stakeholders effectively and provide leadership in driving cross-functional projects and continuous improvement initiatives.

Base location: Hybrid/Reading (minimum one day in the office per week, with flexibility to attend additional days as required for team meetings, projects, or during onboarding)

Working pattern or hours: 36 hours per week (Monday to Friday)

• Proven experience in channel management, campaign management, marketing, communications, public relations, or service design-especially in email and SMS channels.
• Expertise in designing and optimising end-to-end customer journeys.
• Experience leading journey managers and channel owners.
• Strong background in gathering insights, business intelligence, and dashboarding.
• Demonstrated ability to leverage data for informed decision-making.
• Ability to bridge traditionally siloed teams and processes to foster integrated customer experiences.
• Familiarity with communications technology platforms such as SAP, Salesforce, Adobe, and AWS.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and leadership skills.
• Deep knowledge of multi-channel customer journeys and channel best practice.
• Experience in service design, journey mapping, and customer research.
• Strong analytical skills and commercial awareness.
• Leadership experience managing high-performing teams.
• Experience in Agile product delivery environments. (desirable)
• Background in campaign management, marketing, communications, or PR. (desirable)
• Knowledge of new contact technologies and digital transformation. (desirable)

We're the UK's largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people, and the planet to thrive. It's a big job and we've got a long way to go, so we need help from passionate and skilled people, committed to making a difference and getting us to where we want to be in the years and decades to come.

Learn more about our purpose and values

Working at Thames Water

Thames Water is a unique, rewarding, and diverse place to work, where every day you can make a difference, yet no day is the same. As part of our family, you'll enjoy meaningful career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.

If you're looking for a sustainable and successful career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people's lives while helping to protect the world of water for future generations, we'll be here to support you every step of the way. Together, we can build a better future for our customers, our region, and our planet.

Real purpose, real support, real opportunities. Come and join the Thames Water family. Why choose us? Learn more.

We're committed to being a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, whether that's extra time, accessible formats, or anything else just let us know, we're here to help and support.

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you'll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience. It's also a great opportunity to learn more about our business and meet colleagues.

Disclaimer: due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

• Competitive salary from £62,650 - £70,000 per annum depending on skills and experience.
• 26 days holiday per year increasing to 30 with the length of service. (plus bank holidays)
• Car Allowance.
• Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets
• Generous Pension Scheme through AON.
• Private Medical Health Care.
• Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family's health and wellbeing, and your finances - from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling, to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance.