Customer Service Manager

Interior Goods Direct Limited; Huddersfield; Hybrid; GBP 43,000 - 48,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company events

Company pension

Flexitime

Free parking

On-site parking

Job summary

Interior Goods Direct Ltd. is seeking an experienced Customer Service Manager to shape the customer experience, manage a 20+ strong team, and align care strategies with business goals.

The role reports to the Commercial Director and spans cross-functional collaboration across operations, sales and marketing, with a focus on delivering best-in-class service and operational excellence. You will drive strategic initiatives, develop robust dashboards, and lead recruitment, training and retention

Qualifications

• Extensive, minimum three years of senior leadership within B2C customer care.
• Proven experience managing high-performing customer facing teams (20+ FTE) and cross-functional collaboration.
• Strong understanding of data analytics, CRM platforms and related tooling.

Responsibilities

• Lead and inspire the Customer Service department with a clear customer-centric vision aligned to company objectives.
• Develop and implement strategies to reduce consumer contacts and improve satisfaction scores.
• Manage day-to-day operations and drive process improvements across the team.
• Collaborate with operations, sales and marketing to align customer-facing processes and drive growth.
• Present insights and performance to the executive team and define KPIs, SLAs and quality benchmarks.

Skills

Leadership

Customer service management

Strategic thinking

Data analysis

CRM tools

Tools

CRM platforms

Data analysis tools

Job description

Interior Goods Direct (IGD) is a fast-paced and innovative e-commerce business specialising in high-quality made to measure home furnishings that are sold via multiple websites. Our flagship brand, www.blindsdirect.co.uk is a recognised market leader. Our core mission is to offer unparalleled customer service and exceptional products, crafting the best experience possible for our customers. We strive to foster a culture of excellence, continuous improvement, and professional growth for our team.

Position Overview:

As an experienced Customer Service Manager, you will play a strategic leadership role in shaping the customer experience, developing and managing a high-performing team of Customer Service Agents and Team Leaders. This role requires a visionary leader with a proven track record of driving customer service excellence, optimising processes, and aligning customer care strategy with the broader goals of the business. You will report directly to the Commercial Director, managing a team of 20+ individuals and working cross-functionally to ensure a seamless customer experience and operational efficiency across the company.

In this role, you will not only be responsible for the management of day-to-day operations for Customer Service but also for implementing innovative strategies that enhance customer experience, customer satisfaction, drive business growth, and support Interior Goods Direct long-term success. Your leadership will be essential in cultivating a customer-centric culture, ensuring the delivery of exceptional service, and positioning the company as a market leader in customer care.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership & Vision:

• Lead and inspire the Customer Service department by setting a clear, customer-centric vision aligned with company objectives. Drive strategic initiatives that deliver measurable improvements in reducing consumer contacts, improving customer facing service levels and satisfaction scores and increasing customer lifetime value.
• Establish and advocate a customer-centric ethos across the business, ensuring empathy, professionalism, and consistency in delivering a truly ‘best-in-class’ customer experience.
• Champion customer satisfaction as a core value at the heart of the business, promoting proactive, solutions-oriented approaches to service.
• Create and execute long-term strategies for team growth, including organisational development, succession planning, and the integration of cutting-edge technologies to streamline operations.
• Develop robust and polished dashboard reporting, including suitable extracts shared with Exec Team upon request.
• Team Leadership and Development:
• Inspire, motivate and guide a diverse team of customer service representatives to provide excellent service and achieve performance goals.
• Build a high-performing, results-driven team by fostering a culture of accountability, development, and continuous learning. Ensure all team members are equipped with the tools, training, knowledge and support they need to thrive in their roles.
• Lead by example in developing leadership talent within the team, ensuring robust career progression plans and high levels of employee engagement and retention.

Recruitment, Training and Retention:

• Lead the effective recruitment and onboarding for the department, ensuring optimum capacity that is in line with budget sales, contacts and costs.
• Develop and implement customer service training strategies that achieve excellence in capabilities for key areas, such as communication, product knowledge, problem-solving.
• Effectively motivate and manage the team as both a collective and individuals in order to achieve a high level of positivity, professionalism and resilience.
• Create and maintain training materials that are regularly updated to reflect the latest product offering and service level standards evolution that align to KPIs and business objectives.

Customer Experience Strategy:

• Lead initiatives aimed at transforming customer feedback into actionable insights, guiding the company in delivering world-class customer journeys.
• Prioritise key areas of improvement, including reducing consumer contacts related to orders, minimising refunds, and increasing customer satisfaction in the form of improved Trustpilot and Google ratings.
• Forge strong partnerships with management from other internal departments, including operations, sales and marketing to drive cohesion in ensuring effective customer-facing processes, sales conversion and content (written, imagery, video etc).
• Act as a key influencer in cross-departmental projects, ensuring the customer voice is represented in decision-making processes that affect the overall customer journey.
• Lead the development and execution of customer service strategies based on deep analysis of customer data, performance metrics, and market trends. Ensure the team leverages data to drive continuous improvement, innovation, and strategic decision-making.
• Regularly present insights and performance reports to the executive team, providing strategic recommendations for enhancing customer loyalty and business profitability.
• Define, monitor, analyse and report against KPIs, targets, SLAs and quality benchmarks, not limited to but including the ratio of consumer contacts to orders, contacts per person per hour, ratios for both department overhead cost and refunds value to sales, response and resolution times, contact duration, customer satisfaction scores and Trustpilot reviews.

Process Improvement & Innovation:

• Drive a culture of passion and commitment to the continuous improvement of consumer experience, while ensuring efficiency and scalability.
• Champion innovation, including the adoption of AI and automation tools to streamline workflows and enhance team efficiency while maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction.
• Lead initiatives focused on process optimisation, incorporating lean methodologies and industry best practices to achieve operational excellence.
• Develop and effectively maintain a comprehensive Customer Care Manual that incorporates policies, procedures, best practices and KPIs that are designed to achieve excellence in customer care.
• Define and document escalation frameworks for managing complex, high-stakes customer issues, ensuring swift and effective resolution.
• Take ownership of complex or escalated customer issues, ensuring prompt resolution and developing proactive strategies to prevent recurring concerns.
• Oversee the escalation process and ensure that the team effectively handles sensitive customer situations, protecting the company’s reputation while delivering customer-centric solutions.
• Effectively address and resolve conflicts within the team in a professional manner that is also inline with Company HR policy.

External Partner Management:

• Cultivate and maintain strong relationships with external partners, including couriers, third-party service providers, and technology vendors. Collaborate closely with them to ensure smooth and efficient service delivery to customers.
• Negotiate and manage service level agreements (SLAs) with external partners, ensuring high standards of service are met consistently.

Financial Oversight & Budget Management:

• Manage the budget for the Customer Service Team, working closely with senior leadership to forward plan the appropriate allocation of necessary resources to cost effectively deliver high-quality service, in line with business objectives.
• Develop and implement financial strategies to drive operational efficiency and align customer care objectives with broader financial goals.

Person Specification:

Experience:

• Extensive, minimum three years of senior leadership within B2C customer care, preferably in an e-commerce or high-growth environment, ideally handling over 200k contacts per annum, reporting directly to Company SMT or Board.
• Proven experience managing high-performing customer facing teams, ideally more than 20 x FTE and successfully driving cross-functional collaboration in a complex, fast-paced business setting.
• In depth understanding of customer service technologies, CRM platforms and data analysis tools, with proven success in leveraging technology to drive innovation.
• Suitable experience of resource and department cost management, including budget planning.
• Exceptional leadership skills with a proven ability to lead large, diverse teams, inspire high performance, and drive results.
• Advanced strategic thinking with the ability to align customer service initiatives with business objectives and long-term vision.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build relationships and influence stakeholders at all levels of the organisation.
• Expertise in data analysis and performance metrics, with a strong aptitude for using data to inform decision-making and business strategy.

Personal Attributes:

• A customer-first mindset with a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities in the e-commerce landscape.
• High emotional intelligence, with the ability to manage change and navigate complex situations with diplomacy and professionalism.
• A relentless focus on continuous improvement, innovation, and delivering exceptional service.

Working Hours:

This position operates on a 40-hour working week, Monday to Friday. Given the nature of the business, flexibility outside of normal hours may be required to ensure ongoing operational success.

Pay: £43,000.00-£48,000.00 per year

• Company events
• Company pension
• Flexitime
• Free parking
• On-site parking

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Huddersfield HD5 0RH: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (preferred)

Experience:

• Senior Leadership: 3 years (required)

Location:

• Huddersfield HD5 0RH (preferred)
• Work Location: Hybrid Office requirement Monday, Tuesday and Friday