Customer Service Specialist

Informa PLC; Colchester; Hybrid; GBP 25,000 - 32,000; Full time

Job summary

Taylor & Francis is seeking an experienced Customer Service Specialist to serve as the primary contact for strategic accounts, ensuring first-time resolution and high customer satisfaction. The role requires proactive engagement, complex queries handling, and collaboration with commercial teams in a hybrid UK-based setup.

The ideal candidate will have strong SAP/Salesforce proficiency, excellent communication skills, and a solid background in achieving KPI/SLA targets while maintaining accuracy

Qualifications

• Extensive customer service experience across channels (phone, email, live chat, in person).
• Strong knowledge of CRM systems, SAP/Salesforce familiarity.
• Proven ability to meet KPI/SLA targets with high-quality resolutions.

Responsibilities

• Own customer queries through to resolution per policies and procedures.
• Build and maintain relationships with assigned strategic accounts.
• Proactively address risks and conduct regular account reviews with Commercial colleagues.
• Process orders, invoices, quotes, returns, and claims accurately and promptly.
• Resolve product or service problems by identifying root causes and guiding corrective actions.

Skills

SAP

Salesforce

Excel

CRM systems

Customer service

KPI/SLA

English & Maths

Education

General education (English & Maths)

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Taylor and Francis are looking for an experienced Customer Service Specialist. This role is for someone who demonstrates core customer service competencies and is looking to take the next step in their career. We are looking for ambitious individuals to be responsible for ensuring customers achieve their desired outcomes while using our products and services. This role serves as the primary Customer Service contact for assigned strategic accounts, driving customer satisfaction, first-time resolution, and low effort through proactive engagement and exceptional support.

• Take ownership of customer queries received via phone, email, live chat, and in person through to resolution in line with policies/procedures, KPI's and Customer First training best practices. Striving to increase customer satisfaction/first-time resolution and reduce the need for customers to contact.
• Be the primary Customer Service contact for assigned strategic accounts, building and maintaining strong, long-lasting customer relationships through effective communication and engagement.
• Serve as the trusted advisor and advocate for customers, understanding their business objectives and challenges.
• Manage and monitor assigned customer accounts, proactively addressing any concerns or risks, conducting regular check-ins and account reviews with Commercial colleagues.
• Take ownership of customer queries through to resolution in line with policies/procedures, KPI's, and Customer First training best practice. Striving to increase customer satisfaction/first-time resolution and reduce the need for customers to contact.
• Take responsibility for the processing of orders, invoices, quotes, returns, and claims in a timely and accurate manner, responding appropriately and swiftly to queries, problems, and special requests from customers, and accelerating these to team leaders and managers where appropriate.
• Resolve product or service problems/queries by clarifying customer issues, determining the root cause of the problem, selecting and explaining the best solution to the problem, expediting corrections/adjustments, and following up to ensure resolution.
• On the back of customer contacts review the customer self-help portals (where they exist) and suggest new content or amendments to the relevant team.
• Manage day-to-day business processes, liaising with other departments where appropriate.
• Create and update Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) or suggest amendments to relevant teams.
• Maintain knowledge of department policies, processes, procedures, and systems used, developing an internal network to increase knowledge.
• Playing an active role in the achievement of department goals by assisting with all types of work across the department as needed. Work effectively with the team to achieve individual, team, and departmental objectives, sharing knowledge and skills as appropriate.
• Providing support to team members, assisting with training as appropriate.
• Suggesting improvement ideas and assisting with the implementation of those ideas to improve customer satisfaction, increase productivity, or reduce costs.
• Using SAP/Salesforce to manage orders and customer contacts and workflow in line with the SOP.
• Working to agreed KPIs and targets, including quality assurance.
• You achieve personal objectives and work to agreed KPIs and targets, including quality assurance.
• Experience of Microsoft Office, including advanced knowledge of Excel.
• Previous Customer Service experience across a wide breadth of customer service tasks.
• Experience of working to KPI's/SLA's and encouraging others to.
• A good standard of Education including English and Maths.
• Understanding of the role of related departments with a range of contacts outside and within Customer Service.
• Advanced knowledge of SAP, Salesforce, and other CS systems. You are a super user and test new functionality.
• A solid grasp of process and product-related issues and can effectively answer all customer questions without difficulty.
• Experience of managing projects., This role will be based in the UK and you must have the right to live and work in the UK
• This is a hybrid position that will require on site reporting at least 3x weekly. As such, we can only consider candidates within a reasonable commuting distance to our Colchester location
• Taylor & Francis is an Informa business.
• Informa is a leading academic publishing, business intelligence, knowledge, and events business, creating unique content and connectivity for customers all over the world. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100. Taylor & Francis is one of the world's largest publishers of high-quality, peer reviewed scholarly journals, books, e-books and reference works. We empower learners, thinkers and doers with trusted knowledge that advances research and enriches lives. We bring together diverse people, ideas and opinions to validate and publish the experts, theories and truths that matter. And we've been doing this in an unbroken arc since 1798. Our purpose is to foster human progress through knowledge. We strongly believe that this requires us to encourage and examine different ideas and voices, so that any work that meets our exacting levels of quality deserves to be included in our publications. This requires open minds, the opportunity for robust debate, and the courage to defend perspectives that stand up to scrutiny, even if they conflict with our personal beliefs or values. Because that's the only way to find the best obtainable version of the truth and, ultimately, foster human progress.
• If you agree, then we'd love to hear from you., If you're excited about working with Taylor & Francis to foster human progress through knowledge, At Taylor & Francis, we are at our best and most successful when colleagues can be themselves and make a contribution regardless of their identity or background. As a colleague, you will have the opportunity to further innovate and develop in areas that you are passionate about. Our goal is to empower you with the resources, incentives, and flexibility you need to enjoy success at work and to live a healthy, balanced life.
• Taylor & Francis is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.
• We believe in and value diversity of people and thought, fostering a supportive and inclusive environment where all colleagues can learn and succeed as their true selves.