Deputy Director of Contact Centre Services - 31949

ENVIRONMENT AGENCY; Sheffield; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A governmental environmental organization in Sheffield is seeking a Deputy Director to lead their Contact Centre services. The role involves managing a significant budget and ensuring high-quality service delivery while responding to incidents. Candidates should have experience in leadership, budget management, and effective change management. A commitment to diversity and inclusive workforce is emphasized.

Qualifications

• Experience in leading a high performing functional team with breadth in people management.
• Strong experience in embedding a culture of effective change management.
• Excellent communication skills and a passion for developing others.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Contact Centre services and manage public reputation.
• Manage a budget of circa £8m and adopt technology for service delivery.
• Respond to incidents and ensure business continuity.

Skills

Leadership

Budget Management

Crisis Management

Change Management

Communication

Job description

Overview

If you're part of the Environment Agency (EA), you're part of the solution. Working with us means protecting and improving the environment for generations to come. Such a broad scope of work calls for diverse, multi-skilled teams and exceptional leadership.

We're looking for a Deputy Director to confidently lead our award winning Contact Centre services, this role sits within our Corporate and National Services Directorate.

You will be customer focussed, with a continuous improvement mindset, with strong values who is entrusted to deliver the direct provision of resilient 24x7 Critical Business activities. You will be key in connecting corporate service performance, ensuring delivery and outcomes meet or exceed expectations and align with the business' strategic vision and objectives. You will have a strong people-oriented mindset that is quality-focused and results-driven with the ability to make decisions to set a high benchmark in customer service.

You will be responsible for managing a budget of circa £8m while managing the reputation of the Environment Agency and Defra. You will build strong relationships and collaborate across a number of teams to embrace using technology and digital services to transform service design and delivery. You will be required to influence senior internal and external partners and have sound political acumen.

A large part of the role will involve ensuring service design embraces the use of technology/digital, maximising efficiency whilst delivering quality services. You will be adaptable and provide resilience and flexibility of resource to respond to unexpected events, including unplanned business critical work.

Responding to incidents is central to what we do. You will be required to have an incident role and make yourself available to respond to incidents or provide business continuity during an incident. Full training will be available.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Contact Centre services within the Corporate and National Services Directorate, managing public reputation as the first point of contact for hundreds of thousands of customers each year.
• Manage a budget of circa £8m and collaborate across teams to adopt technology and digital services to transform service design and delivery.
• Influence senior internal and external partners and demonstrate strong political acumen.
• Ensure service design leverages technology to maximise efficiency and deliver high-quality services.
• Provide resilience and flexible resource planning to respond to incidents and business continuity needs.

Experience / skills required

• Experience in leading a high performing, high impact functional team with breadth and depth in people management, budget, leadership and management.
• Strong experience setting direction and embedding a culture of effective change management to support changing customer needs.
• Develop and deliver a plan of initiatives for change to deliver efficient systems and value for money against EA operational and business requirements.
• Plan, monitor, control and realign resources to maximise their efficient and effective use and ensure objectives are met to required standards.
• Understanding of crisis management and willingness to learn how to manage national or large-scale incidents and emergencies.
• Excellent communications skills and ability to collaborate/facilitate; a passion for developing others, innovative thinking, and strong organisational skills.
• Desirable: experience using technology and digital services to transform service design and delivery.

Contact and additional information

For further information please contact: Katie Bonnett, Business Manager, Corporate and National Services at; directorofcorporateandnationalservices at environment-agency.gov.uk

Candidate assessments will take place face to face. These may include a staff engagement panel. Further details will be provided to shortlisted candidates.

We will be running a virtual candidate briefing session for those interested in applying for the role on date 6th October 2025, 3:30pm. Invitations can be acquired by registering via a link. We will also be recording this session should you need this.

If you are applying from the Civil Service please note that the Environment Agency is not a part of HM Civil Service and you would not be a Crown Servant in the event of being appointed. You may be eligible for continuous service for redundancy purposes depending on your current status; please contact your HR team if unsure.

We are fully committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce. We welcome flexible working patterns for all vacancies, including job share, so please include any information regarding preferred working arrangements on your application. We also have a Guaranteed Interview Policy to support those with a disability who are seeking employment. We have committed to guaranteeing an interview to anyone with a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

The Environment Agency is committed to value for money and uses Central Government frameworks for recruitment. For information on supplier opportunities, please visit the relevant framework sites.

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