Service First Lead - Chicago, IL

VetJobs; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 75,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

DHL is seeking an Operations Specialist to provide day-to-day operational support for the Chicago Air, Ocean and Domestic teams, coordinating escalations and delivering timely customer updates.

The role connects operations, customer-facing colleagues and the wider network to improve issue visibility, resolution momentum, and proactive risk identification during the two-year secondment.

Qualifications

• 3+ years in customer service, operations, continuous improvement, quality management or customer experience.
• Demonstrated success in driving measurable improvements in customer satisfaction, service quality and business performance.

Responsibilities

• Escalation coordination and operational support.
• Act as the Chicago focal point for internal network and external customer escalations relating to air freight, ocean freight and domestic freight.
• Capture impact, context, status, owner, actions, next update and target resolution; coordinate operational owners to establish facts, remove blockers and maintain momentum through closure.
• Maintain the escalation tracker, prioritize cases by customer and operational impact, and elevate unclear ownership, timing or unresolved barriers through the appropriate leadership channels.
• Customer updates and service recovery.
• Coordinate timely, accurate and professional customer updates through the appropriate customer-facing channels.

Skills

Escalation coordination

Customer service

Stakeholder management

Communication

Education

Bachelors

Job description

Minimum Education Required

Bachelors

Job Description

ATTENTION MILITARY AFFILIATED JOB SEEKERS - Our organization works with partner companies to source qualified talent for their open roles. The following position is available to Veterans, Transitioning Military, National Guard and Reserve Members, Military Spouses, Wounded Warriors, and their Caregivers. Unless specifically stated otherwise, this role is "On-Site" at the location detailed in the job post.

DHL Global Forwarding (DGF) manages the flow of goods and information across a customer's global supply chain utilizing air/ocean/ground transportation, customs brokerage services, and dedicated warehousing/distribution centers. We are part of Deutsche Post DHL, the world’s leading logistics provider with operations in over 220 countries.

The Service First Specialist provide hands-on, day-to-day operational support to the Chicago Air, Ocean and Domestic teams by coordinating internal and external escalations, helping operational owners get issues unstuck, and ensuring accurate, professional customer updates that improve the customer experience.

The role connects operations, customer-facing colleagues and the wider network to create visibility of open issues, maintain momentum through resolution and identify recurring themes before they become escalations. It is not intended to be the main contact or routing path for escalations, rather it is to support “behind the scenes” to reduce friction and expedite resolutions.

During the two-year secondment, it will develop from responsive service recovery towards proactive risk identification, trend analysis, prevention of repeat issues and local delivery of Service First initiatives.

Service First Behaviors

• I always aim to leave my customer with a smile on their face
• I work in a way that minimizes errors and waste for DGF and our customers
• I think and act beyond my local team when finding the best customer solution
• I understand the importance of providing timely and full responses to customers and the network

Key Tasks

• Escalation coordination and operational support
• Act as the Chicago focal point for internal network and external customer escalations relating to air freight, ocean freight and domestic freight.
• Capture impact, context, status, owner, actions, next update and target resolution; coordinate operational owners to establish facts, remove blockers and maintain momentum through closure.
• Maintain the escalation tracker, prioritize cases by customer and operational impact, and elevate unclear ownership, timing or unresolved barriers through the appropriate leadership channels.
• Customer updates and service recovery
• Coordinate timely, accurate and professional customer updates through the appropriate customer-facing channels.
• Translate operational information into clear updates covering what happened, action underway, ownership and next update; support consistent acknowledgement, update, recovery and closure routines.
• Reporting, data and insight
• Provide weekly reporting to Chicago and Service First management on open and closed cases, ageing, severity, customer impact, ownership, progress, blockers and risks.
• Build and analyze an escalation data pool to identify trends, root causes, recurring weaknesses and prevention opportunities; produce practical recommendations and support simple dashboards and management routines.
• Prevention and local Service First deployment
• Work with operational owners to distinguish immediate containment from corrective action, track preventive actions and identify customer-impacting risks before they become formal escalations.
• Support “See it, Sort it, Fix it”, “Right First Time” and other Service First / First Choice practices, translating priorities into daily routines, engagement activity, briefings and local rollout support.
• Role evolution
• Response and recovery → insight and prevention → proactive Service First delivery.

Additional Qualifications / Responsibilities

Qualifications & Key Requirements

Education Level

Bachelors Degree: Business Administration, Industrial Engineering, Integrated Quality Systems, or related field.

Experience Level

3+ years in customer service, operations, continuous improvement, quality management or customer experience. Demonstrated success in driving measurable improvements in customer satisfaction, service quality and business performance.

Candidates Should Be Able To Demonstrate

• Experience working in a time-sensitive operational environment where priorities can change quickly.
• Experience coordinating issues across multiple teams or locations and following actions through to closure.
• The judgement to assess customer impact, prioritize work and elevate appropriately.
• Stakeholder management, influence and impact to build effective relationships with operational and customer-facing stakeholders.
• Effective communication and escalation awareness
• The ability to produce clear updates and management information from incomplete or changing operational data.
• An interest in customer experience, service excellence and preventing repeat problems.
• The ability to work independently while maintaining alignment with local operations and Service First.

Pay Range: $79,777.50 - 106,370.00+ (Based on Experience)

Minimum Education Required

Bachelors

City

Chicago

State

Illinois

Job Category

Operations

Job Code

Operations_ Specialist

Affiliate Sponsor

DHL

Salary Range

$75,000-$100,000