Customer Experience Manager

Customer Experience Manager

Date: 25 Apr 2024

Location: Kyiv, Wider Europe, UA

Company: British Council

We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide.

We work directly with individuals to help them gain the skills, confidence and connections to transform their lives and shape a better world in partnership with the UK. We support them to build networks and explore creative ideas, to learn English, to get a high-quality education and to gain internationally recognised qualifications.

Working with people in over 200 countries and territories, we are on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2021–22 we reached 650 million people. Purpose of Role: This post will oversee and manage Customer Experience teams in Ukraine, consisting of customer and sales assistants and coordinators directly engaged in delivering an excellent Business-to-Customer (B2C) experience, making sure the team operates in accordance to defined standards and policies, and contributes to delivery of our Global Customer Management Mission.
Main Accountabilities: Support to Customer Experience Strategy and Vision implementation

• Working closely with our Head of Customer experience and other key internal stakeholders to implement a customer experience strategy at the country level for commercial and grant activities ensuring that KPIs, impact and quality targets are met and in line with Global and country/cluster objectives.
• Governs customer experience planning process in respective countries, ensuring that approach is based on relevant country data and in line with country context.
• Participate in evaluation process so that customer experience country performance is tracked, measured and analysed resulting in high Return on Investment (ROI) and meeting or exceeding relevant KPIs.
• Work closely with Customer Services, Sales and Experience Managers in the Wider Europe, Black Sea and Wider Europe cluster and Global Customer Management team to identify, share and promote best practice in relevant field(s).
• Identify trends of customer behaviour on the local (country/cluster) level and provide tangible data to support this in order to influence the development of new products and services.
• Share the findings of regular country/cluster end-to-end customer journey mapping exercises, customer reviews and customer insights with a range of functional stakeholders to enhance our product and service propositions, to add brand differentiation and to identify cost efficiencies.
• Support the identification and implementation of new approaches and/or techniques which enhance efficiency and the wider impact of customer service on the attainment of business objectives, sharing and promoting these across clusters, regions and the Global network as appropriate.
• Lead the improvements implementation, including revision and update of internal processes and customer journeys, and communication towards customers in order to improve the efficiency of the customer service function and to support provision of excellent customer experience.
• Act as a business partner to colleagues in the programme teams and businesses, supporting them to achieve the best results from their projects, products and services and ensuring that they meet their business objectives based on mutually agreed and regularly reviewed service level agreements which meet customer expectations as well as our own.
• Support the promotion of the customer experience mind-set and culture within the countries, ensuring that all stakeholders are consistent in their understanding of their contribution to the overall customer experience and business performance.

Customer Services, Leadership and Management

• Provides formal line management of country Customer Experience Teams (coordinators, assistants), including appropriate selection and effective performance management, including learning, capacity development and coaching of team members (including new starters) so that we are offering smooth, friendly, open and inclusive customer experience in line with set standards.
• Ensures that customer service and sales staff have been appropriately briefed on British Council procedures and receive the training required to allow them to successfully fulfil their duties.
• Plans and prioritises the work of the team including managing day to day operational performance, dealing with staff welfare, sickness, discipline, motivation and staff engagement issues, etc. to ensure high quality service delivery is always maintained.
• Acts as an escalation point for customer complaints with the aim of resolving as many as possible to the customer’s satisfaction without the need to escalate further. Shares the learning and action points from these complaints to drive business and process improvements.
• Takes end to end accountability for handling customer enquiries (related to any Strategic Business Unit – e.g. Examinations, Teaching Centre, Programs) via available channels in line with agreed British Council customer service performance standards to deliver a high-quality customer experience.
• Provides regular coaching, feedback and development based on active quality monitoring of face-to-face/calls/emails/social media to facilitate continuous service improvement.
• Extracts and analyses different data related to enquiries (including those held in relevant systems such as Salesforce CRM) to provide insight to key stakeholders.
• Contribute to planning and implementation of Teaching, Exams and Marketing plans by providing Customer Service and Sales specific input (i.e.: CS & Sales capacity, training needs, etc.).
• Being accountable for KPIs set by business that are in the scope of customer service and sales
• Keeps up to date with changes to British Council products and programmes and related information and communicates any changes in a timely manner in order to ensure the team has up to date resources for enquiries handling.
• Identifies opportunities to promote and cross-sell British Council services and products to customers.
• Carry out routine financial transaction appropriate to job role and level of responsibility and in accordance with British Council corporate financial procedures.

Analysis and Reporting

• Conducts analysis using a range of standard methodologies and across multiple data-sets (e.g. access/quality data, customer comments and complaints, mystery shopping, Customer Insight data) to provide high quality and evidence-based recommendations on procedural improvements and/or highlight resource requirements needed to enhance operational performance.
• Monitors and reports on the team’s achievement of agreed customer satisfaction performance targets.
• Manages reporting to internal/external clients and customers in agreed areas and presents complex information clearly, using an appropriate combination of written, graphical and financial data/analysis, to enable evidence-based operational decision-making and planning.

Role specific skills

• Computing skills (MS office, Excel)
• Excellent writing and communication skills.
• Good analytical skills and attention to detail.

Role specific knowledge and experience Minimum/essential

• Substantial experience in a customer management environment.
• Proven experience of managing teams that meet high customer satisfaction levels.
• Experience of handling complaints.
• Experience in developing relationships with internal stakeholders.

Desirable

• Experience applying the basic principles of project management.
• Experience of leading multi-location-based teams
• Education, Language Requirements, Professional Qualification and Certification

University degree and/or equivalent qualifications/professional experience

• Fluent written and spoken English.
• Native in local language.
• Minimum of 3 years professional experience in Customer services, Sales and Contact management services, experience in people management in Customer services
• Desirable – Professional qualification in this area.

Further Information
Pay Band – 6 / G Contract Type – fixed term wit possibility of extension Location – Ukraine Requirements – Candidates must have the legal right to work in Ukraine. Closing Date – 16th of May 2024
A connected and trusted UK in a more connected and trusted world.
Equality , Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Statement
The British Council is committed to policies and practices of equality, diversity and inclusion across everything we do. We support all staff to make sure their behaviour is consistent with this commitment. We want to address under representation and encourage applicants from under-represented groups, in particular, but not exclusively, on grounds of ethnicity and disability. All disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria are guaranteed an interview and we have Disability Confident Employer Status. We welcome discussions about specific requirements or adjustments to enable participation and engagement in our work and activities.
The British Council is committed to safeguarding children, young people and adults who we work with.
We believe that all children and adults everywhere in the world deserve to live in safe environments and have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse, maltreatment and exploitation as set out in article 19, UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) 1989.
Appointment to positions where there is direct involvement with vulnerable groups will be dependent on thorough checks being completed; these will include qualification checks, reference checks, identity & criminal record checks in line with legal requirements and with the British Council’s Safeguarding policies for Adults and Children.
If you have any problems with your application please email askhr@britishcouncil.org
Please note: Applications to this role can only be considered when made through the Apply section of our careers website. Our ‘ASK HR’ email is only to be used in case of a technical issue encountered when applying through the careers website. Emails with supporting statements and CV/Resumes sent to this email address will not be reviewed and will be deleted.