Operations Manager

Job content

First Rail is one of the UK’s most experienced rail operators, carrying more than 345m passengers across four franchises (Great Western Railway, South Western Railway, TransPennine Express and Avanti West Coast) and our open access operator (Hull Trains). We operate all types of passenger railways - intercity, commuter, regional and sleeper services.

We are continually seeking ways in which to improve the experience for our customers. Our newly formed Customer Contact Centre will therefore use industry leading systems to deliver excellent customer service and ensure that requests are speedily and effectively resolved.

Our delivery teams are responsible for a variety of customer support matters which range from processing customer compensation claims to complaints handling, group bookings and assisted/special services, quality assurance and fraud prevention and detection and retails sales to individuals and corporates.

As an Operations Manager, you will be responsible for the daily running and overall management of one of our operational departments. You will enable and motivate your teams to meet our customer support SLA targets. You will identify, plan, and deliver continuous improvements to the way our customer support services are delivered and exemplify both quality, integrity, and expediency in daily client interactions. Acting as a role model you will uphold the contact centre’s values around both performance and delivery of the customer experience.

Reporting to the Head of Contact Centre Operations, you will manage a cohort of agents through your team leaders, ensuring that they work to maximum capacity, efficiency and accuracy to ensure the best possible customer experience.

Your day to day responsibilities will include:

• Manage complex enquiries/ claims and ensure that issues are escalated appropriately and brought to a satisfactory resolution.
• Proactively identify and address customer issues to prevent them from developing into significant reputational risks.
• Prepare reports on performance levels and customer contact trends to support business planning.
• Analysis of performance data sets. Set and achieve targets for measurables such as efficiency, service delivery and quality.
• Work collaboratively with peers and key stakeholders, particularly the Quality and Fraud Managers to gather information, share best practice and identify/ resolve issues.
• Build and develop the Operations team, providing coaching, training and feedback on a timely basis to maintain motivation and drive performance.
• Lead team meetings and briefing sessions to support the effective operation of the team, sharing knowledge, identifying training needs and process improvements and challenging the status quo.
• Ensure the team complies with relevant policies and procedures in order to mitigate business risk.
• Monitor, analyse and forecast trends in customer enquiries/ feedback/ complaints;
• Lead the provision of assisted travel services through a dedicated team delivered in line with the disabled persons protection policy;
• Lead on fulfilment support, printing, scanning to case, e-vouchers, ticket despatch;
• Increase efficiencies and exercise due diligence in the delivery of customer support through upskilling the team and developing their capability to deal with complex client issues;
• Use systems and direct contact with business managers to understand and provide feedback on the root causes of customer complaints;
• Implement improvement actions identified through internal audit reports;
• Maintain up to date knowledge of industry developments and best practice, utilising external network groups and professional bodies.

Person Specification

• Proven ability to work on multiple tasks under pressure and to tight deadlines, without compromising quality of output
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
• Self-starter with a drive for delivering an excellent customer experience
• Credibility to operate and plan at management team level
• A strong coach, able to provide constructive, considered feedback, tailored as appropriate to the recipient
• A strong commercial sense and business acumen
• Energetic and proactive; sets standards and motivates team to achieve them
• Willingly shares knowledge to upskill and develop others

Knowledge and Skills

• Broad background in contact centre - shared services operations and sales
• Understanding of how customer support centre operations provide business value to the rail service sector
• Experienced in leading large, operational teams and motivating them to deliver excellent results
• Sound knowledge of all areas of general management, including but not limited to budgeting, business planning, supplier and people management;
• Comfortable working with and translating operational and customer data
• Working knowledge of regulatory issues, particularly data protection (GDPR)
• Transportation sector experience desirable
• Knowledge of customer relationship management systems (Salesforce) desirable
• Microsoft Technologies – Office 365, Teams etc

Operational team shift pattern to cover from 06:00-23:00 including weekends.