Head of Customer Experience

**Rate**: £47.70 per hour (umbrella)
**Term**: Until 22 Jan 2025 initially
**Hours per week**: 37
**Location**: Cheshire (on-site)
The post holder will lead, manage and commission customer operations to enable the Council to meet its strategic objectives as outlined in the Corporate Plan.
Service areas include:

- Customer Experience Strategy and transformation
- Customer Contact Centre (Operational Team)
- Customer Service Improvement Team (Executive Correspondence, Complaints and Ombudsman liaison)

You will lead and manage the Council’s Customer Service Teams developing the policies, procedures and processes to ensure a high performing, efficient team which meets the needs of our residents and businesses now and in the future.
You will lead on the design, development, and implementation of the Council’s strategic approach to Customer Experience. You will work across all Council services, with partners and with Members to drive the Council’s cultural and operational transformation of customer experience delivering enhanced journeys for the residents and businesses of Cheshire East.
You will lead on the design, development and implementation of a new “target operating model” defining how the Council delivers customer service across the full range of Council services, which maximises digital technology, drives efficiencies and ensures services are inclusive to all customers.
You will act as the senior customer for the Councils Digital Transformation Programme, commissioning products that enhance the digital customer journey, drive customer satisfaction and deliver efficiencies across all council services.
In this job you will:
1. Provide leadership, direction, and motivation to the Customer Experience Team and to front line staff across the Council.
2. Lead the design, development, and delivery of the Council’s Customer Experience strategy. Work across all Council services and with partners to identify and address customer needs and wants and drive customer satisfaction across the Council balancing this with the priorities and financial restraints of the Council.
3. Lead the transformation and re-design of all Council services, working with Directorates and services to create seamless customer journeys, promoting the benefits of digital developments, seeking out new opportunities, challenging existing practices, learning from the experience of others and trialling innovative solutions.
4. Lead on the design and delivery of a revised target operating model for the delivery of customer service across the Council, ensuring these drives standards of customer service, improved resolution and customer satisfaction and delivers efficiencies.
5. Lead and commission developments in support of the Council’s approach to digital customer services. Ensure these maximise the benefits of digital, address the needs of the Council, its residents and businesses.
6. Support the Council’s Digital Inclusion agenda ensuring equality of access and service for all customers. Work with community-based services both within and outside the Council to provide e assisted digital support to customers and challenge services where operating practices create barriers to digitally excluded residents.
7. Develop policies, procedures and best practice guidance on customer experience and customer service delivery, embedding these across all Directorates, monitoring performance against these and driving improvements to the Councils overall service delivery, customer satisfaction and reputation.
8. Lead the Councils Complaints and correspondence service, improving the recognition and management of correspondence and complaints across all Directorates, ensuring full compliance with procedures and Local Government Ombudsman directives and ensuring complaints and correspondence are used as a lever to drive service improvements.
9. Embed a positive customer experience culture across the Council and with partners, championing a customer-centric approach, promoting innovation, driving improvements, and challenging poor practice.
10. Act as the customer advocate operationally and strategically utilising and promoting customer insight data to ensure the voice of the customer is heard in all decision making.
11. Promote and develop effective partnership working across the Council and with partner organisations such as the NHS and shared services as well as with significant suppliers for example the Council’s wholly owned companies and contractors for Highways Services.
12. Provide advice and assurance to Elected Members and senior management on policy, strategy, statutory and regulatory practices relating to Customer Service functions.
13. Represent the council in national and sub-regional partnerships and bodies - leading to joint commissioning or partnership working where appropriate.
14. Monitor organisation and community satisfaction and measure results or organisation initiatives, taking appropriate actions with lesson learned app