Director of Customer Operations

The Director of Customer Operations is accountable for the operational delivery of the Customer Strategy and delivering a world-class customer experience across all touchpoints throughout the airport.

This role effectively “owns” the customer voice and champions excellence in delivery. To provide strong leadership and support to the Customer Services, Security Operations, and ADM team; the Director of Customer Operations will ensure that the customer operation meets its obligations in terms of regulatory and statutory requirements. Drive continuous improvement to ensure that the airport is delivering seamless end-to-end customer service for all users of the airport and deliver operational excellence in doing so.

This role also oversees all security campus-wide for the airport and is accountable for maintaining a safe operational environment.

Main Tasks and Responsibilities:

• Member of the LCY Senior Leadership Team, Chairing, and attendance to Senior Management Meetings (including Risk Advisory Group, Security Executive Group, and Security Management Board). Active contributor to the airport Senior Leadership Team – influence on wider airport agenda outside of pure customer-centric subject matter.
• Provide dynamic leadership and direction for Customer Operations Team to deliver a safe, compliant, and efficient operation; work with internal and external stakeholders to maintain the operations.
• Deliver periodic monthly, quarterly, and annual departmental performance reports to the Board and various airport committees. Owns the measurement and reporting of Customer Operations (CO) performance against agreed KPIs. Excellent reporting skills and the ability to effectively communicate key initiatives and measures across the business in order to drive proper escalation processes and management of risk. Develop and implement departmental strategies and strategic initiatives for the CO team.
• Recruitment, management, training, development, and welfare of the CO team, whilst providing leadership and direction to the team. This includes influencing the team, monitoring performance, approval of annual leave requests, and conducting regular appraisals with direct reports. Executive leadership and support the CO teams with a focus on the development of the current and future needs of the business through selection, training, development, and coaching of staff. Development Reviews and any respective Reward requirements with HR Business Partner support.
• Oversee the department budget process for all sub-departments and ensure that all departments have adequate cost controls in place. Play significant role to plan annual departmental budget in accordance with Finance department’s timescales and support.
• Develop and maintain a consultative and collaborative relationship with regulatory bodies such as the DfT, CAA, EASA, ISO, and the HSE; using this partnership to improve working practices and always meet compliance.
• Accountable for establishing the Customer strategy and working with the appropriate partners (e.g. commercial, marketing) to ensure it is delivered. Customer obsessive: driven to ensure the airport has world-class customer service at every point of the customer journey. Strong business and cost management skills, in order to be able to pull the right spend levers when driving customer initiatives.
• Promote and develop the Airport’s Security Management System (SeMS) and Quality Management System (QMS) in partnership with DfT, CAA, ISO, and other stakeholders, in order to exceed the standards.
• Security accountabilities, authorities, and responsibilities are defined throughout the organisation by means of a SeMS.
• Build strong business relationships with all other functional and operational teams.
• Where required, influence, effect, and drive change, to meet the demands of the CO and business requirements, promoting effective communication both internally and externally on all matters relating to the CO ensuring collaborations between all stakeholders. Driving proactive programmes which reflect the changing needs of the customer and deliver the standards measured by the ASQ data survey.
• Embrace and embed a safety, quality, security, environmental work culture across all areas of responsibility, influencing a step change in safety integration; ensuring that the team meets regulatory and statutory requirements in regards, HR, Safety, Quality, Security & Environment in accordance with LCY Policies and Procedures.
• Accountable for the risk register for the Customer Operations department, ensuring it is up to date and reflects an accurate view of the CO risks. Ensure any hazards or unsafe acts are reported through the Safety reporting scheme and to the relevant managers.
• Communicate effectively with key business partners and customers on subjects within the above responsibilities, ensuring that appropriate demands and expectations are managed and achieved.
• Health and Safety Responsibilities: Line management is responsible for health and safety performance and the implementation of corporate health and safety policy, arrangements, and procedures. Generally, where a manager or supervisor has an operational responsibility for the organisation or control of any Airport undertaking or activity, he/she also carries the responsibility for doing all within his/her authority to ensure an acceptable level of health and safety during the conduct of that undertaking or activity. Specific health and safety roles and responsibilities have been assigned to various posts and these are included in the roles and responsibilities section within the Health and Safety Manual and Roles and Responsibilities Policy.
• Sharing best practice across industry sectors and learning and implementing lessons from relevant incidents in other organisations, are important to maintain the currency of corporate knowledge and competence.
• Ultimate responsibility for campus security and compliance with all relevant governmental bodies’ operational governance. Accountable for leading on incident management conditions.
• When required – Accountable Manager for SeM.

Key Competencies:

• Knowledge of Customer Operations/CAA/DfT/Security regulation (Essential)
• Experience and knowledge gained in a role with direct accountability for delivering customer excellence. (E)
• Experience in developing and delivering a customer strategy (E)
• Knowledge of Security Management System (E)
• Knowledge of Quality Management System (E)
• Knowledge of Environmental Management System (E)
• Health and Safety competence (E)
• Significant experience within customer service delivery (E)
• Proven Leadership qualities and experience (E)
• Experience of working with complex data to draw insight. (E)

Qualifications:

Education & Training

• Educated to degree level or equivalent experience – Customer Management, Service Delivery (Essential)
• Excellent written and oral communication skills. (E)
• Postgraduate qualification in a related field. (Desirable)

Specialist Skills & Knowledge

• Expertise in working within an operational environment on an airfield. (E)
• Computer literate familiar with Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint (E)
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills (E)
• Ability to analyse and interpret data – driving insights and recommendations for improvement (E)
• Presenting technical information to different stakeholders. (E)
• Ability to deliver results often through others (E)
• Developing systems (records, working systems etc) (E)

Personal Characteristics

• Leadership (E)
• Professional (E)
• People person (E)
• Collaborative, team player (E)
• Ability to engage (E)
• Attention to detail (E)
• Organised and methodical (E)
• Able to work under own initiative (E)
• Ability to work under pressure and to deadlines (E)
• Ability to communicate at all levels (E)

Working Hours:

Full-time permanent position. As an operational director, on occasion you will be required to work outside of the stated hours and days in order to maintain customer operations processes.

Benefits:

• Free onsite parking
• Access to discounted Private Medical Insurance for you and immediate family
• Medicash Cash plan
• On-site Physiotherapist
• Discounted Gym Membership at many local facilities
• Staff discounts at most retailers on site & some local restaurants & hotels
• Enrolment into company AE pension scheme
• Access to Salary sacrifice pension scheme
• Bereavement Counselling
• Cycle 2 Work salary sacrifice scheme
• Hastee Pay Advances
• 25 Days Annual leave
• LCY Central discount website
• Annual performance-related bonus
• Annual Season Ticket Loan
• Holiday Buy scheme (Ability to purchase up to 1 week A/L per year)
• Access to Salary Sacrifice Car leasing Scheme

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