Head of Housing and Customer Experience

Job Title: Head of Housing & Customer Services Location: Leeds, with occasional travel, including to Chelsea, London Salary: £65k – £75k Plus Benefits Role Purpose As a senior manager, you will work closely with the Director of Property Management and your team, managing one of the key operational areas of the business, namely the Tenancy Management and Customer Service teams. This is a critical role, providing effective management of the Tenancy Management team and Customer Service teams, delivering onperformance and customer satisfaction in Shared Ownership management, ensuring all statutory and regulatory obligations are met at all times, and embracing the culture, values and behaviours of the Heylo group. Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities Tenancy Management Develop and implement robust tenancy management processes including rent collection, anti-social behaviour, and compliance with tenancy and lease agreements. Manage and ensure maintenance of high levels of resident satisfaction. Manage the resolution of tenancy-related issues and disputes, ensuring a positive experience for all customers. Implement strategies to minimise rent arrears and manage arrears recovery processes. Manage the repairs and maintenance programmes for Shared Ownership. Identify and respond to complaints in line with policy, and ensure lessons learned are recognised and implemented. Manage performance in line with KPIs, identify areas of the service where improvement is required and implement improvement plans to tackle under-performance. Prepare regular reports for the Director of Property Management and Executive Committee. Manage and inspire the Tenancy Management team, providing guidance, support and performance management to ensure effective service delivery. Provide advice and support on lease matters to team members, peers, Executive Team, and Board members, as necessary. Customer Service Lead a team that is the first point of customer engagement on all queries to Heylo and be the initial face of the company that can respond to general queries and issues and direct to the right place within the organisation. Training the team to service customers appropriately and with respect and ensuring effective quality control is in place across the contact centre team Ensure that Heylo at all times offer a service standard that complies with the Regulator of Social Housings Consumer Standards, the Housing Ombudsmans Complaint Handling Code and any / all other applicable regulatory or legislative requirements Work closely alongside frontline teams across the organisation to ensure that all customers receive an exemplary service, and that all requests and complaints are dealt with efficiently and effectively Design, deliver and manage the project to bring in house a customer contact centre, including business planning, recruitment, training and development of a new team Develop scripts and conversation pathways that can be utilised by the contact centre teams Work closely with colleagues to ensure the successful deployment of innovative technology to improve customer service satisfaction Seek feedback from customers and complete customer surveys, presenting data and reports, and developing policy and improvement plans from feedback received Lead on the improvement plan towards 5 Star customer ratings, such as Trust Pilot, Google Reviews and responding to any unsatisfactory reviews. Manage customer complaints through to resolution in line with the requirements of the Housing Ombudsman and the Regulator of Social Housing and ensuring internal policies and frameworks are followed, as well as influencing policy decisions Lead on the relationship with relevant Ombudsman bodies, managing any referrals through to completion and following up on action improvement plans as necessary. Line management and performance management of a team of customer care staff. Responsible for setting targets, reviewing performance, coaching, and identifying staff development areas Identify and contribute to areas of improvement across the customer care and wider teams Work closely with the Customer Experience Manager, other senior managers and all customer facing colleagues to drive a culture of exceptional customer service within Heylo; Work with colleagues to contribute to the development of a customer strategy and charter; Oversee, design and/or deliver customer engagement activities, engaging with existing customer voice initiatives, including the Heylo Housing Registered Provider Customer Committee and other customer engagement groups or activities as may exist or be developed; Implement initiatives to improve resident satisfaction and engagement. Person Specification Capabilities and Experience The candidate will have: Significant experience working in housing, ideally in Shared Ownership, General Needs Rent, and/or Private Rented Sector property management. (E)Track record in managing and delivering multi-disciplinary housing services, including income and arrears management, anti-social behaviour and general tenancy management. (E) Significant leadership experience working in a customer facing role, driving customer satisfaction (E) Experience of being able to ensure compliance with the company policies, procedures and objectives in carrying out the role. (E) Member/Associate level member of the IRPM or Chartered Institute of Housing.(D) Excellent communication, interpersonal, organisational and time management abilities. Excellent organisational and time management abilities Excellent grammatical and administration skills and attention to detail, highly efficient in the preparation of documentation. Strong multitasking skills and the ability to prioritise conflicting deadlines and varied workload while working under pressure. Experience of being able to ensure compliance with the company policies, procedures, and objectives in carrying out the role. Strong IT skills to include Microsoft Office, and the ability to present complex data in an easy to understand format, including writing Board reports Strong knowledge of housing legislation, tenancy management, and social housing regulations. Experience in delivering service improvements and change management. Ability to analyse performance data and implement strategic decisions. Excellent stakeholder engagement, negotiation, and partnership-building skills. The candidate will be able to: Have experience using MS Office Ideally have experience of using MRI Qube / MRI Sales and Lettings Ideally have experience of using Zoho Desk Demonstrate experience of effectively managing, motivating and inspiring teams, focusing them on successful outcomes, and working across multi-disciplinary teams Demonstrate experience of driving customer engagement activities and satisfaction; Demonstrate experience of working collaboratively with multiple internal teams and external partners; Demonstrate an understanding of Shared Ownership and PRS customer expectations and perspective of a landlord\’s performance; Relate to and work collaboratively with a wide range of people including senior colleagues and Board/Committee members Work independently on own initiative with limited day-to-day supervision; Adopt a flexible approach to meet business needs. Standard Responsibilities Adopt and comply with values, policies and procedures, and regulatory frameworks. No role profile can cover every issue that may arise within the post at various times. The postholder is expected to carry out other duties from time to time, which are broadly consistent with those described. Duties may be changed, after discussion, to suit the operational requirements of heylo. Organisational Competencies We want to make it a great place to work and a great organisation that really delivers for its customers. Our values guide how we work, every day. Everyone within the organisation is expected to demonstrate the following: Innovation We will always be striving to improve the quality of our execution to improve our service to our customers and our returns for our business. Results focused We enjoy providing affordable housing for highly satisfied customers leading to dynamic growth and sustainable profitability for our business. Collaboration We work together as a team and communicate effectively with our partners, customers and stakeholders. Integrity We will act with honesty and aim to meet the highest ethical standards in our dealings with our colleagues, customers and stakeholders and in full compliance with our regulatory obligations. Respect We support each other and value the contribution and ideas of others. TPBN1_UKTJ