At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead a dynamic customer service team to enhance customer experiences and drive continuous improvement.
- Company: Join 1st Central, an award-winning insurance company with a vibrant culture.
- Benefits: Enjoy a competitive salary, flexible working, and generous holiday allowance.
- Other info: Be part of a supportive team that values innovation and personal growth.
- Why this job: Shape the future of customer service while developing your leadership skills.
- Qualifications: Proven management experience in a contact centre and strong analytical skills.
The predicted salary is between 38000 - 41000 £ per year.
Location: Haywards Heath
Salary: £38,000 - £41,000, depending on experience
Department: Customer & Operations
We’re 1st Central, a market-leading insurance company utilising smart data and technology at pace. Rapid growth has been based on giving our 1.4 million customers exactly what they want: great value insurance with an excellent service.
Do you have strong leadership experience gained from a customer service contact centre environment or perhaps you have been working your way up the career ladder towards a management role? Are you ready to take the next step in your career by managing a team of customer service professionals and shaping the best possible experience for our customers?
We’re on the lookout for a talented Customer Services Team Leader to join our customer and operations team in Haywards Heath, West Sussex. Here at First Central we are a growing and thriving business committed to delivering exceptional customer experiences across our multi products.
You’ll manage the daily operations and management of a Customer Service team to measurably improve the customer experience by leading, championing and assessing continuous improvement activity. You’ll shape the future of our operation, ensuring our customers receive a friendly, professional, and consistently high-quality service in a busy contact centre environment.
You’ll be great if you have these skills:
- Leadership: Can you lead a team to deliver outstanding service every day? Are you confident in coaching and developing people to hit KPIs and grow? We need a motivating leader!
- Innovative: Can you spot opportunities for improvement and turn ideas into action? We need an innovator!
- Analytical: Are you comfortable working with data to drive decisions? Analytical thinking is essential.
- Collaborative: Can you build strong relationships across teams and influence change? Collaboration is what we value.
Here’s a glimpse of what we can offer:
- Salary from £38,000 to £41,000, depending on experience
- Monday to Friday, no weekends!
- 25 days holiday plus 8 bank holidays and an extra 'You' day off for important occasions or just a day for you!
- Fully supportive team throughout
- £100 off your car insurance
- A fun, vibrant and busy place to work
What’s Involved:
- Daily team management ensuring the team have the tools and capabilities to fulfil their functions
- Embedding a top performing, highly engaged culture
- Maintaining and engaging with key stakeholders, providing updates and action plans on outputs and activities
- Managing a program of work to deliver on the team objectives, flexing between service, projects and experiments in line with business need
- Providing an excellent level of service to customers in a contact centre environment
- Contributing to and building knowledge, training and process documentation
- Testing of system and process changes
- Onboarding new products and services to determine the best rollout strategy
- Assist with testing and deployment of new initiatives where required, whilst providing detailed and timely feedback
- Performing regular process reviews to understand and improve the customer experience
- Coach, mentor and develop the team using a recognised coaching framework to achieve KPI’s and behaviour Targets
- Gather and analyse performance data
- Ensure the team are following company processes and guidance to reduce errors whilst continuously looking for opportunities to improve these and feeding back to business
- Through the use of data and facts, make suggestions for improvements and test these using the PDCA cycle (Plan, Do, Check & Act)
- Work closely with outsourced providers & operations managers in order to share best practice
- Be the voice of the customer within retail operations and ensure team delivery is the gold standard for performance across all KPIs
- Assist the recruitment process including assisting with the interviewing and on-boarding
- Conduct regular performance reviews, including probationary reviews and annual appraisals
- Monitor handlers performance to ensure they are following Company policies and procedures at all times and are compliant with FCA regulations (including TCF principles)
- Deal with all colleague issues including monitoring absence, supporting the disciplinary process, and resolving colleague issues with support from the manager and HR when required
Experience, Skills & Knowledge:
- You’ve previous management experience in a contact centre environment with proven delivery of continuous improvement activity
- You’re not fazed by computers and software, with good Microsoft Excel and Word knowledge
- You’ve got strong analytical and problem-solving skills, ability to identify root causes and solutions
- You’re a great communicator, both verbal and written
- You’ve got people leadership, stakeholder management and organisation skills including coaching, data gathering, analysis and synthesis, influencing, critical thinking
- Organisation, timekeeping and prioritisation are second nature to you, balancing your workload effectively
- You’ve good data and statistical analysis skills
Behaviours:
- You’re customer focused and passionate about achieving the right customer outcomes. After all people are at the heart of everything we do!
- You’re self-motivated, proactive and enthusiastic
- Approachable and keen to assist others whilst also takes initiatives to make decisions
- You’ve a flexible approach to work and adopts a positive attitude, embracing, embedding and incorporating the Company values
- You’ve a desire to learn and develop through continuous training
- You’re confident in presenting complex information in a clear and concise manner
- You’ve got a sharp eye for detail and accuracy
- You’ve an agile and adaptive mindset to test solutions and quickly implement into BAU
- You can think about the business as a system rather than individual parts
- You’re able to challenge others where necessary with arguments based on data and facts
Sound like you? We want to hear from you!
What can we do for you? People first. Always. We’re passionate about our colleagues and know the best people deserve an extraordinary working environment. We owe it to them so that’s what we offer. Our workplaces are energetic, inspirational, supportive.
To get a taste of the advantages you’ll enjoy, take a look at all our perks in full here.
Intrigued? Our Talent team can tell you everything you need to know about what we want and what we’re offering, so feel free to get in touch.
86% of people would recommend a friend to work at First Central
- Simply Health Cash plan. Reclaim the cost of your eye tests, dental appts, physiotherapy and more
- Flexible Bank Holidays Eight flexible bank holidays; you can choose which festivals you observe
- Everyone gets a paid day off annually to volunteer
- Electric Car Scheme Plug into our Electric Car Scheme for a deal with insurance, road tax and servicing
- Flexible Working We’re flexible; most roles let you mix office and home working. We work fluidly around core hours
- Your Time in Need: five days’ leave so you can deal with life stuff. We’ll support you
Customer Services Team Leader - Model Office employer: First Central Services
Contact Detail:
First Central Services Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Customer Services Team Leader - Model Office
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to your connections on LinkedIn or even in person. Let them know you're on the hunt for a Customer Services Team Leader role. You never know who might have the inside scoop on openings or can put in a good word for you!
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for those interviews by practising common questions and scenarios related to leadership and customer service. We recommend doing mock interviews with friends or family to get comfortable talking about your experience and how you can lead a team effectively.
✨Tip Number 3
Show off your analytical skills! Be ready to discuss how you've used data to drive decisions in past roles. Bring examples of how you've improved processes or customer experiences, as this will really impress potential employers.
✨Tip Number 4
Don't forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen. Plus, it shows you're genuinely interested in joining our awesome team at First Central. Let's make it happen!
We think you need these skills to ace Customer Services Team Leader - Model Office
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your Application: Make sure to customise your CV and cover letter to highlight your leadership experience and customer service skills. We want to see how your background aligns with our values and the role!
Show Off Your Achievements: Don’t just list your responsibilities; showcase your achievements! Use specific examples of how you’ve improved customer experiences or led successful projects in your previous roles.
Be Authentic: Let your personality shine through! We’re looking for someone who’s not only qualified but also a great fit for our vibrant culture. Share your passion for customer service and leadership in your application.
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply directly through our website. It’s the best way for us to receive your application and ensures you don’t miss out on any important updates from our team!
How to prepare for a job interview at First Central Services
✨Know Your Stuff
Before the interview, make sure you understand 1st Central's values and what they stand for. Familiarise yourself with their customer service approach and recent achievements, like winning Insurance Employer of the Year. This will show your genuine interest in the company and help you connect your experience to their goals.
✨Showcase Your Leadership Skills
Prepare specific examples from your past roles where you've successfully led a team or improved customer service. Think about how you coached team members to hit KPIs or implemented innovative solutions. Be ready to discuss these experiences in detail, as they’ll want to see your leadership style in action.
✨Data is Your Friend
Since the role requires analytical skills, brush up on how you've used data to drive decisions in previous positions. Be prepared to discuss any tools or methods you’ve used for performance analysis and how you’ve turned insights into actionable improvements. This will demonstrate your ability to think critically and make data-driven decisions.
✨Be Collaborative
Highlight your ability to build relationships and work collaboratively across teams. Prepare examples of how you've influenced change or worked with stakeholders to achieve common goals. This will resonate well with their emphasis on collaboration and teamwork, showing that you can fit into their culture.