Customer Service Manager in Penrith

Are you a Customer Services Manager who thrives on high volume, speed of response and getting things done? Looking for a great place to work where management care and the culture is genuinely down-to-earth and the products are ones you are happy to represent? Foxgroves Recruitment is working with a long-established business in the retail/leisure sector in Cumbria, supplying market-leading brands across both B2B and B2C markets. They've been at it for over 50 years, with an in-house repair and refurbishment operation alongside the distribution business and a reputation across the sector that speaks for itself. With the direct-to-consumer side of the business growing fast, Customer Services has become central to how the brand is experienced, and they need the right person to lead it.

This is a genuine manager role, not a senior advisor in disguise. With a strong, capable team in place - including a new admin-focused hire joining in early summer - the priority for the new manager is leading the function, building brand relationships and shaping how Customer Services evolves as the business grows.

Please note that due to the location of this site, successful candidates must hold a driving licence and have access to a car for work.

The Role

• Leading the Function
  • You'll be responsible for the day-to-day running of the Customer Services Department and how it develops over the next phase of growth.
  • Prioritise workload across the team, manage cases through to closure and keep everything moving.
  • Own outstanding and open cases on the CRM.
  • Shape how the function evolves to meet a fast-growing B2C customer base.
  • Maintain and develop the existing CRM, with a likely system replacement project on the horizon.
  • Manage 3 Customer Service colleagues who support the division.
• Customer Care & Case Management
  • Queries are technical and largely around warranty, repairability and wear and tear.
  • Resolve customer, consumer and internal queries to the satisfaction of all parties.
  • Assess and process returned items.
  • Maintain physical and virtual Faulty Goods, Quarantine and 'On its Way' warehouses.
  • Perform compliance checks on products when required.
• Brand & Stakeholder Relationships
  • A significant part of this role is building strong relationships with the brands the business distributes.
  • Develop relationships with key brand and customer contacts.
  • Use the CRM to produce supplier reports at agreed intervals.
  • Feed fault and quality data back to brands to support warranty claim-backs.
  • Support internal product training and brand education across the wider team.
• Stock & Resale
  • You'll work alongside the Customer Services Advisors and repair technicians to make sure returned and second-quality stock is handled well.
  • Support the review of returned stock for resale via eBay and the B2C website (factory seconds, ex samples).
  • Assist with processing factory second and ex-sample orders through to logistics.
  • Monitor and maintain stock levels of spares.

You'll Flourish If You Have

• Experience managing or supervising a small customer services team in a high-volume environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication, with the ability to stay calm and professional under pressure.
• Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail.
• A proactive, decisive approach - someone who closes things down rather than letting them drift.
• Experience using CRM systems and producing reports for stakeholders.
• Commercial awareness and a willingness to learn technical product information.
• Product training is delivered in-house, but high-volume CS managers from FMCG, leisure or similar sectors are of particular interest.

Why You'll Love Working Here

• Salary £35,000–£38,000 dependent on experience.
• 37.5 hour week, with alternative hours considered.
• Primarily site-based near Penrith with up to two days from home available once trained.
• 30 days holiday including bank holidays, with loyalty increments up to an additional 5 days.
• 2pm finish every Friday.
• Friday off the week of your birthday on top of holiday entitlement.
• Option to purchase up to one additional week of annual leave.
• Paid volunteering time.
• Generous staff discount.
• Cycle to Work scheme.
• Free on-site parking with EV charging.
• Qualifying pension scheme.
• Company healthcare scheme including 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme, counselling and digital wellbeing platform.
• Staff social fund.