Complaints Manager in Southampton

About the Business

Quilter plc is a leading wealth management business, helping to enable brighter financial futures for every generation. Quilter oversees £126.3 billion in customer investments (as of August 2025). It has an adviser and customer offering spanning financial advice, investment platforms, multi‑asset investment solutions, and discretionary fund management. The business is comprised of two segments: Affluent and High Net Worth.

Affluent encompasses the financial planning business, Quilter Financial Planning, the Quilter Investment Platform and Quilter Investors, the multi‑asset investment solutions business. High Net Worth includes the discretionary fund management business, Quilter Cheviot, together with Quilter Cheviot Financial Planning – offering a highly personalised service to private clients, charities, trustees, and professional partners. Quilter Cheviot has presence throughout the UK, Ireland and Channel Islands.

At Quilter we never stand still. Our foundations are rooted in our extraordinary expertise, which is trusted by hundreds of thousands of customers, but we have great ambitions to stay one step ahead and make an even greater difference to the people and communities we serve, including our colleagues. Our business is transforming, continually modernising, and becoming even more customer centric. So, if you want to be bold in the pursuit of your ambitions, bring new ideas, and challenge and evolve what we do, it’s the perfect time to join us!

About the Role

Level: 4

Department: Operations

Location: Southampton

Contract Type: Permanent

The Complaints Team Manager is responsible for leading and motivating the Complaints team to deliver fair, consistent, and timely complaint resolutions. The role ensures that regulatory obligations are met, customer outcomes are optimised, and insights from customers’ concerns are used to drive service improvement across the organisation. The role holder will develop capability within the team, manage performance, and work closely with colleagues across the business to remove root causes of complaints.

• Leadership & People Management
  • Lead, coach, and develop the Complaints team to deliver high‑quality outcomes.
  • Set clear expectations, provide regular feedback, and conduct performance reviews.
  • Create a positive team culture focused on accountability, learning, and continuous improvement.
  • Support team welfare and embed consistent ways of working.
  • Act as an escalation point for critical or high‑profile complaints, managing stakeholder expectations.
• Service Delivery & Case Oversight
  • Ensure all complaints are handled in line with policy, regulatory requirements - FCA DISP and internal SLAs.
  • Oversee complex, high‑risk, or escalated complaints and provide clear direction to case handlers.
  • Monitor workflow, allocate cases effectively, and manage resourcing needs to drive productivity improvements.
  • Drive the successful resolution of complaints early in the complaints process.
  • Ensure accuracy, clarity, and fairness in all written and verbal communications.
  • Responsible for proactive engagement with any Complainants and the Financial Ombudsman Service in the resolution of any complaints within their jurisdiction.
• Quality, Governance & Compliance
  • Embed quality standards and support calibrations to ensure consistent decision‑making.
  • Conduct regular case quality checks and implement corrective actions where required.
  • Undertake continuous improvement of process and procedures.
  • Facilitate training and workshops to embed learnings and best practices across the organisation.
  • Ensure the team adheres to regulatory expectations around vulnerability, consumer duty, fair outcomes, and complaint resolution.
  • Provide reporting and insights to senior management, highlighting risks, trends, and areas for improvement.
• Customer Experience & Root Cause Analysis
  • Champion excellent customer outcomes by ensuring the team demonstrates empathy, ownership, and fairness.
  • Identify themes, trends, and failure points contributing to complaints.
  • Work collaboratively with other departments to recommend and implement improvements that reduce repeat contact and complaint volumes.
  • Focus on resolving issues at first point of contact.
  • Act as customer champion.
• Stakeholder Engagement
  • Build strong relationships with internal partners, including Operations, Product, Risk, Data Guardian, Legal, and Compliance.
  • Represent the Complaints function at internal forums, presenting themes, risks, and decisions required.
  • Support preparation of materials for governance meetings and regulatory requests.
  • Support and deputise for the Head of Complaints as required.
• Continuous Improvement & Change
  • Drive process improvements to enhance efficiency, accuracy, customer experience and the customer journey.
  • Support transformation initiatives affecting the complaints process.
  • Contribute to updates of policy, procedures, and training materials.
  • Support and contribute to projects and programmes to further enhance the complaints experience.

About You

We are looking for a self‑starter who can build high‑performing teams and has ambition to create a market‑leading Complaints function. We are looking for:

• Proven leadership experience in a customer complaints, service, or case‑handling environment.
• Experience in a regulated environment.
• Strong knowledge of complaint handling best practice and regulatory frameworks.
• Strong attention to detail and meticulous approach to analysing and reviewing processes and documents to identify opportunities for process improvement.
• Customer‑focused: puts customer outcomes at the heart of decision‑making.
• Empathetic and fair: able to balance business needs with doing the right thing.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to interpret data and identify meaningful trends.
• Able to identify issues and risks, escalating via the appropriate channels.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Collaborative: works effectively across teams to resolve issues.
• Experience coaching and developing others.
• Resilient: manages pressure and supports the team through challenges.
• Detail‑oriented: ensures accuracy and quality in all outputs.

We value diversity and strive to promote inclusivity in all aspects of our culture. We believe in equal opportunities for all, ensuring that no applicant encounters less favourable treatment based on anything but their skills, qualifications, experience, and potential. We celebrate the unique contributions of a diverse workforce and create a respectful, nurturing environment where every colleague can thrive.

Core Benefits

• Holiday: 182 hours (26 days)
• Quilter Incentive Scheme: All employees are eligible to participate in incentive scheme, to incentivise business performance and their contribution.
• Pension Scheme: A non‑contributory company pension scheme that can be boosted through personal contributions.
• Private Medical Insurance: Single cover as standard with options to increase cover to include your partner or children.
• Life Assurance: 4x your salary.
• Income Protection: 75% of salary, less state benefits, payable after 26 weeks of absence.
• Healthcare Cash Plan: Jersey employees only.