Customer Service Team Lead (7 month secondment)

Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa Business, is a leading academic publishing, business intelligence, knowledge and events business, creating unique content and connectivity for customers all over the world. Taylor & Francis Group produces high quality, peer reviewed books and journals, spreading knowledge and promoting discovery globally.

Every day millions of people read our content. Would you like to be part of our customer journey? Are you ready to be a Customer Service Team Lead managing a team with a determination to drive for results? This key role will work from home and from our offices in Oxfordshire 3 days a week. You will lead by example to encourage and inspire others to provide excellent customer service in line with best practice and company policy and procedures. The position reports to the Customer Service Manager and will work as part of a global Customer Service team, collaborating to manage day to day business processes and customer workflows liaising with other departments where appropriate.

Investigating and driving forward the implementation of process improvements to improve customer satisfaction, first time resolution, and reduce customer effort will be a key requirement. The successful candidate should have demonstrable previous Customer Service leadership experience covering a variety of CS processes and including management of complex/challenging customer issues.

Responsibilities will include:

• Leading by example to encourage and inspire others to provide excellent customer service in line with best practice and company policy and procedures.
• Promoting teamwork & collaboration to effectively achieve individual, team and departmental objectives, sharing knowledge and skills.
• Providing support within own team and to other teams as required.
• Taking ownership of complex/escalated customer queries through to resolution, striving to increase customer satisfaction/first time resolution and reduce the need for customers to contact.
• Managing workload, reviewing capacity globally and in collaboration with the management team ensuring your team/department handles day-to-day priorities and department objectives.
• Recruiting new team members.
• Providing support, training and coaching to members of the team.
• Setting objectives, conducting reviews and regular 1-2-1's to review progress, manage performance and support team members in their self-development.
• Facilitating meetings and delivering presentations.
• Proactively creating and developing improvement ideas and driving forward the implementation of those ideas to improve customer satisfaction, reduce queries, increase productivity or reduce costs.
• Managing monthly reporting and other performance reports to ensure they are compiled and cascaded by agreed deadlines.

Qualifications:

• Advanced working knowledge of Microsoft Office and systems used within Customer Service systems (ideally SAP and Salesforce) with expertise to train new team members.
• Demonstrable previous Customer Service experience in an office environment covering a variety of CS processes and including management of complex/challenging customer issues.
• Experience of encouraging others to work to KPI's/SLA's.
• Experience of managing projects, engaging contributors at all levels.
• Proven evidence of your ability to supervise colleagues with experience of encouraging others to work to Service Level Agreements and CS metrics.
• Ideally, understanding and experience using Lean 6 Sigma methodology.
• Understanding of the role of related departments and have a range of contacts outside and within Customer Service.

Additional Information:

• An excellent work/life balance with a fantastic, flexible working culture and hybrid working from home and office.
• 25 days annual leave per year plus an extra day off each year for your birthday.
• 3 additional discretionary days for Christmas each year.
• 4 paid volunteering days each year.
• Employee assistance programme - Offering 24/7 well-being support.
• Share Match - Plan that matches every share purchased with two free shares.
• Pension scheme and life assurance, plus optical and medical care.

This role will be balanced, with 3 days per week being office based. You will therefore need to be based within a commutable distance of our office in Milton Park, Oxfordshire. You must have the right to live and work in the UK.

At Taylor & Francis we care about our colleagues, promoting work-life balance, wellbeing, and flexible working. We believe that the skills and experience you bring to Taylor & Francis are invaluable. We want you to have the opportunity to develop your abilities, and to innovate and develop in areas which you are passionate about.

We're passionate about ensuring you have all the tools and resources at your fingertips to reach your short and long-term career goals. We'll support you in your journey by working together on your own bespoke Taylor & Francis Development Plan, ensuring you have the resources, tools, support and coaching that will get you where you want to be.

If you're excited about working with Taylor & Francis to foster human progress through knowledge, we invite you to apply even if your existing skills and experience don't fit every item listed above. At Taylor & Francis, we are at our best and most successful when colleagues can be themselves and contribute regardless of their identity or background.

Taylor & Francis is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe in and value diversity of people and thought, fostering a supportive and inclusive environment where all colleagues can learn and succeed as their true selves.