Customer Service Operations Manager

About Viator: Viator is a Tripadvisor company that makes it easy to find and book something you'll love to do. With an industry leading selection of high-quality experiences, Viator gives millions of travellers a month something new to discover, both near and far from home. We believe that we are better together, and at Viator we welcome you for who you are. Our workplace is for everyone, as is our people powered platform. At Viator, we want you to bring your unique identities, abilities and experiences, so we can collectively revolutionise travel and together find the good out there.

Location: Oxford/Hybrid: 3 times per week office attendance for day shifts, late/evening shifts will be home based. Working Hours: 37.5 per week, ability to work any 8hr shift Monday to Sunday, with home working for late shifts. We operate a 24hrs 7 days week environment; shifts assigned to you may require that you work over weekends and public holidays.

As the Customer Service Operations Manager, you are an integral part of the global Viator Operations Management team. You will report to the Director of Customer Services and will have frequent and significant exposure to the management teams of Viator. You will be responsible for recruiting, developing and managing the department within the in-house call centre operations in the Oxford office centred on escalations, social media and complaint resolution. In addition, you will also help in supporting wider global operations.

The individual will have a strong analytical approach to work and proven track record of managing processes and teams with a high level of attention to detail. Responsibilities include:

• Evaluate performance and ensure the teams utilise the service management metrics for the ongoing monitoring of performance for teams and individuals.
• Direct and motivate direct reports and teams to achieve agreed targets.
• Ensure personal goals and objectives are set, communicated, measured and reviewed as per company policy.
• Effectively manage performance of the team, address underperformance swiftly and celebrate success.
• Conduct monthly 1:1's with formal review of performance.
• Active development of the team, providing a considered structure for continuous development.
• Identify individuals for appropriate succession planning.
• Ensure that all coaching and development logs are accurate and timely.
• Supervise staff in accordance with company policies and procedures.
• Coordinate coaching and training of staff onsite.
• Produce literature and manuals where appropriate to help improve performance.
• Identify and implement initiatives to improve employee engagement.

Operational Management:

• Determine daily plan to meet and exceed business performance targets by ensuring sufficient capacity available to meet incoming volumes and minimise backlogs.
• Ensure that service issues are recorded and responded to within agreed service levels and timelines.
• Assist with the design and testing of potential process changes and work with key stakeholders to ensure successful implementations.
• Keep up to date with company, department and process knowledge.
• Standardise processes, procedures and platforms for service delivery.
• Audit processes to ensure currency and accuracy in line with department standards.
• Monitor customer feedback and interactions to ensure we leverage customer insights to build a culture of continuous improvement.
• Proactively champion best practice to enhance agent productivity, CSAT, Quality, Issue Resolution and First Contact Resolution.
• Regularly help to review processes and develop improvements.

Champion Department Initiatives and show proactivity in identifying where knowledge or process gaps exist to coach, educate and provide assistance as required. Work closely with various functions like Quality, Training, WFM and Human Resources to strengthen the business relationship between the departments. Partner with operations management and new product teams to successfully introduce new products and processes to our customer and global base.

Customer Relations:

• Understand key demand/complaint drivers.
• Partner with the legal and PR teams to assess and strengthen process controls and regulatory adherence.
• Work with key business stakeholders to minimise DSAT drivers and improve Customer Experience and Satisfaction.
• Track, manage and analyse high activity cases.
• Reduce the number of touches per case.
• Ensure SLA’s on responding to complaints and escalations are met.
• Report risk events and ensure Corrective Action Plans are raised as necessary.
• Monitor potential claims ensuring minimal financial impact to the business and provide financial reporting back to management on the cost of resolution.
• Produce weekly/monthly and ad hoc reporting of the above to senior management level.
• Investigate and report on poor supplier conduct, assist in driving initiatives to improve supplier behaviour.
• Manage, respond and track forum reviews for Viator.
• Perform any other duties delegated ad-hoc.

What are we looking for?

• At least five years of experience managing a Customer Support team across different cultures with managing US employees.
• Accomplishes organisation’s goals by accepting ownership for delivering on new and different requests; exploring opportunities to add value to tasks undertaken.
• Passion for solving customer issues.
• Ability to handle confidential information and adhere to established protocols.
• Strong time management/prioritisation skills and multi-tasking ability.
• Excellent editorial judgement and command of the English language.
• Ability to work independently, anticipate problems and suggest solutions.
• Experience with relevant applications, including but not limited to: Managed multi-channel operations i.e. voice support, email.
• Experience managing escalations/complaint cycles.
• Web-based content management Systems.
• CRM/Customer Support Tools.
• Word Processing/Spreadsheet Applications (Microsoft Office, Google etc.).
• Social Media Applications (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).
• Hands-on experience with user-generated content (either personally or professionally).

In addition, the ideal candidate will demonstrate the following competencies:

• Flexible and open to change and new information; adapts behaviour and work methods accordingly.
• Grasps the essence of new information; recognises own strengths and weaknesses; pursues self-development; seeks feedback.
• Exhibits integrity through fair and ethical behaviour toward others and a demonstrated sense of corporate responsibility and commitment.
• Treats colleagues and partners with respect: considers and responds appropriately to the needs, feelings, and capabilities of different people.
• Can be relied upon to ensure that projects within areas of specific responsibility are completed in an appropriate and timely manner and acknowledges mistakes, learns from those events and is able to move forward productively.
• Identifies and analyses problems; distinguishes between relevant and irrelevant information.
• Ability to balance time to market with a solution and make the right trade-offs along the way.
• Strong analytical skills: understands and utilises metrics relevant to role.
• Clear communication through expression of facts and ideas in a clear, convincing and organised manner.
• Good business judgement when making decisions and always considers the relevance/impact of each decision on the business.