Customer Operations Team Leader - Campus Services - 58376Z25 - Grade 5

Join to apply for the Customer Operations Team Leader - Campus Services role at University of Birmingham.

Position Details

• Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
• Full time starting salary is normally in the range £29,647 to £31,460, with potential progression once in post to £35,388
• Grade: 5
• Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to 13th October 2026
• Closing date: 21st May 2025

This role is also open as an internal secondment opportunity which would need to be agreed by your current line manager.

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do. The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Role Summary

Student Accommodation is part of the Campus Services directorate at the University of Birmingham and it provides accommodation to over 4,000 students across two student villages. The post holder will be managing a busy reception based at the Vale Reception, home to over 3,000 students with plans for further student bed spaces, ensuring the team are providing excellent Customer Service at all times in order to maintain high levels of customer satisfaction.

Main Duties

• Leading a Customer Service Team
• Establishing a culture of high quality service by leading by example within the Reception, motivating and inspiring the team to fully appreciate and understand the priority of having ‘Excellence at the heart of everything we do’.
• Maintaining and improving service level expectations at a high level within the Customer Service team.
• Ensuring accurate time keeping and attendance within the team, dealing with and documenting concerns and taking appropriate action as required.
• Ensuring the rota is at a sufficient level at all times, 7 days a week – covering both expected and unexpected absences and where necessary providing Reception cover personally.
• Undertake job chats, 121’s and PDR’s with the team, identifying and supporting staff development and training.
• Managing poor performance in line with University guidance.
• Undertaking the training of all new members of the team, ensuring they are fully competent in all aspects of the role.
• Co-ordinating ongoing training for current members of the team where required.
• Ensuring all daily duties are carried out by the whole team to the required standards and addressing this appropriately if not completed.
• Leading regular team meetings in order to brief the team and hear feedback from them.
• Work closely with the team to develop new initiatives and procedures etc. to improve the performance of the Reception.
• Delegate tasks to the team appropriately and monitor to ensure they are completed effectively and within designated timeframes.
• Ensuring that the teams’ personal presentation is at a high standard at all times.
• Ensuring that the Reception area is presented to a high standard at all times.
• Ensuring that the Reception teams are working in line with the other Accommodation Reception teams.
• Working with the Selly Oak Village Customer Service Manager to ensure that where possible processes and policies are standardised.
• Ensure staff are trained across both villages and that this is maintained by regular shadowing shifts.
• Working closely with the Night Team to ensure that the night Reception team are working well with the day Reception team and that the work done is standardised.

Customer Service

• Monitoring and maintaining the Customer Services team’s responses to queries from all customers, visitors and guests to the Village, and ensuring that these responses are appropriate and timely.
• Dealing with queries and complaints that have been escalated by the team and escalating further to the Customer Service Managers where necessary.
• Ensuring the wider team are aware of ongoing issues, complaints or feedback so that they can be dealt with swiftly and effectively.
• Maintain a can do culture across the service with the team – embedding the People and Culture plan within the team and leading by example.
• Provide a service that meets the University visions and values.
• Play a major role in promoting the service offered and being an Ambassador at Student Accommodation Open Days and OVDs.
• Play a proactive role in developing and delivering improvements to meet the changing trends and demands of customer service requirements, through observations and any surveys.
• This will include any upgrades to technology and embedding the People and Culture plan throughout the team.
• Evaluate services and be able to respond to change management.

Finance, KPI’s and Budgets

• To ensure that all University Financial Regulations are being adhered to by self and Customer Service Team members at all times (PCI DSS regulations) as well as any local policies and procedures which are agreed.
• Be responsible for the reconciliation of monies and the banking of monies as set locally.
• Ensure that any discrepancies are investigated immediately and escalated if required.
• Ensure that the Customer Service Advisors are maintaining records for all KPIs and sharing with the Customer Service Manager monthly at an agreed date to report on.
• Ensure that the Inventory and Disposal records are audited on a monthly basis and updated accordingly by the Customer Service Advisors.
• Ensure that the Code of Practise is adhered to at all times by all reception operations and during the inspection of vacant rooms.

Systems

• Ensure all data is uploaded accurately on the Star Rez system throughout the year, liaising with the Business Development Team where necessary.
• Ensure that the team are recording all repairs requests accurately and promptly, chasing the Estates department where jobs have not been completed and keeping students informed.
• Attending the weekly Estates meeting to chase jobs, ask for updates and share information.
• Ensure the team are fully proficient in all software used.
• Ensure that you are fully proficient in all software and attend any training to ensure you are providing support for the wider Customer Service Team.

Conferencing Duties

• During the conference period work closely with the Accommodation Summer Operations Team Leader and the conferencing team to provide a comprehensive service to conference delegates.
• This will include: Responsibility for ensuring that the Customer Service Advisors are allocating, checking in and checking out delegates each day and specific needs are identified.
• To act as a point of reference and information for the team, guests and visitors, ensuring that any complaints/requests are followed up and acted upon or directed to the appropriate manager.
• Ensure that all financial procedures are being followed at all times within these activities.

General

• Other duties that you may also be expected to undertake as and when requested by the Village Manager or Customer Service Manager.
• You may be required to work on another of the student Villages to provide cover for colleagues during periods of absence to meet the needs of the service.
• Required to attend staff training and development events, in particular all Health and Safety training, including annual fire training sessions.
• Working with the Night Team, meet once to twice a month to ensure that there is a consistent service provided, highlighting any concerns.
• The post holder will be required to undergo an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) check before commencement in the role which is satisfactory to the University.
• To undertake any other reasonable duties/requests (other than those stated in the job description) as requested.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Qualifications: Maths and English at least to GCSE or equivalent level.
• Skills: A strong communicator. Able to build strong relationships both with colleagues and stakeholders. Effective organisation and administrative skills, to include report writing etc. A solution oriented approach. Computer literate – previous experience dealing with systems such as StarRez and Gallagher is desirable. Proven ability to work under pressure to meet strict deadlines, adaptable and flexible when faced with change. Approachable and friendly with the ability to deal with challenging circumstances calmly and professionally when they arise. Ability to motivate a team.
• Experience: Essential: Previous experience working in a busy, front facing, student accommodation environment. A minimum of one years’ experience managing a team. Ability to work a flexible shift pattern between the hours of 07:00 – 19:00, on a 5 out of 7 shift pattern, according to business needs. Previous experience recruiting and training new members of staff. Proven experience of working in a high pressured environment where priorities can often change quickly. Previous experience of developing and embedding new procedures. Desirable: Previous experience leading projects. Previous experience in a conferencing environment – allocating rooms and leading a team to deliver a hotel experience.

OH/DBS Required

The University is committed to safeguarding and we promote safe recruitment practice, therefore all associated pre-employment checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed. Due to the nature of the work undertaken in this role all successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory DBS clearance prior to appointment.

Informal enquiries to Vanessa Neal, email: v.l.neal@bham.ac.uk

We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy.