The British Council is the world's leading cultural relations organization and creates opportunities for people in the UK and worldwide to understand each other, to work together and learn from one another. We see this as crucial to building secure, more prosperous and sustainable futures for us all. We build trust and understanding between different countries and cultures and develop strong international links that are of benefit to people in Britain and the rest of the world.

We are recruiting to fill the below position of:

Job Title: Head of Customer Service

Location: Lagos
Region: Sub Saharan Africa
Department: English & Exams
Job Category: Customer Services
Pay Band: 7
Job Type: Indefinite
Reports to: Country Exams Manager

Purpose of Job

• Ensure the highest quality British Council Customer Experience is delivered consistently across Nigeria.
• Regularly evaluate the quality of service provided through customer feedback, recommend and make improvements accordingly.
• Lead the Customer Services Team, demonstrating the values, behaviours and knowledge required by Customer Service Professionals.

Main Accountabilities
Strategy and Planning:

• Create a culture of continuous improvement in Customer Services through the development, implementation and communication of a clear strategy that balances local and corporate requirements
• Play an ambassadorial role in developing a stronger ‘customer experience’ mindset and culture, ensuring that all stakeholders are consistent in their understanding of their contribution to the overall customer experience and business performance (revenue and surplus).
• Assist the English and Exams department in adhering to Quality, Compliance and Assessment (QCA)
• Refer to guidance from the SSA Regional Customer Management Lead and the UK Customer Management Team when planning and to report back to Nigeria teams on progress of these.
• Use the Customer Management Framework self-assessment, the Customer Service Strategy and the Customer Service Management Toolkit to improve service quality.
• Develop fit for purpose Customer Service Strategy specifically for Nigeria that meets the requirements of stakeholders across Nigeria business.
• Manage data collection for the purpose of understanding our customers and competitors and to provide an evidential basis for critical business decisions.

Team Leadership and Management:

• Effectively lead, engage and line manage Customer Service Officers and Customer Service Assistants by providing regular and timely feedback on performance in compliance with all aspects of British Council performance management as set out by HR policies.
• Manage the team to ensure appropriate staffing levels are maintained at all times
• Recruit for excellence in accordance with corporate recruitment standards and employment law.
• To contribute to Nigeria Exams team objectives and Senior Leadership Team (SLT) planning by attending and contributing to staff meetings.
• To substitute for management team members, when applicable.

Service Delivery and Improvement:

• Lead on the implementation of a customer service improvement plan for the Nigeria Directorate.
• Manage internal stakeholder relations including implementation of Service Level Agreements with key departments, review and revision of these as appropriate. Agreed standards are met and stakeholders are kept up to date through regular reports and/or meetings.
• Day to day running of British Council Customer Services in accordance to standards and policies.
• Map the Customer Journey, measuring the customer experience regularly to make improvements.
• Regularly evaluate the level of customer service being provided through range of methods including Scorecard, customer satisfaction questionnaires, Customer Comments, Net Promoter questionnaires, Mystery Shopping results and customer focus groups.
• Continuously monitor the quantity and quality of calls, face to face and email enquiries, conversion to sales rates, missed calls and registrations.
• Use this data to inform planning targets.
• Communicate improvements and success stories to customers and all staff.
• Act as Complaints Manager for the country and ensures that the Complaints policy is adhered to consistently across Nigeria
• Continuously work towards moving enquiries to self-serve to improve customer experience and drive digital channel usage
• Report on Customer Service performance , enquiries and complaints data from offices in Nigeria and report on a quarterly basis to the Corporate Enquiries and Complaints Manager for the global reports
• Analysing and understanding complex customer services issues and provide timely management information to Nigeria Leadership team for business-planning, decision-making and/or the development of new or improved customer services policies and practices
• To feedback customer insights and comments into the Exams, marketing communications and other relevant groups and advise on channels for maintaining and reaching new markets.

Staff Performance Management and Continuous Professional Development:

• Recognise learning gaps and address these with training, coaching or shadowing and address performance issues quickly, effectively and in line with HR policy.
• Ensure the continual professional development of staff by putting development plans in place and offering quality induction, training and coaching required
• Ensure that own professional development and training is continued
• Manage overtime, time in lieu and annual leave in line with financial control standards

Key Relationships
This list is not exclusive but demonstrates that the range of internal relationships reflects the range of external ones.

Key Internal Relationships include:

• Nigeria Senior Leadership Team,
• Examinations Managers,
• SBU leads,
• Examinations Services staff,
• Communications Team,
• The UK Customer Management Team and the Regional Customer Management Lead.

Key External relationships include:

• Exams Board representatives in the UK and SSA region;
• Staff from DFID, FCO,
• Senior staff from educational institutions,
• Venue staff,
• Enquirers,
• Candidates,
• Global and regional SBU external stakeholders,
• CS peers in analogous organisations in Nigeria and worldwide,
• ICS.

Qualifications
Minimum / essential:

• Education to degree level or equivalent.  

Desirable:

• A business-related degree.
• A qualification in Customer Service.

Role Specific Knowledge & Experience
Minimum / Essential:

• Three year’s line management and leading a customer service or operations team to meet challenging targets.
• Experience of managing a call centre.
• Monitoring service to quality standards; devising and implementing improvements to these.
• Track record of working across departments to drive customer focused service improvements
• Demonstrated experience managing relationships with external partners and stakeholders

Desirable:

• Experience in public sector, education or related services industry
• Leading teams across dispersed offices
• Experience in digital communication planning and execution.

Click here to download job details (MS Word)

Click here to download BC Behaviour (pdf)

Note: Applicants must have the pre-existing right to work in Nigeria.