Soha Housing is a housing association with over 8,000 homes across Oxfordshire and the surrounding areas. Our vision is for strong, vibrant and sustainable communities where everyone can find a home. As a community mutual, relationships of high trust with residents are at the very heart of our work.
We’re looking for an experienced and forward-thinking Customer Services Manager to lead our contact centre and frontline customer services team. This is a pivotal role, leading the team with the most daily interactions with residents. You’ll build on strong operational foundations while helping us change our services to meet our residents’ expectations.
Role summary
Whilst the MySoha app enables residents to carry out some transactions and access information, our service is still predominantly phone-based. Our ambition is to embed digital and self-service improvements into our customer services operation, including the introduction of new tools and technologies. You will partner with our Business Transformation team to lead us through expanding choice and convenience for residents while ensuring our services remain inclusive, accessible and responsive for those who need or prefer traditional contact methods.
‘The Soha Way’
All staff are expected to model ‘the Soha Way’, in line with our cultural principles:
- We always put residents first: we put people at the heart of decisions, which are made with humanity
- We are constantly learning and restless about excellence: we incentivise curiosity, initiative and acting without permission to make things better, as we learn from every experience
- We are one team and trust each other to do the right thing: we operate with unity, taking responsibility and making decisions as locally as possible
- We strive for honesty, clarity and kindness in all our relationships: we treat feedback as a gift, wanting to see staff, residents and communities fulfil their potential
- We operate with fewer, better rules: we value simplicity, expecting everyone to solve problems, exercise good judgement and take responsibility
What You’ll Be Responsible For
Operational Management
- Leading a high-performing, multi-channel customer contact service, including developing team leaders and staff
- Ensuring strong performance against service standards, quality measures and resident satisfaction
- Fostering a culture of accountability, ownership and continuous improvement, in line with the Soha Way principles
Embedding Service Improvement & Transformation
- Supporting the implementation of technology-enabled solutions, so that residents can carry out transactions efficiently, enabling our staff to provide a personable service for more complex matters
- Ensuring new systems, tools and ways of working are effectively adopted and sustained
- Identifying opportunities to reduce avoidable contact and improve customer journeys
Customer Insight & Continuous Improvement
- Using customer contact data and feedback to identify trends and root causes, and working with colleagues across the organisation to turn these insights into meaningful service improvements
- Contribute to the development of a more proactive, insight-led service
- Work in partnership with the Complaints Manager to ensure effective, fair and timely resolution of complaints, creating learning loops that drive service improvement
Working Across the Organisation
- Collaborate with Repairs & Maintenance teams to address key drivers of customer contact and dissatisfaction
- Work with contractors and partners to improve communication and service delivery
- Partner with Communications colleagues on campaigns to inform residents and reduce avoidable demand
- Act as a strong advocate for the resident voice in operational discussions
What We’re Looking For
Experience
- Demonstrable experience supporting or delivering service improvements or transformation initiatives
- Proven experience leading a customer contact centre or high-volume customer service operation
- Experience managing and developing large teams in a performance-focused environment
- Experience of working with customer insight, performance data and complaints to drive improvements
Knowledge & Skills
- Strong understanding of modern customer service environments, including digital and self-service channels
- Experience working with Customer Relationship Management and contact centre systems
- Ability to translate strategic change into practical operational delivery
- Confident working across teams and influencing stakeholders at different levels
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to turn data into actionable insight
Personal Qualities
- A visible, engaging and supportive leader who is committed to delivering excellent, inclusive customer service
- Comfortable challenging existing ways of working and driving improvement
- Pragmatic, resilient and delivery-focused
- Passionate about ensuring residents’ voices lead to real change
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