Head of Operations - Contact Centre

• Head of Operations - Contact Centre
• Financial Services Industry
• 9–12 Month FTC
• Manchester | Hybrid | Occasional Travel to Carlisle
• You must be eligible to work in the UK without the need for Sponsorship

Role Purpose

We are seeking an experienced Head of Operations / Contact Centre leader to take responsibility for the day-to-day leadership, performance and effectiveness of a key customer operations function within a leading financial services organisation.

This role will provide senior leadership across operational and contact centre teams, ensuring the delivery of excellent customer outcomes, high-quality service, strong regulatory compliance and a positive colleague experience.

Leading a team of Team Leaders and operational specialists, you will be responsible for creating a high-performing culture focused on customer experience, service quality, operational performance, technical excellence, efficiency and continuous improvement.

You will ensure operational and contact centre activities are delivered consistently, risks are effectively managed and customers receive the high standards of service expected within a regulated financial services environment.

Key Responsibilities

Operational & Contact Centre Leadership

• Lead the day-to-day operation of customer operations and contact centre functions, ensuring effective delivery of service, quality and business objectives.
• Provide leadership, coaching and direction to Team Leaders and operational teams.
• Drive contact centre performance across key measures including customer service, productivity, quality, service levels, efficiency and customer outcomes.
• Create a culture of accountability, continuous improvement and customer focus.
• Act as the senior operational escalation point for the function.
• Ensure appropriate workforce planning, resource allocation and operational capacity to meet customer demand.

Customer Outcomes & Service Excellence

• Own customer outcomes across the operation, ensuring customers receive fair treatment and consistently high-quality service.
• Drive improvements in customer experience, contact centre performance and service delivery.
• Monitor customer feedback, complaints, quality trends and service performance, taking proactive action to address emerging issues and risks.
• Ensure customer interests remain central to operational decision-making.

About You

You will be an experienced senior operational and contact centre leader with a proven track record of leading large-scale customer-facing teams, ideally within a regulated financial services environment.

You will have strong experience managing through Team Leaders and will be comfortable operating in a high-volume contact centre environment, using data and performance MI to drive service excellence, productivity and customer outcomes.

You will combine strong people leadership and stakeholder management skills with a genuine focus on customer experience, operational excellence, performance improvement and developing high-performing teams.

Essential Experience

• Proven experience leading large contact centre and/or customer operations teams, through Team Leaders or equivalent management structures.
• Strong experience within a customer-facing, high-volume contact centre environment.
• Proven ability to drive contact centre KPIs, including service levels, productivity, quality, customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
• Strong track record of delivering positive customer outcomes and service improvements.
• Excellent people leadership, coaching and development skills.
• Experience working within a regulated environment.
• Proven ability to use data, MI and performance metrics to identify trends and drive operational improvement.
• Experience managing customer complaints, escalations and service quality.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Excellent communication, decision-making and leadership capabilities.
• Experience leading teams through operational change or transformation.

Desirable Experience

• Experience within pensions, SIPP, SSAS or wider financial services.
• Understanding of FCA regulatory requirements and Consumer Duty principles.
• Experience delivering operational transformation and change programmes.
• Experience managing multi-site contact centre or customer operations teams.
• Experience with workforce planning, capacity management and contact centre MI.