Head of Customer Relations & Specialist Operations

dnata Travel Group, part of the Emirates Group, includes the brands of Gold Medal, Netflights, Travelbag and Travel Republic.

We are now recruiting for a Head of Customer Relations & Specialist Operations. This is a crucial role within the organisation, responsible for ensuring that customer needs and expectations are consistently met across the dnata UK brands.

This role will be responsible for leading operational managers and the wider team, to drive continuous improvement by gaining customer feedback, using customers data and understanding customer trends and breakpoints to redefine the customer journey.

A key element of the role will be to develop and implement strategies to improve customer experience and foster a customer-centric culture. Aligning the customers support function strategies with the overall business objectives, whilst developing plans and targets to deliver best in class service.

The role will involve being responsible for developing and driving the Strategic & Operational complaint and issue resolution function of all aspects of the B2B brands (Gold Medal), Travel Republic, Travelbag and Netflights businesses, working in close liaison with the operational and sales leads across the brands ensuring an exceptional customer experience is being delivered whilst being compliant with UK travel regulations.

This role is based at our Leyland office, near Preston.

Job Accountabilities:

• Ownership, development & delivery of strategic programmes to drive operational excellence
• Deliver the out of hour’s strategy to provide a strong 1st call resolution response to in resort issues outside core hours
• Drive team performance and a Centre of Excellence through performance expectations and coaching your team
• Lead, grow and inspire your team and drive a culture of fun within our operational teams
• Champion culture engagement and inclusion to ensure that every person feels they belong to the dnata family
• Define a suite of KPI’s to drive the delivery of exceptional customer service within our customer support function
• Provide regular updates and reports to senior leadership on the company’s service KPI’s, key findings and recommendations
• Implement a comprehensive complaints management system for all brands and monitor trends with the complaints data to make data driven decisions
• Drive efficiencies through continuous improvement, reviewing processes and implementing technologies improvements.
• Collaborate with key stakeholders, product and technology teams to implement and optimise tools that enhance efficiency and accuracy in processes and reporting.
• Control department budgets & monitor expenditure
• Ensure that the teams are working within ABTA/ATOL/Legal and Package Travel Regulations guidelines, highlighting any possible breaches or changes to rules to the business for action to be taken.
• Working closely with the dnata legal teams when dealing with escalated cases.
• Continually monitor CRM standards in our Service operations to ensure we are delivering the highest quality service levels.

To be considered for this role, you need to have the following skills and experience:

• Extensive experience in the service industry and served as a Divisional Manager – Travel industry expertise is highly preferred however not essential
• Experience across B2B & B2C Service / Customer Relations environments
• Proven experience leading teams both UK based and offshore in a fast past environment
• Strong strategic & creative skills
• Track record in change management
• Analytical skills, ability to assess complex risk factors and make informed decisions under pressure
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to engage and influence stakeholders at all levels
• Strong problem-solving skills
• ABTA Code of Conduct / Package travel regulations
• Knowledge on the overall Travel industry issues, trends and economics

Our range of benefits include:

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays, increasing to 28 days after 5 full years of service
• Additional annual leave purchase scheme
• Company pension scheme
• Life assurance
• Private Medical cover for you
• Employee Assistance programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Ongoing development – we have an in-house People Development Team
• Travel discounts – we have a dedicated Staff Travel Team to source the best deals for our people
• Industry/social events – including supplier events, office socials & parties and pop-up shops
• Cycle to work scheme
• Long service awards
• Belong Programme - Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that play a crucial role in implementing our DE&I strategy
• Volunteer days – one day’s paid leave each year to volunteer with a registered charity
• dnata4good – supporting the local communities we work, live and thrive in
• Refer a friend scheme
• Free eye care tests
• Free Taste Card membership– offering discounts on dining out, movies, attractions, takeaways and online shopping
• Free tea and coffee, break out areas with free Wi-Fi

For more information, please click on the attached Job Description