Head of Housing Service Centre

We are recruiting for a Head of Housing Service Centre to join our Neighbourhoods & Customer Services division. This is a senior leadership opportunity to shape the strategic direction and operational delivery of the first point of contact for customers accessing housing management services. 

If you are passionate about delivering excellent housing services, improving customer experience and using insight, technology and service redesign to achieve better outcomes, we would love to hear from you. 

Key Responsibilities

This role will provide strategic and operational leadership for the Housing Service Centre, setting a clear direction and developing a professional, proactive and responsive service.

In this role, you will: 

• Drive a strong performance culture, balancing timeliness, quality, customer satisfaction and first-time resolution while ensuring effective use of resources and budgets. 
• Deliver the Customer Access Strategy and target operating model, enabling channel shift while protecting access for residents who need additional support. 
• Use customer insight, root-cause analysis, segmentation and performance data to reduce repeat contact, redesign processes and support evidence-led decisions. 
• Lead customer service change and transformation projects, embedding Lean methodologies, digitalisation, innovation and continuous improvement.
• Keep the service aligned with social housing regulation, legislation, policy, sector best practice and advances in customer-service technology.

Requirements

We are looking for an inclusive and credible senior leader who can demonstrate: 

• Substantial experience of leading teams to deliver demanding performance targets and excellent customer service in a complex, high-volume environment. 
• Strong knowledge of customer experience disciplines and a sound understanding of housing or property-management services. 
• A successful record of leading transformation, including the use of data insight, customer segmentation, digital channels and process redesign. 
• The ability to inspire, influence and challenge at senior level, build effective partnerships and translate complex issues into practical solutions. 
• Commercial and financial awareness, with experience of managing budgets, contracts or frameworks and securing value for money. 
• A relevant professional qualification or membership, such as the Institute of Customer Service, PRINCE2 or Lean Systems Thinking, or equivalent senior-level experience. 
• A CIH Level 5 qualification, or willingness to achieve this within three years. 

Our benefits 

• Competitive salary: £87,249 - £95,392

• Local Government Pension Scheme membership. 

• Generous annual leave: 29 days, rising to 33 days with five or more years’ service, plus bank holidays and three additional days at Christmas. 

• Flexible and agile working to support work-life balance. 

• Staff money-saving schemes, including rent deposit and season ticket loans. 

• Learning and development through the Learning Academy, with clear career development and leadership pathways. 

Additional information 

DBS: This post requires a basic DBS check.  Working arrangements: The role may require occasional evening and weekend work and participation in out-of-hours emergency arrangements.  Political restriction: The post is politically restricted.