Head of Customer Experience

Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Council are looking to recruit a Head of Customer Experience to join our team based in Ipswich, Suffolk. You will join us on a full time, fixed term contract or secondment opportunity for 2 years basis. The successful candidate will earn a competitive salary of £64,269 - £78,039 per annum (pro rata for part time).

This role is open to full time, part time, and job share applications, all of which will be assessed equally.

Join our team

We are looking for a Head of Customer Experience to lead our Customer Services, website/Digital Services, Corporate Complaints and approach to the Cost of Living and Digital Inclusion.

This is a rare opportunity to shape how thousands of residents interact with the councils every year, ensuring our services are accessible, modern, compassionate and high performing. You will play a central role in improving outcomes for our communities, supporting those facing hardship, and driving a culture where customer voice shapes everything we do.

If you share our values and are motivated to make a difference for our residents, clients, and communities, we would love to hear from you.

About the role

Reporting to the Director - Customers, Vulnerabilities and Governance, you will lead the continued transformation of our customer offer, embedding high-quality service delivery and digital innovation across both councils.

You will lead on:

Customer Services and Digital Transformation

Lead and develop all corporate customer service delivery teams to deliver high?quality, consistent services across in?person, telephony and digital channels. Drive digital transformation by improving online access, streamlining customer journeys and embedding a modern, customer?first approach across the organisation.

Corporate Complaints and Feedback

Lead the Councils’ corporate complaints process, ensuring complaints and feedback are managed professionally, consistently and with empathy. Use data, insight and learning from customer feedback to drive service improvement, strengthen early resolution and improve overall customer satisfaction.

Cost of Living and Digital Inclusion

Coordinate the Councils’ response to the cost of living challenges, working across services and with external partners to ensure residents can access timely advice, support and early help. Lead digital inclusion initiatives to reduce the risk of digital exclusion and improve access to online services, particularly for vulnerable or hard?to?reach customers.

About you

We are seeking a customer centric leader who is passionate about customer experience, service transformation, and supporting communities.

You will bring:

strong leadership experience across multi-channel customer service environments

proven success in customer transformation and digital improvement

experience leading effective complaints handling and turning insight into action

excellent communication, able to work confidently with senior leaders, Members and partners

a collaborative, inclusive and values-led leadership style

a strong understanding of the challenges facing residents during the cost of living crisis, and experience designing or delivering support for those in financial hardship

strong analytical and problem?solving skills, using data to inform improvement

commitment to continuous learning, openness, integrity and putting customers first.

About us

At Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils we are passionate about building communities that people want to live, work, visit and invest in.

We serve around 200,000 residents across our two districts and are well known for our collaboration and partnership working across public, private and voluntary sectors.

We believe that the heart of Suffolk is an incredibly special place to live and work, with:

60 conservation areas

two National Landscapes

many picturesque market towns.

It is no surprise we are ranked among the top 50 places to live in the UK.

Employee Benefits

We offer a comprehensive benefits package, including:

Generous leave entitlement (26 days a year, rising to 31 days after 5 years)

Competitive Local Government Pension Scheme

Wellbeing Support and Employee Assistance Programs

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