Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
Senior Customer Service Leader
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Job Summary
This is a high-profile and business-critical leadership role within the Jobs and Careers Service Operations Directorate, offering the opportunity to influence services that support millions of people across Scotland and Northern England.
As a Senior Customer Service Leader (Grade 7), you will be responsible for the performance, delivery, and customer outcomes across multiple service delivery sites within a geographical area. You will create and sustain an inclusive, high-performing culture where colleagues are empowered to deliver excellent, compassionate, and tailored services to our diverse customer base.
Leading through others, you will drive colleague engagement, develop leadership capability, and set clear standards for performance, professionalism, and customer service. You will ensure resources are deployed effectively to achieve organisational priorities while fostering a culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement.
You will provide strategic leadership and coaching to senior leaders and management teams, helping them navigate change, improve performance, and build highly engaged and effective teams. A key aspect of the role will be developing strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, enabling collaborative solutions that deliver better outcomes for customers and communities.
Role
This role offers a unique opportunity to make a meaningful difference to people's lives by supporting the delivery of the UK Government's employment and welfare objectives, including:
- Helping people move into work and supporting those already in employment to progress and achieve their potential.
- Delivering effective, efficient, and innovative services to millions of customers, including some of the most vulnerable members of society.
- Improving the customer experience while ensuring value for money for taxpayers.
Operating within a fast-paced and continually evolving environment, you will play a pivotal role in shaping service delivery, driving operational excellence, and leading transformational change. This is an excellent opportunity for an ambitious and inspirational leader to further develop their career while delivering real social impact at scale.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide strategic leadership and direction across multiple service delivery sites, ensuring the effective delivery of organisational priorities and objectives.
- Lead, inspire and develop a large, geographically dispersed workforce through senior leaders and management teams.
- Deliver outstanding operational performance, ensuring services are efficient, effective and focused on customer outcomes.
- Drive continuous improvement and innovation, identifying opportunities to improve service quality, productivity and customer experience.
- Lead transformational change programmes and support colleagues through organisational and operational change.
- Develop leadership capability across the business through coaching, mentoring and talent development.
- Build and maintain effective relationships with key internal and external stakeholders, influencing at senior levels to achieve shared objectives.
- Ensure effective workforce planning and resource deployment to meet changing business demands.
- Promote an inclusive culture where colleagues feel valued, supported and empowered to perform at their best.
- Use data, insight and performance information to inform decision-making, identify risks and drive sustainable improvements.
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Person specification
Key Criteria
- Proven experience of leading large, complex teams through change and uncertainty, creating an inclusive and high-performing culture that enables colleagues to deliver excellent customer outcomes. You will be able to demonstrate how you have inspired, motivated and developed others to achieve challenging operational objectives.
- Strong experience of building and maintaining effective relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders, including senior leaders and partner organisations. You will be able to demonstrate your ability to influence, collaborate and drive progress against organisational priorities through effective partnership working.
- Experience of leading the delivery of high-quality, customer-focused services within a large and complex organisation. You will be able to demonstrate how you have successfully managed performance, resources and risk across multiple teams, locations or functions to achieve business objectives and deliver excellent outcomes.
- Exceptional communication skills with the ability to engage, influence and inspire diverse audiences. You will be able to demonstrate how you have translated strategic priorities into clear objectives, communicated complex information in an accessible way, and delivered challenging messages with confidence, clarity and sensitivity.
- Experience of identifying opportunities to improve organisational performance, drive innovation and deliver sustainable change. You will be able to demonstrate how you have used data, insight and sound judgement to inform decision-making, improve services and achieve measurable business outcomes.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Leadership
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Working Together
- Communicating and Influencing
Salary and Benefits
Alongside your salary of £57,946, Department for Work and Pensions contributes £16,786 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.
DWP have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:
- Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
- Generous annual leave – at least 23 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro–rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
- Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
- Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
- Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year’s continuous service.
- Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
- An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women’s Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.
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Selection Process
This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
Stage 1 – Application
Initially you will be asked if you have the right to work in the UK and meet Civil Service nationality requirements and your personal details.
Stage 2 - A name blind CV
We will ask you to provide your CV in an anonymised format.
Stage 3 - Personal Statement
The written sift will be conducted using evidence from your responses to the following key questions:
- Q1. As a Senior Leader, how have you led and inspired multiple teams, across multiple locations, to deliver exceptional outcomes? Please include the key complexities, challenges and tensions you faced. (300 words)
- Q2. During a period of change, how did you ensure service quality was maintained? Please include how you managed variation across different sites, deployed your resources and ensure your leadership teams felt supported. (300 words)
- Q3. How have you influenced a diverse range of senior stakeholders to drive strategy, which delivered against key business objectives? (300 words)
Stage 4 - Assessment Centre
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend an assessment centre.
Visa Information
We strongly recommend that applicants consult with an immigration specialist or qualified advisor to assess their eligibility for Visa Sponsorship before deciding to apply.
Diversity and Inclusion
At the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce.
Disability Confident Scheme
If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards.
Reasonable Adjustments
We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should contact the Government Recruitment Service as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
Contact point for applicants
Job Contact
Recruitment team
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