Title:  Customer Services Director

Shape the future of customer service

We are looking for an exceptional Customer Services Director to lead customer service across our Wealth, Group Protection and Retirement businesses.

This is a pivotal executive role with the opportunity to set the vision, strategy and standards for a large, complex function during a significant period of transformation. You will unite internal teams and strategic service partners behind one seamless operating model, ensuring outstanding outcomes for customers and advisers whilst delivering sustainable improvements in performance, resilience and value.

The opportunity

You will lead the end-to-end customer and adviser service journey, combining strategic leadership with a clear focus on safe, stable day-to-day delivery. You will be accountable for embedding and continually improving an outsourced service model, strengthening operational excellence and creating a high-performing, inclusive culture across multiple teams and locations.

Working closely with senior leaders across Technology, Change, Risk, Compliance, the Chief Customer Office and the business lines, you will turn customer insight, operational data and strategic priorities into meaningful action.

What you will do

• Set and deliver the Customer Services strategy, transformation roadmap and target operating model.
• Lead the successful mobilisation, integration and optimisation of internal and outsourced service teams.
• Drive performance across service, quality, productivity, complaints, customer outcomes, risk, controls and operational resilience.
• Provide executive leadership to Customer Services delivery teams, the Service Management Office and the Operational Excellence Team.
• Establish clear performance standards, governance, service measures and accountability throughout the function.
• Deliver process simplification, automation, continuous improvement and measurable benefit realisation.
• Champion fair customer and adviser outcomes, using service and complaints insight to identify and resolve systemic issues.
• Own Customer Services budgets, workforce costs and third-party expenditure, ensuring strong commercial discipline and value.
• Serve as the senior escalation point for material service issues, leading effective recovery plans where required.
• Build leadership capability, talent pipelines and an engaged, accountable culture through ongoing transformation and business-as-usual activity.

About you

You will be a credible, resilient and customer-focused senior leader with experience of operating in a large, regulated customer service or operations environment. You will bring:

• A strong track record of leading major transformation without compromising service stability or customer outcomes.
• Experience designing, governing and improving outsourced or strategic third-party service arrangements.
• Proven ability to bring diverse teams together through shared standards, operating rhythms, governance and culture.
• Deep expertise in operational excellence, process improvement, automation and benefits realisation.
• Sound understanding of conduct, operational risk, controls, regulatory obligations and operational resilience within financial services.
• Commercial and analytical judgement, with the ability to translate customer, service, people, risk and cost insight into timely decisions.
• The confidence to influence and constructively challenge at executive level.
• A demonstrable commitment to developing talent, setting high expectations and leading with empathy, pace and clarity through change.

Relevant qualifications in operational excellence, service management or change are desirable.

Why this role matters

This is more than a customer service leadership role. It is an opportunity to shape a function that is central to customer trust, business performance and regulatory confidence. You will lead meaningful change, build lasting capability and create a service experience that customers and advisers can rely on.