Customer Experience and Operations Manager
Overview
As well as a fantastic bouldering facility, Yonder houses a fully equipped co-working space, workshop, yoga studio, café and bar. A space for people to work, play, create, and unwind, providing a focal point for all aspects of the local community.
We invest time in sustaining a collaborative and friendly team who work hard together to make Yonder a world class facility. We are passionate about supporting and building our community through the provision of excellent facilities, exceptional customer service, hosting a variety of fun and inspiring events, and creating a vibrant community spirit.
Yonder has four key business areas, Climbing, Workspace, Business Development and Customer Experience. Each has its own manager which along with the Managing Director form the Senior Leadership Team (SLT). The SLT work together to make key decisions within the business and ensure all areas of Yonder are successful and working in synergy.
Role purpose:
As the Customer Experience Manager, you will play a pivotal role in driving customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy.
You will develop strategies for improving the quality of our customer interactions and be the driving force behind understanding customer needs, identifying pain points, and implementing strategic initiatives to enhance their journey with our brand. Your ability to blend analytical insights with creative problem-solving will be key in optimising processes, fostering a customer-first culture, and ensuring seamless interactions across all business channels.
You will have operational responsibility and oversight for all customer facing roles and areas of the business. On a daily basis you (and your team) will be responsible for ensuring:
- Reception is operational and customers receive exceptional service and appropriate interactions (across all areas) throughout their visit.
- Yonder is clean and tidy throughout the day, maintaining staff rotation of all customer touch points.
- Changing facilities and toilets
- Climbing/Gym area
- Café and bar
- Workspace
- Café and bar operating in line with industry regulations through direct management of café supervisors.
- New business enquiries, tours and bookings (across all areas) are dealt with professionally and successfully.
- Shop is fully stocked, appealing and stock management is up to date.
About you:
- A great communicator, natural problem solver and able to build professional relationships to deliver positive outcomes. You'll stand out in a crowd as someone who champions the voice of customers and is committed to delivering excellent services with ambition to make things better and to get things done.
- Exceptional organisational and time management skills with an ability to prioritise whilst thriving in an openly accountable company.
- Ability to work independently, be self-disciplined and committed to quality and overall have a collaborative approach.
- Ability to problem solve – aptitude for fixing problems and have an analytical mindset.
- Be a quick learner who understands new processes and systems quickly and enjoy learning because you are curious.
- Be adaptable and work with a diverse range of stakeholders.
Key responsibilities:
- Develop and execute a comprehensive customer experience strategy that aligns with our vision and values and is embedded throughout the entire business.
- Design and implement customer-first processes and guidelines, ensuring consistency and excellence across all interactions.
- Gather and analyse customer feedback, insights, and data to identify trends and areas for improvement.
- Collaborate with the SLT to enhance customer touchpoints and resolve pain points.
- Implement and monitor key performance metrics to measure and track success.
- Stay updated on local initiatives, best practice and emerging trends in customer experience to proactively identify opportunities for innovation.
- Hire, train, manage, and develop a team able to deliver exceptional customer service, providing coaching, feedback, and performance management to improve their skills and productivity.
Leadership responsibilities:
- As a member of the senior leadership team, make a major contribution to the strategic direction of Yonder, supporting and enabling the delivery of our business strategy.
- Demonstrate strong leadership ensuring that equity, diversity, and inclusion are embedded in our organisation and the delivery of our services.
- Be a confident role model and leader, ensuring you reflect the values of the organisation. Know what it takes to motivate colleagues and ensure they have the right tools to do the job.
- Empower teams to develop and grow, leading with trust and showing appreciation.
Behavioural qualities:
- Self-Starter: can work autonomously and is an independent thinker capable of working under their own initiative.
- Problem Solver: not scared of a challenge, hardworking, able to see and solve problems, able to prioritise tasks.
- Resilient: capable of dealing with the occasional high-pressure situations that working in a public facing position brings.
- Quality Service: Strong focus on the experience and satisfaction of customers and growing a customer base.
- Creative thinker / Challenger: happy to question the status quo when necessary and bring new ideas to the table.
- Organised: well organised, can plan and meet agreed deadlines reliably.
- Team Work: able to work with other people and a range of different working styles and is friendly and good natured.
- Strong analytical mindset, with the ability to translate data into actionable insights.
- Creative problem-solving abilities and a customer-centric mindset.
- Detail-oriented, organised, and capable of managing multiple projects simultaneously.
Success metrics:
- Customer satisfaction
- Climbing centre income
- Shop sales
- Studio income and expenditure
- Café income and expenditure
Person Specification - Customer Experience and Operations Manager
Essential: Knowledge, skills and experience
- 5 year relevant/transferable experience from Leisure/Hospitality or similar customer facing industry.
- Proven experience in a senior customer experience or related role, with a track record of driving improvements and achieving KPIs.
- Knowledge and experience of managing multi-disciplinary customer service teams.
- Knowledge and experience of working within the food/beverages industry.
- Proven leadership and people management skills, with the ability to motivate and develop a team to achieve KPIs.
- Experience of working in a senior leadership team, able to contribute ideas effectively, constructively challenge others and support the consensus.
- Commercially minded and customer focussed. Experience of meeting financial targets within relevant and transferrable industry.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build relationships with key stakeholders and professionally represent the company.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to use data to identify trends, make decisions, and drive continuous improvement.
- Ability to work under pressure and in a fast-paced environment while maintaining a high level of attention to detail and accuracy.
- Excellent verbal and written communication with high degree of digital literacy
Desirable: Knowledge, skills and experience
- First aid qualification
- Health and safety qualification
- Moving and handling qualification
- Experience of climbing
- Experience of Yoga delivery
- Experience of co-workspace delivery
Benefits
- BUPA Healthcare package
- Free climbing and yoga
- Discount in the cafe/bar
- Access to the Yonder Workspace and workshop for personal projects
- Access to the free reciprocal climbing scheme at the majority of London's climbing walls
Remuneration
£32 to £40k PA dependent on experience
28 Days paid holiday
Selection Process
Selection will be based on application and interview. Interviews will be informal and designed to get the best out of you. We will test the criteria listed in the requirements section.
Note, we are happy to provide feedback to all those interviewed but will not be able to provide feedback on application forms / CV.s
Timeline
Interviews will take place throughout September
How to Apply
Please send CVs and a personal statement of no more than 1000 words describing how you meet the requirements and why you want to work at Yonder to jointheteam@thisisyonder.com with the subject 'Customer Service Manager UKC'.
For Further Information
For more information about the Yonder please visit www.thisisyonder.com or for question on the role please contact James Harrison on james@thisisyonder.com
Closing Date: 29th September
Salary: £32 to £40k PA dependent on experience
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