Who are we?

South Western Railway (SWR) operates over 1,500 services each weekday across the network and employs more than 5,000 people. We provide easy and convenient mobility, connecting people and communities in South West London, southern counties of England, and the Isle of Wight.

Join our team and help us continue to improve quality of life, by bringing people together to get the most out of life.

About the job

The role will be a key advocate in driving Customer Satisfaction across the business, constantly delivering an improved customer experience through our function teams. Driving customer centric, positive change they will challenge internal decision making that is not customer focussed and support key teams in driving their customer KPIs. 

Your main responsibilities will be:

• Along with the Head of Customer Strategy, and other Senior members of the Customer Strategy team, lead and drive a culture change of how our Customers are considered and prioritised at SWR.
• Through an understanding of our customer needs, drive a step-change in our delivery of customer service, focusing on what really matters and delivering against this to drive quality and consistency, by managing service standards that need to be delivered by other teams; and engaging and challenging these teams to meet these standards.
• Lead and develop your team of CX Managers to deliver the Customer Strategy and Customer Experience Plan
• Implement, review and update (annually) the section of the Customer Experience plan focussed on internal functional improvements, and ensuring the plan meets the requirement of the PBF by:
  • Utilising the research and insight provided by the R&I team, to truly understand our customers' needs and gaps in a positive experience for them that our internal key stakeholders are currently responsible (e.g. On train service, Fleet).
  • Working with the R&I team set and agree KPIs in customer satisfaction metrics with the internal functional teams e.g. On train Service, Fleet etc. and hold them to account for these scores
  • Engaging and working with cross functional teams, involving NR where appropriate, to close the gaps in our existing products or processes, through either tighter contract management, improved processes or standards or other improvement methods (consider product and service lifecycles as part of this)
• Ensuring the upcoming Customer Experience plan is built into the next years ABP, ensuring all stakeholders are bought into the plan and benefits in advance
• Through the Governance and reporting manager, manage the Customer Steering Group, track progress in delivery of our BPCs/Strategy/Plan and how we are preforming internally against our agreed KPIs
• Work closely with the Senior CX Design and Innovation Manager, taking on their projects once they are in the ‘Business as Usual' stage, and handing over projects to them that are not able to be resolved through BAU.
• Ensure you and your team represent our different Customer Groups (Business, Leisure, Commuting) across the business, enhancing internal understanding of these groups to facilitate better decision making and challenging when this doesn't happen
• Develop processes that link customer experience directly into project workstreams initiated elsewhere in the business to ensure the customer is always represented.
• Report on CX Progress to steering groups, board members, DfT or other forums as required, involving other team members as appropriate
• Be responsible for building and maintaining the relationships with London Travel Watch, Transport Focus and RDG
• Manage the SWR Customer Council, ensuring that they are engaged and benefit is brought to SWR through them being in place

You'll need:

• Customer first approach – the natural ability to, before all else, first see the world from the viewpoint of our customers
• Insight orientated – understanding of complex data trends and using these to inform performance improvement
• Natural focus on the needs/improvements that will bring the biggest benefit to our customers, and the sense of urgency and determination to make it happen at speed
• significant experience of defining and developing solutions and practical implementations for strategic change.
• Ability to influence, motivate and challenge key stakeholders across the organisation to improve performance and associated customer satisfaction
• Change management gained within a large / complex operational business
• Experience in embedding best practice and implementing governance processes into organisations.
• The post holder will be a dedicated and highly motivated individual having the ability to work under pressure and on their own initiative with minimal supervision. 

About the location

South Western Railways HQ is based on the 4th Floor at South Bank Central, a stone's throw from the River Thames and a 10 minute walk from our busiest station, Waterloo. It is local to many well-known attractions, restaurants and retail facilities and is easily accessible by public transport. 

Working pattern

You will work an average of 37 hours per day across 5 days, typically office hours. 

The Reward

In return we offer a competitive salary and a variety of valuable benefits, including:

• Free duty and leisure travel on SWR services for employees
• Free leisure travel for spouse/partner and dependants (criteria dependent)
• 75% discount on many other train operating companies
• Full training and support with development
• Large range of exclusive retail offers
• Excellent pension scheme

We all belong at SWR. FirstGroup's vision is to provide an inclusive environment for all colleagues, across its group of businesses, ensuring all candidates have an equal opportunity to access meaningful employment.

We value our differences such as age, gender, LGBTQIA+, ethnicity, religion, and disability. We maintain a zero tolerance towards any form of prejudice towards our colleagues, customers, and future talent.

We celebrate and encourage diversity of thought, progressive ways of working and seeing all our colleagues grow and thrive.

We review all roles and job descriptions to ensure they are accessible and, where possible, we support and provide flexible working options; we recommend that you refer to each vacancy description for further details.

If you require additional support to complete your application due to a disability or neurodivergent condition, for example, dyslexia, dyspraxia, or autism, please follow the links below.  We encourage you to share any additional needs you may require so we can provide a fair and equal process for all who apply.

https://exceptionalindividuals.com/neurodiversity/

https://www.healthassured.org/blog/neurodiversity/