Manager - Customer Service

MANAGER - CUSTOMER SERVICE

JOB SUMMARY

The Manager – Customer Service reports to the Vice President – Customer Service and Special Projects and is responsible for leading daily operations of both Front Office and Back Office Customer Service teams to ensure consistent, high-quality customer service. This person oversees staff performance, workload distribution, and process adherence across billing, service orders, collections, correspondence, call handling, and digital self-service support.

This person manages each Supervisor – Customer Service and works closely with company management to craft and provide strategic direction, reporting, and escalation support for the Customer Service Representative teams. This person also coordinates and cooperates with the Billing System Manager to improve and upgrade the Customer Information System (CIS), Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS), Customer Self-Service (CSS) portal, and ServiceLink Field Service solution (Customer Service Platform).

This person is also responsible to ensure the customer service staff and the customer service  infrastructure and systems achieve the company’s service level standards, reduce errors and re-work, and create a consistent, excellent customer service experience.

JOB DUTIES AND ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

The Manager – Customer Service is responsible to perform a variety of tasks and duties, including but not limited to the following:

Customer Service Leadership

• Lead daily operations for Front Office call center activities and Back Office billing and service fulfillment teams.
• Manage and coach the Supervisors – Customer Service, supporting professional development and consistent leadership practices.
• Lead training efforts for the Customer Service Representatives to ensure they perform according to company performance standards, queue management practices, escalation protocols, customer service expectations, and other company practices  and procedures.
• Travel to company offices and operations centers.

Customer Service Platform Ownership

• Ensure all customer service staff are trained on the Customer Service Platform.
• Ensure all customer service staff are productively and effectively using the Customer Service Platform.
• Work with the Billing System Manager to report issues, validate fixes, request enhancements, and coordinate release changes.
• Configure or recommend updates to call routing, queue structures, Integrated Voice Response (IVR) menus, messaging, and customer service staff skill assignments.
• Promote standardization and accuracy in how customer interactions, billing adjustments, and service orders are processed.

Customer Experience & Service Quality

• Cooperate with the Vice President – Customer Service and Special Projects to create performance standards and policies and procedures for the customer service team.
• Implement and maintain Quality Assurance (QA) programs, call monitoring practices, and regular coaching sessions.
• Resolve complex or escalated customer issues with professionalism and empathy.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory, privacy, and internal quality standards.

Reporting, Metrics & Management Visibility

• Establish and maintain key performance indicators (“KPI”), metrics, and goals for the customer service team, including but not limited to Average Handle Time, First Call Resolution, Average Speed of Answer, Average Wait Time, Abandonment Rate, CSS adoption rate, billing accuracy, and service order backlogs.
• Utilize the customer service platform data to identify, analyze, and monitor trends.
• Utilize trend analysis to identify improvement opportunities and lead corrective action or organizational and/or process improvement initiatives.
• Regularly monitor and report on KPIs and improvement initiatives to company management.

Continuous Improvement & Change Leadership

• Partner with the cloud applications team to support UMAX/CSS system updates, training readiness, UAT testing, and communication.
• Drive process improvements to reduce rework and improve first-contact resolution.
• Support change management when implementing new features, workflows, or policies and procedures.

EXPERIENCE, SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, AND PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Utility industry experience (water, electric, gas).
• Business user experience with cloud-based CIS and CCaaS platforms (UMAX strongly preferred).
• Familiarity with customer service performance and management metrics.
• Demonstrated experience and ability to lead teams, manage team member performance, and deliver service outcomes.
• Strong leadership, communications (verbal and written), and decision-making skills.
• Ability to engage with, develop, and retain employees.
• Ability to interact with colleagues, customers, and the public in a cooperative and professional manner.
• Possess professional demeanor and appearance.
• Be dependable and punctual.
• Ability to sit, stand, walk, reach, grasp, push, pull, bend, stoop, climb, crouch, squat, crawl, twist, perform repetitive physical activities, and lift up to 50 lbs.

EDUCATION, TRAINING, AND EXPERIENCE

• College degree in business, management, customer service, or related major. Work experience and coursework may apply.
• Five years of experience leading customer service operations in utilities, telecom, financial services, or another similar high-volume environment is required.
• Five years’ management and staff supervision experience is required.
• Three years’ experience in water utility business is preferred.
• Valid Arizona driver’s license and acceptable driving record.