Customer Service Team Leader

We're recruiting a Customer Service Team Leader on behalf of a well-established, globally operating advanced materials business headquartered in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. This is a full-time, permanent position with hybrid working available — and a genuine opportunity to step into a leadership role with real scope to grow as the customer service function expands.

This role sits at the heart of a busy, technically diverse customer service operation, combining people leadership, escalation ownership, process discipline and a proportion of hands‑on operational work (around 20-30%) to keep you close to the day‑to‑day realities of the team. You'll be building a capable, motivated team that delivers responsiveness, accuracy and strong customer outcomes across a global client base spanning aerospace, research, engineering, medical science and emerging technology. If you're an experienced people leader with a customer‑first mindset and a structured approach to continuous improvement, this is a role worth exploring.

Main Responsibilities

• Leading, coaching and developing a team of Customer Service professionals through regular one-to-ones, development plans and performance conversations
• Managing workloads, prioritisation and resource allocation across the team on a daily basis
• Acting as the point of escalation for customer complaints, issues and internal process barriers, and seeing them through to resolution
• Monitoring SLA performance and taking proactive steps to manage risk and maintain service levels
• Creating and maintaining SOPs for high-frequency and high-value processes
• Driving a structured approach to continuous improvement, including identifying recurring issues and working cross-functionally to resolve them
• Championing adoption of internal tools and supporting automation and process streamlining
• Supporting onboarding and coaching of new team members
• Collaborating with stakeholders across the business to resolve issues early and clearly
• Contributing to projects that shape how customer service is structured and delivered across the wider group

Skills/Experience

• Previous experience in a customer service environment — essential
• Demonstrated ability to coach, influence and support others — essential
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with excellent stakeholder management
• Confident problem solver with sound judgement in complex situations
• Able to manage competing workloads, SLAs and internal and external priorities
• Competent with core IT systems — experience with D365, MS Office or Salesforce desirable
• Previous leadership, mentoring or senior agent experience — desirable
• Exposure to SLA-based operations — desirable
• Understanding of the order-to-cash cycle and order fulfilment — desirable
• Familiarity with AI-assisted workflows or process automation — desirable
• Experience working across multiple sites, teams or business units — desirable

Salary & Working Hours

Salary is competitive and dependent on experience. Full-time, permanent position with hybrid working. Typical hours are 8:00am-4:00pm or 9:00am-5:00pm, Monday to Friday. Based in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.

Benefits

• Competitive salary with scope, progression and reward reviewed as responsibility grows
• 22 days annual leave rising to 25 days
• Hybrid working arrangements
• Company-funded private healthcare
• Employer pension contribution of 5%
• Critical illness and life assurance cover
• Company sick pay scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Professional development and training support
• Onsite parking and complimentary refreshments
• Programme of social events throughout the year

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