Vacancy Introduction

We are on a mission to become the East of England's most valuable organisation, and our Member and Customer team plays a crucial role in achieving that goal. Our team is dedicated to providing exceptional support to our retail businesses, understanding and addressing the needs of our customers and members, and demonstrating the power of modern co-operation in our communities. 

As a Member and Customer Support Team Leader, you will lead our team in delivering outstanding service to our members and customers. Your responsibilities will include handling member and customer enquiries through various channels, ensuring accurate and consistent processes are followed, and acting as the point of escalation for complaints. By effectively managing the team and maintaining high customer service levels, you will contribute to our organisation's success.

Role Responsibility

• Handle member and customer enquiries across various channels, ensuring prompt resolution and accurate communication.
• Maintain a consistent and friendly brand tone in interactions with members and customers.
• Uphold high levels of customer service and satisfaction.
• Perform accurate and timely daily, weekly, monthly, and annual processes related to membership and finance.
• Maintain accurate records in CRM systems to track customer and member cases.
• Ensure compliance with processes and regulatory requirements.
• Support the implementation of new processes and contribute to continuous improvement.
• Lead the Member and Customer Support Team, including holiday scheduling and ensuring adherence to processes and service levels.
• Conduct performance reviews and provide training to enhance team understanding and maintain excellent customer service.
• Monitor workload and escalate significant changes to ensure adequate support.
• Manage escalated customer and member cases to reach resolution.
• Coordinate with contracted overflow support during peak periods.

The Ideal Candidate

• Excellent customer service skills
• Experience of managing or leading a team
• Confident, friendly, warm and professional manner
• The ability to actively listen to customers to understand their needs and work proactively to resolve enquiries  
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills to clearly share and relay information, adapting appropriately for the communication channel
• The ability to remain calm and polite when dealing with complaints or challenging clients
• Excellent accuracy and attention to detail in all tasks
• Resilient, positive and solutions focused mindset
• Positive approach to change and continuous improvement
• Full UK Driving License

Package Description

What’s in it for you

At the East of England Co-op, we strive to be the best place to work. We invest in our colleagues to help them to progress in their careers and achieve their full potential. How do we do this?  

• Competitive rates of pay
• 20% discount in our food stores, along with other discounts across our family of businesses
• 22 days holiday (plus bank holiday entitlement) which increases with service
• 5% employer pension contribution
• Death in service benefit
• Access to our colleague communications app, The Loop
• Enhanced* family leave and pay arrangements
• Opportunities to grow, with award-winning training and apprenticeship programmes
• Great deals and discounts across 100’s of high street and online retailers
• Financial wellbeing support, including Wagestream®

Check out the detail of all our colleague benefits here.

* Enhanced on statutory terms, subject to service criteria.

We recognise the challenges people face trying to balance commitments both in and out of the workplace -  perhaps studying, caring commitments, or other employment. We therefore aim to be as flexible as possible, to create shift patterns that work for both our co-op and our colleagues.

About the Company

The East of England Co-op is the largest independent retailer in East Anglia, with over 230 stores and branches across Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex.

Owned by over 260,000 members – including our colleagues – our vision is to be the most valued organisation in our region, by being a better kind of business and using our profit to make a positive impact on our communities.

Our Community Cares Fund provides hundreds of thousands of pounds to support groups and good causes, with a focus on mental health and wellbeing, food justice for all and creating community spaces. 

With a focus on environmental sustainability, we’re proud to have led the way on reducing food waste, being the first major retailer to sell food past its Best Before date for just 10p. 

At the East of England Co-op, we strive to be the best place to work. We invest in our colleagues to help them to progress in their careers and achieve their full potential, whether in food retail, funeral services, property investment, travel, security, stonemasonry, events, or our support functions. 

Find out more at www.eastofengland.coop

Our Recruitment Process

If this is the job for you, simply click ‘apply’. You will be required to register a profile on our careers page. To do this simply click apply. The good news is you’ll only have to register once – after this, it’ll be easier and quicker to apply for any roles in the future too.

Please note that our working patterns are non-contractual. The advertised working pattern represents the normal working pattern for the role at time of advertisement and is subject to change.

East of England Co-op