Head of Customer Experience

Job Title: Head of Customer Experience

Jisc grade: PRS4

Salary: c£65,000 per annum (negotiable based on experience) + comprehensive benefits package

Job Type: Permanent

Hours: 35 hours per week

Reports into: Director of Delivery

Working style: Hybrid - A blend of working from home and your nominated hub office. We have hubs located in London, Bristol, Manchester and Oxford.

About Jisc:

At Jisc, we're driven by a simple ambition: to use technology to transform education, research and innovation.

For more than 30 years, we've been the digital partner for the UK's education and research sectors, providing world-class networks, innovative digital services and expert guidance that help universities, colleges and research institutions thrive.

Our work supports millions of learners, educators and researchers every day, enabling everything from ground breaking discoveries and life-changing research to exceptional digital learning experiences. While many people may not realise it, the technology and services we provide help power some of the UK's most important educational and research achievements.

Join Jisc and you'll be part of a purpose-driven organisation where your ideas can have a real impact. Together, we're shaping the future of learning, research and innovation for the benefit of society.

The role:

We're looking for a strategic and inspiring Head of Customer Experience (CX) to lead organisation-wide transformation and help shape exceptional experiences for our customers.

This is a high-impact leadership role with responsibility for driving customer experience improvement across strategy, culture, processes, technology, and ways of working.

You will build strong partnerships across the organisation, creating a network of customer-focused champions and ensuring customer needs remain at the heart of decision-making.

Working alongside specialists in customer experience, quality, contact centre operations, and service design, you will champion best practice, share thought leadership, and help embed a culture of continuous improvement.

You will be confident engaging with a range of audiences, from frontline colleagues to senior leaders, using customer insights and performance measures to influence change and deliver tangible outcomes.

The role requires strong service design expertise, enabling you to translate complex systems, processes, and operating models into seamless customer journeys. Partnering closely with the Design Lead, you will identify opportunities to remove inefficiencies, improve experiences, and maximise value for both customers and the organisation.

As Head of Customer Experience, you will:

• Define and lead the organisation's CX strategy, ensuring customer experience priorities are embedded within business objectives and key results across all teams.
• Play an active role in designing services and experiences, supporting the Design Lead to create clear blueprints for outstanding customer experiences.
• Lead and grow the CX Champion community, facilitating knowledge-sharing activities that inspire and drive improvement across the organisation.
• Partner with stakeholders to identify customer and operational pain points, translating insights into measurable improvement plans and tracking delivery against agreed outcomes.
• Manage relationships with CX-focused suppliers, consultants, and third-party partners, ensuring clear objectives, strong governance, and value-driven outcomes.
• Represent the customer perspective in strategic business decisions, helping balance customer needs with commercial priorities.
• Act as the leading CX advocate across the organisation, regularly engaging with colleagues, leaders, and customers to ensure experiences are understood, monitored, and improved.
• Lead, coach, and develop the Customer Experience team (2 FTE), creating a high-performing and collaborative environment that supports professional growth and successful delivery.

We're looking for someone who can demonstrate:

• Significant experience in service design and customer and/or employee experience strategy, with a track record of leading change and influencing outcomes across complex, matrixed organisations.
• Strong expertise in designing and improving services within technology-enabled environments, including an understanding of digital platforms, IT service operations, service management tooling, customer support models, and frameworks such as ITIL.
• The ability to analyse complex processes, customer journeys, and operational challenges, turning insights into practical improvement plans that enhance customer experience, efficiency, service performance, and scalability.
• Experience facilitating workshops, service mapping, process reviews, and collaborative improvement initiatives, alongside the ability to coach, mentor, and develop others to achieve high standards in experience strategy and design.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and influencing skills, with the confidence to engage, challenge constructively, and build trusted relationships at all levels, presenting complex ideas clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong commercial awareness and strategic thinking, with the ability to balance customer needs and business priorities while maintaining a proactive, solutions-focused approach.
• Resilience, adaptability, and the ability to lead culture change, inspiring colleagues and fostering a customer-centric mindset across the organisation.
• Relevant CX/EX/service design qualification is essential

Don’t meet every single requirement?

We know that sometimes people can be put off applying for a job if they think they can’t tick every box, so we encourage you to apply even if you do not meet 100% of the requirements, but if you feel this role is perfect for you. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles!

Why work for us?

At Jisc, every role is meaningful, and every individual is valued. We foster a culture of continuous learning and personal growth, offering opportunities to develop new skills and make a real impact in education and research. With a strong focus on work-life balance, we embrace flexible working that prioritises outcomes over hours, empowering you to create a rhythm that energises both your professional and personal life.

Our Guiding Principles:

Jisc’s culture is powered by our four guiding principles: putting customers first, driving innovation, creating impact, and championing inclusive collaboration to deliver sustainable outcomes and shape a better future.

Discover the amazing benefits we provide! Here’s what you can look forward to:

• Flexible work pattern, which can adapt to suit your schedules and personal commitments
• 31 days annual leave (plus bank holidays) that includes three closure days over Christmas
• Buy up to an additional 5 days leave during the flexible benefits window
• Generous flexible pension schemes
• A range of wellbeing lifestyle benefits including company paid health care cash plan, mental health first aiders and support
• A company culture of continuous learning with access to thousands of LinkedIn Learning courses, and lots of resources and opportunities to support your development
• Allocated allowance of up to £250 to equip your home office
• Financial well-being support including access to preferential loan and savings plans, mortgage advice, will writing tools and support and resources to help you make the most of your money
• A wide range of discounts and cashback from retailers and big-name high-street stores
• Family friendly policies including enhanced parental, maternity and paternity and co-parental leave as well as opportunity for career breaks
• Support your volunteering with up to 3 days volunteer leave

Equity, diversity and inclusion:

Jisc believe our people make all the difference in cultivating an inclusive culture that welcomes ideas, encourages innovation, and values belonging.

We work hard to create an equitable experience for our candidates and workforce which embraces all aspects of their identity including race and ethnicity, religion and belief, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, trans identities, age, class, disability, neurodivergence, or veteran status.

Application process:

Please let us know how we can best accommodate you throughout the recruitment process. We’re committed to making our process accessible and comfortable for everyone - just tell us what works best for you. We’re really looking forward to getting to know the real you. While we encourage the use of AI tools to help you get started on your CV or cover letter, we encourage you to review your application before submitting. Make sure it truly reflects your own voice, experiences, and personality.

If you are currently a Jisc employee, please apply through your Dayforce Employee profile.

We have a thorough background screening process that verifies the details you share with us in your CV and your application. Any inaccurate information supplied during the application stages can lead to a job offer being withdrawn.

Sponsorship:

Jisc has an active sponsor licence to recruit on a Skilled worker visa basis. Candidates wishing to apply who require sponsorship should determine the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship for the role by assessing their circumstances against the relevant Home Office criteria. Jisc does not offer any financial re-imbursement towards the applicant costs, such as re-location, skilled worker visa and dependant costs or the immigration health charge.

No agencies please.