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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Customer Service Director

💰 $ - $

Customer ServiceLeadershipOperationsCustomer Experience

🎯 Role Definition

The Customer Service Director leads the strategy, operations, and performance of a company's customer support and experience functions. This senior leader develops and executes a customer-centric vision, manages multi-channel contact center operations (voice, chat, email, social, self-service), drives continuous improvement against SLAs and KPIs (CSAT, NPS, FCR, AHT), and partners cross-functionally with Product, Sales, Marketing, and Engineering to reduce friction, scale support, and increase customer retention. This role combines people leadership, operational rigor, data-driven decision making, vendor and budget management, and hands-on execution to deliver world-class customer experiences.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Customer Service Manager / Head of Support
  • Call Center Manager / Contact Center Operations Manager
  • Operations Manager with customer-facing responsibilities

Advancement To:

  • VP of Customer Experience / VP of Customer Support
  • Head of Customer Operations / Chief Customer Officer (CCO)
  • General Manager or COO in smaller organizations

Lateral Moves:

  • Director of Operations
  • Director of Product Operations or Customer Success
  • Director of Quality Assurance & Training

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Define and execute the end-to-end customer service strategy aligned to company goals, including channel mix (phone, email, chat, social, self-service), service level targets, and technology roadmap to improve CX and operational efficiency.
  • Own day-to-day contact center operations for all support channels, ensuring consistent adherence to SLAs, KPI targets (CSAT, NPS, FCR, AHT, ASA), and regulatory/compliance requirements (PCI, GDPR, HIPAA where applicable).
  • Build, mentor, and scale a high-performing leadership team (managers, supervisors, team leads), implement competency frameworks, career ladders, and coaching programs to increase employee engagement and reduce attrition.
  • Develop and manage annual budgets, headcount plans, and forecasting models; optimize labor costs through workforce planning, scheduling, and BPO/vendor use while maintaining service quality.
  • Lead capacity planning, forecasting, and workforce management activities using WFM tools (IEX, NICE, Verint, Calabrio) to balance service levels with cost targets.
  • Design and implement omnichannel support strategies that integrate CRM and contact center platforms (Salesforce Service Cloud, Zendesk, Freshdesk, Genesys) to provide a seamless customer experience.
  • Partner with Product, Engineering, and Operations to identify and resolve root causes of customer issues, reduce repeat contacts, and contribute to product improvements through Voice of the Customer programs.
  • Establish and report on executive-level dashboards and metrics; present monthly/quarterly insights and trends to the executive team to guide strategic decisions.
  • Lead continuous improvement and quality assurance initiatives (Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen), including QA frameworks, call/chat reviews, and remediation plans that measurably improve CSAT and FCR.
  • Drive customer recovery and escalation processes; own executive escalations and service recovery strategies to preserve high-value relationships and protect brand reputation.
  • Select, implement, and govern contact center technology stack enhancements (IVR, ACD, CRM integrations, chatbots, AI routing, speech analytics) to automate routine tasks and scale support with high quality.
  • Manage third-party vendors and BPO partners: set performance SLAs, conduct regular business reviews, negotiate contracts, and ensure alignment with brand standards and security requirements.
  • Create and maintain knowledge management systems, self-service portals, and help center content to reduce inbound volume and increase customer self-resolution rates.
  • Design onboarding, training, and certification programs for front-line agents that include product knowledge, soft skills, compliance, and system usage to ensure consistent and accurate responses.
  • Implement data-driven coaching programs leveraging analytics, speech/text mining, and performance metrics to raise agent effectiveness and customer satisfaction.
  • Oversee incident and crisis response for large-scale outages or service disruptions, coordinating cross-functional remediation and customer communications plans.
  • Drive segmentation and personalization of service levels by customer tier, revenue impact, or product line to align service investment with business priorities.
  • Lead change management efforts for process and technology transformation initiatives; communicate vision, manage stakeholder expectations, and measure adoption and ROI.
  • Partner with Marketing and Sales on retention strategies, feedback loops, and churn reduction programs powered by insights from support interactions.
  • Ensure operational readiness and continuity planning, including disaster recovery, business continuity, and contingency staffing strategies.
  • Standardize reporting and analytics infrastructure that supports both operational optimizations and strategic decision-making, leveraging BI tools (Tableau, Looker, Power BI).
  • Cultivate a customer-centric culture across the organization through regular training, recognition programs, and executive advocacy of customer feedback.

Secondary Functions

  • Provide ad-hoc analytical support and custom reporting requests to support business partners and leadership reviews.
  • Collaborate with data analytics and BI teams to translate customer service metrics into actionable business insights and predictive models (churn, upsell potential).
  • Participate in product roadmap discussions to ensure new features and releases include supportability and customer-facing documentation.
  • Serve on cross-functional project teams (IT implementations, CRM migrations, digital transformation) to ensure operational requirements and agent workflows are considered.
  • Support procurement, security, and legal teams during vendor evaluations to validate security, compliance, and contractual obligations.
  • Mentor future leaders by providing coaching, shadowing opportunities, and leadership development assignments.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Contact center operations management across voice, email, chat, and social channels.
  • Demonstrated expertise with CRM and service platforms (Salesforce Service Cloud, Zendesk, Freshdesk) and contact center suites (Genesys, Avaya, NICE).
  • Workforce management and forecasting tools (NICE IEX, Verint, Calabrio) and capacity planning methodologies.
  • KPI definition and analytics: CSAT, NPS, FCR, AHT, ASA, abandonment rate, cost per contact.
  • Data-driven decision making with BI and analytics tools (Tableau, Looker, Power BI) and experience using speech/text analytics tools.
  • Process improvement methodologies (Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen) and quality assurance frameworks.
  • Vendor and third-party partner management, contract negotiation, and SLA governance.
  • Omnichannel architecture and digital support technologies: chatbots, IVR, AI routing, automation platforms.
  • Budgeting, P&L awareness, headcount planning, and cost optimization strategies.
  • Project management and change management (Agile, waterfall experience preferred).
  • Security and compliance knowledge relevant to customer data (GDPR, PCI-DSS, HIPAA where applicable).
  • Experience designing and managing knowledge bases, self-service portals, and customer communities.

Soft Skills

  • Strategic leadership with proven ability to set vision, prioritize initiatives, and translate strategy into operational plans.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication; effective executive-level presentation skills.
  • Strong coaching and people development focus with emotional intelligence and empathy.
  • Problem-solving and analytical mindset; comfortable with ambiguity and complex trade-offs.
  • Stakeholder management and cross-functional influence without direct authority.
  • Customer advocacy and passion for improving customer journeys and outcomes.
  • Resilience under pressure, crisis management, and calm escalation handling.
  • Decision-making that balances speed with data and customer impact.
  • Collaborative mindset and ability to drive consensus across product, engineering, sales, and marketing.
  • Continuous improvement orientation and growth mindset.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Communications, Operations Management, or related field.

Preferred Education:

  • MBA or advanced degree in Business, Operations, or Customer Experience preferred.
  • Certifications in Lean/Six Sigma, Contact Center Management, or Customer Experience (CCXP) are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Communications
  • Operations Management
  • Information Systems / Technology
  • Organizational Psychology / Human Resources

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 8–15 years in customer service, contact center, or customer operations roles with progressive leadership responsibility.

Preferred:

  • 10+ years of customer support experience with at least 5 years at a senior management or director level overseeing multi-channel operations, multi-site or global teams, and vendor partnerships.
  • Proven track record of improving CSAT/NPS, reducing cost-to-serve, and scaling support through technology and process improvements.
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