Client Support Team Lead

The details

WHAT IS THE ROLE?

Our business has grown by 20-30% a year ever since it was created. What started as a consultancy delivering outstanding process improvements to our clients has evolved to be a multi-disciplinary offering that creates outstanding solutions that continue to deliver value year after year.

We have seen demand for our software products and solutions substantially increase over the last three years and as a result are investing in a Software Engineering Team. We therefore also need a trusted support team to support this growing practice. The Client Support Team Lead is the first role that is going to be recruited into this team and will be crucial to defining the standards that this team will need to achieve. As the Client Support Team Lead, you will also be responsible for providing outstanding customer service to our clients for our software products and solutions.

The Software Support Team are a brand-new team that will play a key role in ensuring that solutions created by our Software Engineering Team are successfully implemented, supported, and managed for our clients. The clients you will engage with are ones that Newton will have already worked closely with to tackle their biggest challenges. The role of the Client Support Team Lead will be to deal with incident management, request fulfilment, team escalations and proactive monitoring to address the challenges impacting the client solutions.

With the Client Support Team Lead being the first role into this team, the early stages of the role will be leading on understanding the requirements and setting up the capabilities and practices required to set-up the new support function. This role will take the lead on the recruitment of additional team members, with the support of the IT Support Manager and wider IT Management Team. This role will also then take on the line management responsibilities for those recruited individuals.

The Client Support Team Lead will initially act as the first point of contact for our customers experiencing issues with solutions provide by the Newton Software Engineering Team. Customer service is key to this role and the Client Support Team Lead will need to seek to fully understand the needs of the customer and have a real desire to help them get to a successful conclusion.

Typical responsibilities of this role will be:

• Building relationships with the Software Engineering Team
• Building relationships with the clients paying for the Support Service
• Managing the Client Support Team as it grows (Included but not limited to recruitment, 1:1s, appraisals)
• Mentoring the team and prioritising the team’s personal development, including leading by example
• Understanding the products that the Software Engineering Team have created from both a user and technical perspective.
• Ensuring that required levels of training, handover, and both support and technical documentation have been provided to or created by the Client Support Team.
• Being seen as a client advocate and challenging the Software Engineering Team in their design and development decisions to ensure the product is the best it can be.
• Owning the Incident and Service Request Management Process for the Client Support Work
• Escalating more complex/technical issues to the relevant individuals or teams within Newton and/or our engaged 3rd parties
• Creating, agreeing, and monitoring of the SLAs between Newton and the client.
• Ensuring that time is logged to appropriate client/solution to allow accurate billing.
• Driving continual improvement within the practices of the Client Support Team

HOW DO WE DEVELOP AND REWARD YOU?

Newton maximises the potential of our people, whether in client-based consulting roles, or in support functions. The prospects for career and personal development in this role are no exception, with future possibilities as the team grows.

Supporting you starts from day one. Throughout your time at Newton, you’ll get support from several sources – from stretching projects, on-the-job feedback and developmental guidance from our leaders. Your colleagues within the wider Software Solutions Team will help you get up to speed on a number of key systems and processes within the first few weeks to ensure that you are able to contribute and add value from an early stage. A personal development map will support your individual development needs and will look to develop both the technical and personal skills for a successful career.

You’ll have a dedicated Development Manager to support your career progression. You’ll receive regular appraisals and annual pay reviews.

We offer a highly competitive salary, and our generous benefits package includes Life Assurance, Income Protection, pension contributions and 28 days’ holiday.

Joining us also brings many social benefits! We have a full social calendar with Autumn and Spring activity days, Christmas events, 3-day summer event and 4 Newton-sponsored weekends a year.

YOUR EDUCATION, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

You’ll be a high calibre individual, with exceptional levels of personal drive and eagerness for personal development. An analytical mind, coupled with strong communication skills and a positive attitude are essential to fit into the Newton culture. You’ll have previous experience in a similar role or can demonstrate a passion for supporting customers through technology.

The successful candidate will also have/be the following:

• Excellent customer service skills. A real desire to help people and to have the drive and tenacity to own issues from start to finish.
• An excellent approach to problem solving. To have detective like skills and take a positive approach to understand and solve even the most complex problems.
• Proactive and consistent in their approach to work and will drive improvement in their areas of responsibility and beyond.
• A desire to work as part of a collaborative team and play a key role in helping drive that team forward.
• The ability to prioritise their own work and that of their team to deliver the best possible customer service and ensure that the customer always comes first.
• A passion for technology and desire to learn about new systems and tools.
• Experience of line management and leading a successful team.
• Experience in creating and supporting highly skilled IT Support capabilities.
• Experience in or awareness ITIL best practices.
• Experience in or awareness of supporting bespoke software.
• Experience in or awareness of supporting cloud infrastructure and hardware.
• Experience in or awareness of software requirements gathering.
• Experience in or awareness of software development.
• Experience in or awareness of software deployment.
• Experience in managing 3rd party supplier relationships.

Next steps