Customer Complaints Director

Job Title: Customer Complaints Director Location: Leeds Salary: up to 60k + Bonus + Benefits Role Purpose The Customer Complaints Director (B2C) leads the end-to-end complaints strategy across a high-volume consumer environment, ensuring fast, fair, and customer-centric resolution of issues. This role is critical in protecting and enhancing brand reputation, reducing customer churn, and using complaint insight to drive continuous improvement across the entire customer journey. Key Responsibilities Strategic Leadership Define and deliver a B2C complaints strategy that balances customer outcomes, regulatory compliance, and commercial objectives Position complaints as a key source of customer insight to influence business-wide decision-making Act as the voice of the consumer at executive and board level Operational Leadership (High Volume) Lead large-scale complaints operations across multi-channel environments (contact centre, digital, social media, written correspondence) Ensure efficient handling of high complaint volumes while maintaining quality and fairness Drive improvements in speed to resolution, first contact resolution, and consistency of outcomes Customer Experience & Brand Protection Ensure complaint handling reflects the organisation’s brand values and customer promise Minimise negative customer experiences that could impact retention, loyalty, and public perception Manage escalations, including social media and executive complaints, with appropriate urgency and care Insight & Continuous Improvement Use complaint data, trends, and root cause analysis to identify systemic issues across the customer journey Partner with Product, Marketing, Digital, and Operations to eliminate recurring pain points Reduce overall complaint volumes through proactive improvements and preventative actions Regulatory & Risk Management Ensure compliance with all relevant consumer regulations and complaint handling standards Maintain robust governance, audit trails, and reporting frameworks Act as escalation lead for high-risk or reputationally sensitive cases Culture & Capability Build a customer-first, resolution-focused culture within complaints and wider customer teams Lead and develop senior managers and large operational teams Embed coaching, quality assurance, and performance frameworks to drive consistency Stakeholder Engagement Work cross-functionally to influence improvements in customer journeys, products, and services Present insights, risks, and recommendations to senior stakeholders and executive leadership Collaborate with Commercial teams to identify opportunities for retention and revenue protection Transformation & Efficiency Drive automation, digital enablement, and self-service solutions where appropriate Improve operational efficiency and reduce cost per complaint Lead transformation initiatives to modernise complaints handling Key Accountabilities Customer satisfaction following complaint resolution Reduction in complaint volumes and repeat complaints Speed and quality of resolution Customer retention and churn reduction Regulatory compliance and audit outcomes Cost to serve and operational efficiency Team engagement and performance Required Experience Senior leadership experience within B2C complaints, customer service, or contact centre operations Proven experience managing high-volume customer environments Strong track record of improving customer experience and reducing complaints Experience in regulated B2C sectors (e.g., Financial Services, Telecoms, Utilities, Retail) preferred Demonstrated success in using customer insight to drive business change Experience leading large teams and influencing at executive level Skills & Competencies Strong customer-first mindset with commercial awareness Ability to balance customer outcomes with business objectives Excellent leadership and people development skills Advanced analytical and problem-solving capability Strong communication and stakeholder influencing skills Resilient and adaptable in a fast-paced, high-demand environment Success Profile A successful Customer Complaints Director (B2C) will: Turn high complaint volumes into actionable insight and business improvement Protect and enhance brand reputation in a consumer-facing environment Deliver fast, fair, and empathetic customer resolutions at scale Reduce churn and improve customer loyalty and lifetime value Build a high-performing, customer-focused complaints function