Customer Support Manager

Job summary

Do you have excellent communication and organisational skills? Have you got a good eye for detail? If so, this might be the role for you!

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution, and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime, and migration.

This role is working within the Secure Research Service (SRS) within the Research Services and Data Access Division (RSDA)

The Secure Research Service (SRS) is an internationally recognised service that uses the Five Safes Framework to ensure researchers can access de-identified record level data securely. The RSDA division operates the service and ensures that once the researcher and their project are accredited, the data they require are quickly available to them. The team are required to act flexibly, to respond to new, urgent, demands for access to data, while always ensuring data confidentiality.

The Operational Delivery Profession (ODP) is the largest profession in the Civil Service. ODP’s 200,000+ members work in a wide range of operational delivery roles across government, providing essential services that support and protect UK citizens at home and overseas. They help to make ONS a great place to work.

As a member, ODP supports you by providing learning and development opportunities, career pathways, tools and resources to help develop your skills and progress your career. This is an exciting opportunity to join a modern, innovative and inclusive Civil Service profession that sits at the heart of public service delivery.

Job description

This role manages the SRS Customer Support team to ensure a professional service is delivered to researchers using the Service. You will build and maintain successful working relationships with team members, and key internal and external stakeholders to improve the value of the service provided. You will use strong management and organisational skills to ensure effective delivery of our products and services.

This post reports to the Head of SRS Customer Support.

In the SRS Customer Support role, you will guide researchers through the process of applying for accreditation, including supporting training and bookings for secure rooms. You will support the project application process including extensions and expiries. you also manage the ingest and output of data. All the while helping to maintain the security and integrity of the SRS by completing preliminary and ongoing checks.

Key responsibilities:

• Managing the effective delivery of Customer Support Service ensuring the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are met by monitoring the inbox, managing the central tracker and ensuring that our part in multi-team processes is actioned quickly and other teams prompted where necessary.
• Managing incidents, ensuring they are dealt with quickly and effectively by; identifying and communicating solutions, escalating to the appropriate team(s); ensuring the appropriate level of management is made aware; attending any related meetings to provide input and inform team of any actions.
• Building and maintaining teams to ensure they are motivated by collaborating and working well together in regular team meetings and with individual members to ensure there are no blockers or concerns that would cause issue with how the team operates as a whole.
• Encouraging and facilitating continuous improvement of the delivery team by; identifying training for staff where appropriate; giving everyone equal opportunity to lead on work and line management of Administration Officers (Aos); assist where appropriate to help staff gain confidence in new skills or improve their existing one to benefit the team. Manage updating of work instructions as the service and our requirements adapt overtime.
• Managing the implementation of transitional changes to the live service by; understanding the impact of those changes to business processes; communicating them to the team and supporting them with implementation, identifying any training requirements.
• Managing Digital Services and Top Level issues by creating tickets for support, monitoring tickets and attending weekly meetings to escalate any unresolved issues.
• Managing specific stakeholder relations and attending regular meetings to understand or communicate changes to the process and then updating the Customer Support team.
• Managing internal stakeholder relationships with other RSDA teams by attending meetings to understand or communicate changes to process and then updating the Customer Support team.
• Counter signatory for documentation required for researchers accessing the SRS, after checking all documentation is completed appropriately. Upload information into ONS systems to ensure a digital audit trail is maintained.

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

• Line management experience, with the ability to organise and prioritise both personal and team workloads.
• Strong relationship‑building skills with internal and external stakeholders.
• Able to plan, forecast, estimate and manage schedules, coordinating work across teams.
• Committed to delivering timely, high‑quality results while fostering an open, collaborative environment that supports process improvement.
• Skilled at identifying and resolving challenges, particularly when taking on new activity or during periods of change.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving
• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £34,587, Office for National Statistics contributes £10,019 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.

Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.

Inclusion & Accessibility

At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.

As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.

If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Security Clearance

For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.

If you are unsure that you meet the eligibility above, please read the information available on Gov.uk on this link, or contact the recruitment email on the advert before applying to discuss, as failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected and any offer of employment being withdrawn.

At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:

• Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
• UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
• Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
• Security Services records

Application Process

Number of Stages: 2 stage process

Stage 1: Application

Stage 2: Interview

Stage 1 – Application and Sift

The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history, skills, experience, CV, and personal statement. It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.

If a personal statement is required at application state, it will state the maximum wordcount allowed, 1250 words, which should not be exceeded. Where it is a requirement to make a personal statement, you should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed in the person specification. As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions, ideally utilising the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.

In instances where a high number of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted, and candidates will be invited to interview based on merit order, i.e., those with the highest scores.

If you are expecting high numbers of applications and raising the pass mark at sift and want to place sift candidates on hold.

When a high volume of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted. Candidates will be invited to interview based on their merit order, with those achieving the highest scores being prioritised. Applicants who score below the adjusted pass mark but still pass will be placed on hold and may be invited to interview at a later date.

Stage 2 – Interview

If invited to interview, you will be assessed using techniques aligned with the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all behaviours listed in the job advert.

Interviews may be in person or via Microsoft Teams.

A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made.

Important Dates:

The Sift will be conducted from: 20/02/2026

Interviews will be conducted from: 10/03/2026

For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : RecruitmentOperations@ons.gov.uk
• Email : RecruitmentOperations@ons.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : RecruitmentOperations@ons.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact recruitment.complaints@ons.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission

Attachments

2721 Advert 1B Permanent - ONS National v1-00 Opens in new window (pdf, 83kB)