Head of Customer Service Centre

Job summary

Can you lead large, multi-site customer contact operations and ensure customers receive a consistently high-quality service across every channel – from phone and email to social media and digital channels?

Have you successfully delivered customer contact strategies, driven operational performance, and used insight and data to shape service improvements at scale?

Are you passionate about championing the voice of the customer, building high-performing teams, and embedding a strong customer focus into strategic and operational decision-making?

If so, we’d love to hear from you!

The Customer Service Centre sits at the heart of DVSA’s interaction with millions of customers each year and delivers a customer service operation that is both broad and deep. Our teams support a wide range of high-volume services, including practical and theory driving tests, vehicle services, Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) enquiries, and specialist support for operators of heavy vehicles. This is not a single service or product offer; colleagues are trained across multiple skill sets and service areas, developing high levels of product knowledge over time.

Operating across major sites in Swansea and Newcastle, we provide a fully multi-channel service, handling customer contact across phone, digital and emerging platforms. The Head of Customer Service Centre play a significant leadership role at DVSA, working across all DVSA services to ensure consistency, quality and continuous improvement.

The Head of Customer Service Centre plays a critical role in making sure we gather customer insight, improve service delivery and supports DVSA’s wider mission to keep Britain’s roads safe while putting customers at the centre of everything we do. There is a significant opportunity to lead the Customer Service Centre through continuing change, including the expansion of webchat, social media and digital services, while also focusing on improving staff morale, colleague development and engagement. Enhancing the colleague experience is central to delivering an outstanding customer experience and sustaining high-performing teams.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King’s birthday
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

Find out more about what it's like working at Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency - Department for Transport Careers.

Job description

The Head of Customer Contact leads DVSA’s customer contact operations, ensuring effective day-to-day delivery and driving strategic improvement. The role has three core priorities: running high-quality, resilient operations across telephone, email and WhatsApp; championing the voice of the customer through insight and data; and modernising customer contact services to support continuous improvement and better outcomes for customers.

Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to:

1. Improving staff engagement by leading staff through change to adapt to new technology, buildings, and processes.
2. Modernisation of the customer operation (IT, process, and ways of working), including new channels such as Web/Live Chat and Asynchronous Chat.
3. Ensuring customer service accreditations (Customer Contact Association and Customer Service Excellence) are maintained.

For further information on the role, please read the role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

Great line management is important to us as an organisation, and we will equip and support line managers to develop the skills they need. We aim to empower line managers to create teams where people can flourish and deliver excellent outcomes for the public.

Person specification

Required experience:

To be successful in this role you will need to have the following experience:

• Experience of leading a dynamic multi-channel Customer Service Centre within Government, the third, or private sectors
• Experience of leading multiple multi-disciplinary teams across regional sites whilst ensuring consistent delivery of service provision, business continuity and surge management
• Strong track record of successfully developing and managing service levels to drive excellent customer service whilst benchmarking against industry standards and achieving/maintaining Customer Service Accreditation
• Developing and using customer intelligence to inform processes and systems.

Additional Information

This role is based across Swansea and Newcastle, with regular travel required between the two locations. The successful candidate may also be expected to attend meetings or events at other national administration sites as required.

The majority of office-based work will be undertaken at one of the two designated locations listed above, which will constitute the contractual place of work.

The post holder will be expected to work flexibly to meet the needs of operational services and teams, including undertaking visits, maintaining contact, and addressing issues outside of standard working hours, including evenings and weekends where necessary.

Working hours, office attendance and travel requirements

Full time roles consist of 37 hours per week.

This role is suitable for hybrid working, which is a non-contractual arrangement where a combination of workplace and home-based working can be accommodated subject to business requirements.

The expectation at present is a minimum of 60% of your working time a month will be spent at either your designated workplace (one of the locations cited in the advert) or, when required for business reasons, in another office/work location/visiting stakeholders. Your designated workplace will be your contractual place of work. There may be occasions where you are required to attend above the minimum expectation.

Regular travel between Swansea and Newcastle is required. You may also be required to attend other sites, which may involve overnight stays.

Your presence at one of the locations will form part of the working arrangements agreed with you.

If you have questions regarding how hybrid working is practiced within the business area, or any reasonable adjustments or flexible working arrangements you may currently have or need in place if successful in your application, please contact the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details).

Visa Sponsorship

Please note that we do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker Licence sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship. Candidates must ensure they have the appropriate rights to work in the UK before application.

Behaviours

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

• Managing a Quality Service
• Changing and Improving
• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £57,515, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency contributes £16,662 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Being part of our brilliant Civil Service means you will have access to a wide range of fantastic benefits:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave).
• 8 Bank Holidays plus an additional Privilege Day to mark the King’s birthday.
• Access to the staff discount portal.
• Excellent career development opportunities and the potential to undertake professional qualifications relevant to your role paid for by the department, such as CIPD, Prince2, apprenticeships, etc.
• Joining a diverse and inclusive workforce with a range of staff communities to support all our colleagues.
• 24-hour Employee Assistance Programme providing free confidential help and advice for staff.
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Find out more about the benefits of working at DfT and its agencies (opens in a new window).

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.

Our selection process ensures a comprehensive assessment of each applicant's qualifications, skills, and potential fit within our organisation.

The selection process for this role will be:

Stage 1: Sift of CV and personal statement

Stage 2: Interview

You must be successful at each stage to progress to the next stage.

Stage 1: Sift

At sift, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

Experience – you will be asked to provide a CV (unlimited wordcount) and personal statement (1000-word count). Please provide evidence of your Experience of the following:

• Experience of leading a dynamic multi-channel Customer Service Centre within Government or private sector
• Experience of leading multiple multi-disciplinary teams across regional sites whilst ensuring consistent delivery of service provision, Business continuity and surge management
• Strong track record of successfully developing and managing service levels to drive customer service excellence whilst benchmarking against industry standards or achieving/maintaining Customer Service Accreditation
• Developing and using customer intelligence to inform processes and systems.

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

The sift will take place on 18th February 2026.

Stage 2: Interview

At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

• Behaviours – Managing a Quality Service, Changing & Improving, Leadership and Communicating & Influencing.

You will also be required to create and deliver a presentation to assess the Behaviour Seeing the Big Picture. Guidance will be provided if you are invited to interview.

The interviews will take place from 4th March 2026.

This interview will be conducted in person at our Bristol office. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.

You can find out more about our hiring process, how to apply, and application and interview guidance on our careers site (opens in a new window).

Please note that we will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change.

Further information on the selection process

We will also hold a 12-month reserve list for this role, which may lead to potential opportunities beyond the role you applied for. You can read more about our reserve lists here.

Reasonable Adjustments

As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need during the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If you need a reasonable adjustment so that you can complete your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service via dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Document Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

This job advert contains links to the DfT Careers website. Our website provides useful guidance and information that can support you during the application process. If you cannot access the information on our website for any reason, please email DRGComms@dft.gov.uk for assistance.

Further Information

For more information about how we hire, and for useful tips on submitting your application for this role, visit theHow We Hire page of our DfT Careers website. You can find detailed information about the recruitment process and what to expect when applying for a role.

Pre-employment Checking

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

All External applicants and current employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) will be required to undergo a Social Media Check. A Social Media Check is a review of your publicly available online activity, typically across platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and others. The purpose is to identify any public posts or content that could raise concerns for employers, such as:

Hate speech or discriminatory behaviour

Threats or acts of violence

Illegal activity or substance misuse

Sexually explicit material

Extremist views or affiliations

Importantly, this check does not involve hacking into your accounts or accessing private messages. It only considers content you have chosen to make public.

Employers use this kind of screening to help ensure their workplace remains safe, inclusive, and aligned with company values. It’s not about judging your personality or lifestyle—it’s about checking for potential red flags that might affect the role or company culture.

If you have questions or concerns about the social media check, we would be happy to explain in more detail what’s being looked at and how your data is handled securely and fairly.

Feedback

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.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.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).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 : Adrian Long
• Email : adrian.long@dvsa.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.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 Government Recruitment Services via email: dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Visit the Civil Service Commission website Here

Attachments

Role Profile Opens in new window (pdf, 108kB)