Executive Director, Customer Engagement Delivery

Title: Executive Director, Customer Engagement Delivery 

Division: Operations 

Location: Remote 

Type: Full-Time, Permanent  

About the Team  

College Board’s Operations division (~130 ppl) aims to be a world class digital assessment delivery and customer engagement organization that supports millions of students and thousands of test centers, annually. Operations is also leading the College Board’s exciting transformation to support delivery of digital assessments. The Customer Engagement & Experience (CEE) department (~65 ppl) is a combination of teams that support our key constituents, including students, parents, educators, and our state partners representing approximately 2 million contacts per year. This integrated team serves as the organization’s ‘front line’ and represents the voice of the customer, partnering across the organization to help improve the overall customer experience.    

About the Opportunity  

As the Executive Director, Customer Engagement Delivery, you play a critical role overseeing the strategy and operational excellence for all Engagement Delivery teams, which includes every role within CEE that has primary responsibility for customer-facing support, including contact center operations & vendor delivery teams (~45 ppl). You will lead the delivery of a world-class customer experience, serve as a SME to reporting functions and customer-facing support action plans driven by their team of leaders. You own the results as you are responsible for driving effectiveness related to First Contact Resolution (FCR) and Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) performance by owning responsibility for tier-based scope management ensuring efficient use of transfers and escalations across teams and tiers of service. To deliver results aligned to the overall department strategy, you will depend on essential cross-functional collaboration partnering closely with the Senior Director of Customer Experience, the Senior Director of Customer Engagement Operations, the Senior Director of Special Initiatives, and the VP of Customer Engagement & Experience.  

 This is a leadership role with 5-8 direct reports. 

In this role, you will:  
   

Contact Center Operations & Vendor Management (40%) 

• Manage daily contact center operations and implement the College Board Customer Experience vision for customer-facing support teams, including:  all Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, technical support, outreach and escalation teams for specialized services including SSD, customer care and white glove remediation  

• Manage contact center operational activities including process/procedural definition, resource allocation, and SLA tracking and delivery. Tactical emphasis is on customer experience, and in contact-based performance factors and metrics, including handle times, hold times, after call work times, quality assurance, customer satisfaction, net promoter performance, shrinkage management and others 

• Drive comprehensive performance management across all internal and third-party vendor delivery teams 

• Lead root cause analysis and remedy implementation when SLA’s are not being met or non-SLA related issues arise  

• Collaborate with the Operations Vendor Contract Management team monitoring and evaluating vendor's process definitions and procedures to ensure they are appropriate for delivering operating and quality levels. When necessary, inform the development and tracking of additional operational metrics to measure performance and quality 

• Coordinate business process details including service transitions, work hand offs between contact teams, vendors and subcontractors, and end-to-end service levels 

• Responsible for fiscal management and effective allocation of resources within call center 

Strategy & Operational Excellence (30%) 

• Identify opportunities to reduce contacts, improve the customer experience and reduce costs.  Engage with the appropriate groups to implement changes to achieve those objectives  

• Build and maintain strategic relationships across departments, divisions, and internal and external partners 

• Drive delivery of transformational change by providing leadership and direction to complex, multi-stakeholder programs focused on improving customer experience in a cost-effective way. 

• Define and build a continuous improvement model to support an improved experience for customers and driving efficiency for the business  

• Analyze business processes and procedures to ensure they support the customer experience objectives. Drive efficiencies in process, quality, and performance measurement in alignment with defined customer experience metrics 

• Leverage data and metrics to inform decision making and evaluate effectiveness. Inform the development of reports and dashboards to share visibility to trends and challenges. Proactively communicate results, opportunities, and action plans, drive improvement initiatives 

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Communication (30%) 

• Lead and develop the Engagement Delivery function providing strong, dynamic leadership and mentoring for customer-facing teams; develop a robust, knowledgeable, and pro-active team environment in service of College Board customers 

• Define roles among direct reports and create opportunities for ownership, role clarity, and independent responsibility for all customer-facing support teams and functions 

• Inform reporting functions to create broad, detailed, comprehensive reporting capabilities and ensuring that reporting is utilized to derive operational insights  

• Conduct analysis regarding team and individual effectiveness and indicators of performance 

• Serve as a SME to customer-facing support action plans that are developed, communicated, supported, managed, and inspected by their team of leaders 

• Provide oversight of issue escalation management, as needed, and influence delivery of innovative solutions in complex and difficult situations 

• Ensure workflows and processes support best in class customer experience and drive alignment with divisional and business priorities   

• Drive consistent communication across internal and external teams to ensure alignment, consistency, and cohesiveness in people practices, team management, and customer service to achieve College Board goals 

You have:  

• Ten years’ experience with call center operations management and managing through a business process outsourcing (BPO) provider, with deep knowledge in call center tools and technology. 

• Relevant experience related to successful delivery of Contact Center Transformation and Operations 

• Experience leveraging feedback and performance levels to course correct.  

• Proven experience managing metrics, ensuring customer satisfaction, and reporting statistical performance levels related to call center. 

• A propensity for hands-on work and a high level of execution, data driven and analytical. 

• The ability to analyze business and financial strategy, understanding how one area of the business can affect another area of the business, with excellent attention to detail. 

• Proven track record of developing performance metrics and implementing data-based process improvement action plans driving customer satisfaction. 

• Demonstrated leadership, team building and organizational skills. Strong leadership, interpersonal and motivational skills. 

• An ease working in undefined situations and evidence of creating clarity and path forward.  

• Ability to travel 4-6 times a year to College Board offices and/or vendors. 

• Eligible to work in the U.S.A

About Our Process  

• Application review will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled   

• While the hiring process may vary, it generally includes: resume and application submission, recruiter phone screen, hiring manager interview, performance exercise and/or panel interview, and reference checks.  This is an approximately 8-week process 
    

About Our Benefits and Compensation  

College Board offers a competitive benefits and compensation program that attracts top talent looking to make a difference in education. As a self-sustaining non-profit, we believe in compensating employees equitably in relation to each other, their qualifications, their impact, and the relevant market.   

The hiring range for a new employee in this position is $144,000 to $220,000. College Board differentiates salaries by location so where you live will narrow the portion of this range in which you can expect a salary.   

Your salary will be carefully determined based on your location, relevant experience, the external labor market, and the pay of College Board employees in similar roles. College Board strives to provide our best offer up front based on this criteria.   

Your salary is only one part of all that College Board offers, including but not limited to:     

• A comprehensive package designed to support the well-being of employees and their families and promote education. Our robust benefits package includes health, dental, and vision insurance, generous paid time off, paid parental leave, fertility benefits, pet insurance, tuition assistance, retirement benefits, and more  

• Recognition of exceptional performance through annual bonuses, salary growth over time through market increases, and opportunities for merit raises and promotions based on increased scope of responsibility  

• A job that matters, a team that cares, and a place to learn, innovate and thrive  

You can expect to have transparent conversations about benefits and compensation with our recruiters throughout your application process.