Head of Customer Services Europe
Location: Lebbeke-Wieze, BE, 9280
At Barry Callebaut, we are on a journey to transform the cocoa and chocolate industry. As the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products, our actions truly shape the future of our industry. We are a business-to-business company, serving the entire food sector, from the cocoa bean to the finest chocolate product. We have a long-standing commitment to sustainability and our goal is to shape a sustainable cocoa and chocolate future. We are headquartered in Zurich, and have more than 12,000 passionate employees working in more than 40 countries worldwide.
About the Role
The Head of Customer Service Europe (WE, CEE) plays a crucial role in enabling Next Level program objectives of being closer to the market, customers, and simplifying and digitizing. The role will lead and manage the customer service team and deliverables through the transformation into a best-in-class service set-up in close conjunction with Global Business Services.
The role will interact with commercial/sales leaders in the markets and key customers to increase customer centricity and stickiness in customer partnerships, taking accountability for driving customer service performance improvements in responsiveness and reliability.
Key Responsibilities Include
* Lead the origination, shaping, and execution of the Next Level transformation strategy in customer service with a view to improve and sustain customer satisfaction via regular customer feedback (NPS) and structural interventions to simplify and digitize the Order to Cash processes and leverage scale.
* Drive innovative solutions to improve customer experience and intimacy, such as setting up a B2B customer ordering portal, automation of order promising and processing, and customer cockpit.
* Lead the customer service function in reorganizing and refocusing the teams and workflows to be closer to the market.
* Provide functional guidance and methodology with respect to operational excellence in customer service reviews, RCA, and action plans.
* Partner with the country cluster GMs/MDs and GCA Sales Directors to deliver customer service objectives and increase stickiness by providing value-added, segmented, and seamless services and experience.
* Drive the regional customer strategy and execution regarding customer service reliability and responsiveness, collaborating with senior stakeholders in Sales and Supply Planning.
* Lead the EMEA customer service team, drive best practice adoption, resolve issues, and partner with the sales and supply leads to ensure exceptional service delivery.
* Leverage the GBS process towers & teams and act as an advocate for E2E integration and efficiency.
* Oversee daily order management operations and ensure a strong focus on delivering customer value.
* Establish, monitor, and improve performance on service level agreements with customers.
* Resolve customer issues and drive corrective, preventive actions.
* Improve customer communication and collect periodic feedback on customer satisfaction.
* Develop an employee-oriented company culture that emphasizes quality, continuous improvement, key employee retention and development, and high performance.
* Develop modern business methods/processes and identify best practices in the market.
* Monitor KPIs, analyze performance, identify areas for improvement, and track progress.
* Build a strong team and customer-centric culture.
* Act as the SPOC for Global, regional, and local customer service initiatives.
About You
* Postgraduate degree in business administration, management, or relevant field.
* Minimum 15+ years of relevant experience, with 10+ years in managing multi-cultural, dispersed teams.
* Proven experience in a senior customer service role.
* Ability to lead and manage change in a complex environment.
* Proficient in English; any other European languages are welcome.
* Experience in setting up and leading shared service business processes will be an advantage.
* Deep knowledge of the SAP Order-to-Cash process.
* Experience in leading customer service function set-up/scale-up/transformation.
* Familiarity with complaint management systems (Salesforce case management).
* Problem-solving through root cause analysis.
* Data-driven continuous improvement.
* Knowledge of revenue recognition rules.
* Experience in the credit control and cash collection process.
* Knowledge of shipping and transportation activities.
* Ability to bring people together and set a common agenda.
* Ability to drive change in a collaborative way.
* Independent and self-driven personality.
At Barry Callebaut, we are committed to Diversity & Inclusion. United by our strong values, we thrive on the diversity of who we are, where we come from, what we’ve experienced and how we think. We are committed to nurturing an inclusive environment where people can truly be themselves, grow to their full potential, and feel they belong. #oneBC - Diverse People, Sustainable Growth.
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