Head of Operations & AI Optimisation

Head of Operations & AI Optimisation

The Head of Operations & AI Optimisation is responsible for leading the strategic and day to day performance of the contact centre, ensuring exceptional service delivery, operational efficiency, and continuous improvement across all customer touchpoints.

This role combines traditional operations leadership with advanced responsibility for AI strategy, automation, and digital transformation. The role is to drive the evolution of a modern, technology enabled contact centre by integrating AI models, conversational automation, data driven decision-making, and workforce augmentation tools to create scalable, high performance operations.

Leadership and Team Management

Lead end-to-end contact centre operations, ensuring delivery of service level agreements (SLAs), customer satisfaction, and commercial targets.

Oversee overall team performance and ensure adherence to KPIs.

Provide coaching, feedback, and professional development opportunities consistently.

Lead by example with emotional intelligence, empathy, balance, and strong decision-making skills.

Execute plans to continuously improve contact centre operations, focusing on enhancing people, processes, technology, and data capabilities.

Ensure alignment of operations with the strategic objectives of partners, internal and external clients.

Oversee the implementation of resource planning, workforce management, and operational forecasting within the team.

Implement performance frameworks and KPIs to drive accountability and high standards.

Partner with cross-functional teams (Customer Experience, IT, Product, Commercial) to align operational improvements with business goals.

AI & Automation Strategy

Own the AI transformation roadmap for the contact centre, including conversational AI, agent assist, predictive insights, and automation.

Evaluate emerging AI technologies that enhance agent productivity, reduce cost-to-serve, and elevate customer experience.

Lead deployment, testing, optimisation, and scaling of AI solutions such as:

o Voice and chat bots

o AI powered routing engines

o Agent assist / knowledge AI

o Workforce AI forecasting & scheduling tools

o Customer intent prediction models

People Leadership

Lead, mentor, and develop teams including operations, quality, training, AI operations, and digital optimisation.

Champion a culture of innovation, customer-centricity, and measurable outcomes.

Create AI literacy and upskilling programmes for frontline staff and leaders.

Customer & Experience Focus

Ensure a seamless and consistent omnichannel experience across voice, chat, email, messaging apps, and social channels.

Reduce customer effort by simplifying processes and leveraging automation.

Use analytics and customer insights to proactively address pain points.

Risk, Compliance & Governance

Ensure all operations and AI implementations meet regulatory, ethical, and privacy guidelines.

Establish governance around AI usage, data handling, and model explainability.

Employee Experience

Lead a team of junior managers, fostering a culture of coaching and development to ensure future leaders are equipped with the right skills to drive high performing teams while safeguarding employee satisfaction.

Ensure employee satisfaction and engagement by fostering a supportive and inclusive work environment.

Lead initiatives to improve training, development, and career progression opportunities for team members.

Prioritize employee experience as a core focus alongside customer satisfaction.

Customer Experience Management

Drive performance across key customer experience KPIs, with a primary focus on achieving high Customer Satisfaction Scores (CSAT).

Oversee the design and delivery of seamless day-to-day operations that meet or exceed customer expectations across all engagement channels.

Lead a proactive complaint management process, including a robust close-the-loop mechanism, to ensure continuous improvement in resolving customer concerns and reducing complaint drivers year-on-year.

Ensure exceptional customer experience measures by CSAT and quality audits across multiple channels including but not limited to calls, chats, emails, and social media platforms.

Ensure timely, accurate, and empathetic responses to customer queries and comments on social channels.

Reporting and Analytics

Generate and present detailed operational reports at an executive level standard.

Utilize data to drive decision-making and strategic planning.

Monitor service levels, customer satisfaction, and feedback to identify areas for improvement.

Ensure clients receive their reports on time, with the correct information.

Ensure monthly reports are ready, error free & thoroughly checked before meeting with clients.

Ensure client KPIs are met & forecast in advance accordingly to avoid risks of missing any at the end of the month.

Prepare and present monthly performance reports to clients.

Monitor and analyze team KPIs weekly, including customer satisfaction (CSAT) and adherence rates.

Address performance gaps and implement improvement initiatives across the department.

QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Education and Qualifications

Bachelor's degree and COPC CX Standard Certification or similar.

Proven track record of driving customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and revenue growth in a high-performance environment.

Years of Experience

5+ years of experience in contact centre operations leadership.

Demonstrated experience leading large-scale operations (in-house or BPO).

Strong understanding of AI/ML applications in customer service.

Proven track record in automation, digital transformation, or AI-led operations.

Excellent stakeholder management and cross-functional leadership skills.

Strong analytical mindset with data-driven decision-making.

Knowledge, Languages and Skills

Essential:

Strategic Leadership: Ability to set vision and execute a growth-focused strategy.

Strong understanding of omni-channel customer engagement and emerging technologies in customer service.

Customer-Centricity: Passion for delivering exceptional customer experiences.

Operational Expertise: Skilled in optimizing processes and leveraging technology.

People Management: Experience in leading large, diverse teams.

Stakeholder Collaboration: Excellent interpersonal skills to manage relationships with internal and external partners.

Analytical Thinking: Data-driven decision-making and problem-solving abilities.

Experience working with AI platforms (e.g., Microsoft Copilot, Google Dialogflow, AWS Connect, Genesys AI, LivePerson, etc.).

Prior involvement in agent-assist tools, NLP/NLU optimisation, conversational design, or automation squads.

Experience managing multi-geography or multilingual operations.