Job Description

Customer Care Advisor

Starting salary from £26,279 (dependent on experience)

Up to 5% bonus

Doxford Park, Sunderland

12 month fixed term contract

40-hour week Monday to Friday between 8am and 10pm, six Saturdays a year 8am to 4.30pm

We have an exciting 12 month fixed term contract opportunity available to join our dynamic Customer Care Team as a Customer Care Advisor, which is responsible for providing a first-class service to both our external and internal customers.  It is an exciting team to be a part of with a varied workload, so if you're motivated to think outside the box, have the determination to deliver an excellent service and are passionate about putting customers at the heart of all we do, this could be the position for you.

Working within a small customer contact centre, your role would be answering and dealing with telephone calls, letters, emails and social media enquiries and complaints from both internal and external customers. You will be supporting the NGN Vulnerability Strategy which overarches five key themes – physical disability, mental health, financial vulnerability, rurality and temporary vulnerability (e.g., bereavement or pregnancy) to ensure we make every contact count (MECC) during all interactions.

You will also be responsible for ensuring that excellent customer service is always delivered to all our customers, and you will ensure that your work meets the quality standards expected by the company and is always performed efficiently.

Your key accountabilities and responsibilities

•    You will take ownership of open enquiries seeing through to closure and maintain and enhance NGN's reputation as a leader in Customer Service

•    You will be dealing with a range of enquires from stakeholders such as gas users, gas suppliers, shippers, IGT's, local government agencies, emergency services and internal departments

•    Raising jobs on our SAP and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems which is why knowledge of these or other similar software would be advantageous

•    You will process complaints regarding NGN's activities in accordance with regulatory procedures alongside providing support to all operatives on site and their teams to ensure that Safety, Customer Satisfaction and Efficiency are always delivered 

•    You will be expected to analyse data and make informed decisions and choices

•    Provide holistic support to customers and their families who may find themselves living with a vulnerability detailed in NGN’s Vulnerability Strategy and follow up by signposting and referring customers to the appropriate agencies or organisations, to ensure they understand next available steps and what further follow up support is available e.g. providing the Gas Safe Register helpline telephone number, referring to Fire & Rescue etc.  This will include referrals to the Priority Services Register (PSR)

•    You will raise awareness of energy efficiency and provide details of specialist organisations in these areas, to ensure affordability is priority

What we are looking for

•    You will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to work productively and flexibly as a team or individually

•    Your administration experience will be paramount, and we would expect you to be able to use your initiative to approach all circumstances and handle them effectively

•    You will need sound understanding of MS Office and previous experience working with SAP would be advantageous

What we Offer You

•    Competitive starting salary from £26,279 dependent upon experience

•    Free onsite parking  

•    12-month fixed term personal contract 

•    Up to 5% bonus

•    Upon successful completion of training, you will be added to the Customer Team rota, which is a variable 8 hour shift pattern between 08:00 - 22:00 Monday to Friday with a minimum of 6 Saturdays per year.  Currently our shift times are 08:00 – 16:30, 10:00 – 18:30 and 11:30 – 20:00 with all Saturday shifts being 08:00 – 16:30

•    We currently operate a hybrid working model which allows 75% office working with 25% homeworking however we do reserve the right to end homeworking at any time

•    SSP for first 7 calendar days then occupational sick pay 

•    A generous stakeholder 5/10 pension scheme 

•    Flexible benefits and salary sacrifice options... from discounts on a variety of UK attractions, gym membership, restaurant discounts, experience days...and much more! 

•    An array of fantastic family- friendly policies such as 6 weeks’ paternity leave (for eligible employees) and 6 months’ full pay for employees on maternity leave (for eligible employees), as well as shared parental leave and many more! 

We are ... Northern Gas Networks.  We deliver gas to 2.7 million homes and businesses in the North East, Northern Cumbria and much of Yorkshire. That’s around 6.7million individual customers.  We don’t generate or sell the gas, but we transport it to homes and businesses in our region through a vast network of underground pipes.  In fact, we own and maintain more than 37,000km of gas pipes - enough to stretch from Leeds to Sydney and back again.  We cover large cities like Newcastle, Sunderland, Leeds, York, Hull, and Bradford, and our work extends to rural areas like North Yorkshire and Cumbria.  

Our Values are at the heart of what we do. In addition to your key responsibilities, you will incorporate these into the daily life of your role.  We are … Trailblazing, Empowered, Heartfelt, Community Focused, Intellectually Curious and most of all we are Happy!

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion culture at NGN is embedded in everything that we do. We will be delighted to hear from a diverse range of applicants, so we can continue to grow our great team of people.  We are proud to support the Armed Forces Covenant, helping ex-services personnel back into employment, as well as being members of WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) and we are committed to delivering our ‘Opportunity Action Plan’ having signed the Social Mobility Pledge campaign, whereby we will establish our business as a ‘force for good’ in the communities that we serve. 

Next Steps.  Please apply by clicking apply and uploading your CV. We love to see how your experience and skills are transferable to this role so please ensure these are all included in your application. Once the advert has closed, we will be contact within one week to let you know if you have progressed to the next stage. We are looking to hold interviews for this role throughout early January 2025 and we look forward to receiving your application for the role.  

If you require adjustments to support you throughout the recruitment process, we want to hear about how we can help. Any applicant that requires reasonable adjustments from initial application through to interview are asked to contact the Recruitment Team at (url removed)