Who are we?
We're the UK's largest water provider, with over 15 million customers to serve every day. Water is essential to daily life, and that means our business is always open. We make a difference daily to millions of customers by supplying 2.7 billion liters of water to around 10 million homes.
Our main role is to ensure customers can turn on the tap and get world-class drinking water 24/7. We also safely transport and treat waste, returning it to the environment.
About the role
We are looking for an experienced Customer Communications Manager to join our busy Comms Team in central Reading, this role is currently hybrid where you will mainly be working remotely.
You will be working in the Transformation Design & Delivery function, where the customer transformation is brought to life – from reimagining and designing customer journeys, through to the creative aspects from design through to communications, to ensure we offer a best-in-class customer experience across all communication channels.
Our Communications managers are responsible for the design and messaging of all communication (letters, email, text) across our customer service experience to deliver the right business and customer outcomes.
This role has a specific focus on our customer bill - our premier document and the one communication we can guarantee will reach every one of our 3.6m account holders every year. We’re making a significant investment in a root-and-branch redesign of the bill to ensure it’s refreshingly clear, transparent, supports customers to self-serve, and boosts brand perception – it also needs to align to our business strategies and comply with legal and regulatory requirements. This is a document that works hard
What you’ll be doing:
In this role you’ll become the owner of our bill template, working with the billing business unit and an Agile development team.
- Impact assess any change proposals from across the business about how that may affect the bill
- Lead discovery workshops with business and technical SMEs to understand all billing scenarios and ensure we have suitable, tailored bill templates to support every one of these
- Brief our Creative Hub on the messaging and design solutions needed to meet these scenarios
- Provide messaging and design requirements to a Business Analyst, and sign off the user stories they create
- Sign off requirements from a design perspective at refinement meetings
- Lead on sign-off of test outcomes
- Ensure the bill specification document (our bill design blueprint) is accurate and maintained as every change is implemented
- Own and prioritize product backlog for bill design changes, continually review the priority with a lens of business and customer benefit, and have a lead input into sprint planning
- Ensure consistency of message within customer communications across all channels, including the use of key messaging frameworks and hierarchies for key propositions and customer journeys in conjunction with key stakeholders
- Translate complex messages into clear, concise communications suitable for all audiences, using the right tone of voice for the Thames Water brand
What we’re looking for:
- A creative problem solver
- Excellent organization and time management, able to work within defined deadlines
- Strong understanding of brand, communications, and customer experience
- Experience in leading stakeholder workshops to achieve clear outcomes. Confidence in presenting at all levels
- Flexible and clear communicator, able to adapt style interface clearly with everyone from creative designers to very technical developers
- Experienced in writing customer communications to deliver business outcomes
- Good understanding of different channels of service and how to influence customer behavior through communications
- Experience in working in large cross-functional organizations to deliver a common goal
- An understanding of copy and design will be desirable
What’s in it for you!
This is a great opportunity where you will have the responsibility for applying the communications strategy, working with key stakeholders, to deliver the right business and customer outcomes for every piece of a customer’s service communication, across all channels (except online).
You will play an integral role in ensuring that every piece of communication to our customers is brilliant, delivered through the right channel, at the right time, ‘on-brand’, but above all adding value to the customer experience.
Our competitive salary package includes an excellent contributory pension, 26 days of holiday per year increasing with the length of service, and a wider benefits scheme.
Thames Water is a unique, rewarding, and diverse place to work. If you join our team, you’ll enjoy fast-tracked career opportunities, flexible working arrangements, and unparalleled benefits. We’re also proud to be an equal opportunity employer, Stonewall Diversity Champion, and Disability.
Confident Leader and we’re a Times Top 50 Employer for Women.
Click here to find out more about working at Thames Water