The Customer Experience Manager is responsible for ensuring that all residents, community members, and stakeholders (our “customers”) feel that their voices are being heard when interacting with the City of Somerville.

This person will lead by example, demonstrating commitment to our A.C.E. Initiative, which states that every interaction with City staff should be Accurate, Courteous, and Easy. A primary goal of this position is to build and foster excellent relationships with the community via Somerville’s 311 contact center and other public-facing engagements. The person who fills this role will be inherently driven to seek creative, data-driven solutions to diverse questions and problems on behalf of any customers who interact with the City. They will have excellent listening, communication, and empathy skills, and they will have the ability to consistently “go the extra mile” to help make each customer feel heard and valued. This person will be involved in the management of escalated, complex customer service situations, and likewise they will be tasked with quickly and thoughtfully finding appropriate solutions. Excellent analytical, collaboration, communication, and public-speaking skills are a must, as the person who fills this role must be able to communicate recommendations clearly and effectively for improvement to City staff as well as to our residents and business partners in public-facing settings. The ability to proactively take responsibility for the mishaps of others and the emotional skills to use the knowledge learned from negative situations to spearhead lasting, positive change across departments and divisions will be crucial for success in this role.

Essential Functions:

The essential functions or duties listed below are intended only as illustrations of the various type of work that may be performed. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related, or a logical assignment to the position.

• Successful analysis, identification, and delivery of customer-focused solutions that support improved customer experience and service delivery within 311/Constituent Services and our business partners across the City
• Proactive hands-on management of feedback data received for all departments and divisions, in partnership with corresponding departments, divisions, and staff as well as with the customer directly
• Proactive, thoughtful management of Customer Satisfaction survey data and scores as well as the subsequent and regular creation of meaningful data-driven recommendations for improved service delivery across departments and divisions
• Regular coordination and communications with department and division heads to explain service delivery failures and make timely recommendations for improvement

• Plan and coordinate our departmental role or functions at select City-Sponsored events, including promotion of public services, important public-facing announcements, innovative customer surveys, etc.
• Plan and coordinate Customer-focused events with our department head to improve service delivery such as identification of key touchpoints and pain points, developing customer journey maps, service blueprints and Voice of Customer-related initiatives
• Work with department head to provide direct customer experience trainings within City departments and divisions
• Handling escalated customer service issues directly and proactively to the satisfaction of all involved parties
• Work with Constituent Services staff to identify and resolve concerns in ways that will improve user experiences, as well as making internal recommendations for future improvements

• Work with Communications and other City staff to promote positive engagements through social media (primarily Facebook and Twitter) to gather better customer feedback and suggestions
• Coordination with Somerstat staff to integrate customer data such as: Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) and other customer-driven insights such as behavioral, demographic, and user experience analysis to drive lasting and meaningful improvements
• Other duties as assigned

Recommended Minimum Qualifications:

Education and Experience:
Education and Experience: High School diploma and three to five or more (3- 5+) years’ practical experience with customer data or engagement management; or any equivalent combination of education, training and experience which provides the required knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the essential functions of the job. Associate or Bachelor’s Degree preferred.

Knowledge, Abilities and Skill:

• Knowledge: Understanding of the core value and importance of Customer Experience within the City’s duty to provide excellent service delivery and the knowledge to develop learning opportunities into tangible improvements across departments and divisions. Complete knowledge and mastery of Microsoft Office Suite, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; superior knowledge of front-end interface and backend analytics of Facebook, Twitter and other social media tools. Ability to fully understand the user experience as it unfolds on our 311 mobile app, website, internal Customer Management System, call center, and live chat systems.
• Abilities: Ability to work independently and under significant pressure; ability to maintain, manage, and organize complex data sets; ability to clearly articulate this information in verbal, written and visual presentations; ability to handle problems effectively in response to day-to-day crises; ability coordinate impactful events for the public; ability to train and coach others on best practices in customer service; ability to operate a computer; ability to deal appropriately with all customers, internal and external. Ability to understand and meet the demands of a highly customer-centric environment that coordinates with multiple internal teams and promotes A.C.E. values. Ability to attend and spearhead meaningful, customer-centric public-facing events and establish an interactive presence at large-scale City events, such as Honk! and SomerStreets. Ability to have difficult conversations that reach positive resolutions, to clearly explain complex initiatives and policies to gain better understanding and support for yourself and on behalf of our City’s diverse stakeholders.
• Skill: Excellent interpersonal, organizational and team-building skills; excellent technical skill in the use of web-based applications and all work-related software applications including our Customer Management System; excellent event and day-to-day planning. Demonstrates high personal standards, able to identify positive outcomes in bad situations, and serve as a role model for service and logistical coordination, and excellent meeting facilitation skills. Strong conceptual, analytical, verbal and written communication skills; ease with creative thinking, idea generation, and brainstorming as part of a team and independently.

Work Environment:

The work environment involves everyday discomforts typical of offices, with occasional exposure to outside elements and travel within the City. This may include: other City and school buildings, business and residencies, as well as tabling events at City-sponsored gatherings held outside regular business hours. Noise or physical surroundings may be distracting, but conditions are generally not unpleasant. Employee may be required to work beyond normal business hours in response to attend evening meetings, weekend events or complete work assignments with set deadlines.

Physical and Mental Requirements:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the position’s essential functions.

Physical Skills
Minimal physical demands are required to perform the work. Work effort principally involves sitting to perform diverse work tasks, with intermittent periods of stooping, walking, and standing. There may also be some occasional lifting of objects such as office equipment or photocopy paper (up to 30lbs.).

Motor Skills
Duties are largely mental rather than physical, but the job requires minimal motor skills for activities such as moving objects, operating a telephone, personal computer, peripherals, and/or most other common office equipment.

Visual Skills
Visual demands require constantly reading documents for general understanding and analytical purposes.

Hours: Full-Time
Salary: $64,945.93 annualized + benefits
Union: Non-Union
Date Posted: January 13, 2023

City of Somerville residents are especially encouraged to apply.

The City of Somerville is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, age, national origin, disability or any other protected category. Women, minorities, veterans, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Auxiliary aids and services, written materials in alternative formats, and reasonable modifications in policies and procedures will be provided to qualified individuals with disabilities free of charge, upon request. Persons with disabilities who need auxiliary aids and services for effective communication (i.e., CART, ASL), written materials in alternative formats, or reasonable modifications in policies and procedures in order to access the programs, activities, and meetings of the City of Somerville should please contact Adrienne Pomeroy at 617-625-6600 x 2059 or apomeroy@somervillema.gov.

Pre-Employment Requirements for All Employees:

• MA Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) clearance
• Proof of COVID-19 vaccination
• Completition of Conflict-of-Interest Law Education training for municipal employees

COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement:

To better protect the health and safety of staff and the public, all City of Somerville employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of November 1, 2021. Exemptions and/or reasonable accommodations are not guaranteed and will be reviewed by the City of Somerville Human Resources Department on a case-by-case basis. Learn more at www.somervillema.gov/HR/COVID19.

Benefits Somerville Offers:

• 4 weeks annual vacation (for non-union positions) & for union positions this varies by contract
• Medical insurance through the Group Insurance Commission (GIC)
• Dental coverage low and high plans through Cigna
• Vision care through the Vision Service Plan (VSP)
• Long term disability through Sun Life
• Group and voluntary life insurance through Boston Mutual
• Flexible spending plans through Benefit Strategies
• Deferred compensation through a choice of three vendors
• Employee assistance through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provided by E4Health
• Cancer screening & wellness release
• Somerville Retirement Pension System
• Tuition reimbursement
• MBTA pass program
• FREE Blue Bikes membership
• Eligible employer for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF)

Benefits listed are for benefits-eligible positions and the above information is meant to be a general overview of the benefit programs offered by the City of Somerville and not a binding contract.

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