Supervisor, Customer Experience

The Emergency Response Supervisor provides leadership, employee development, operational direction, and motivation for a multi-jurisdictional Emergency Response Team supporting Southern Company Gas utilities across four states.

This is an essential and critical leadership position within the Customer Experience organization and plays a key role in maintaining safe, efficient, and reliable call center operations. The Supervisor is responsible for service delivery and employee performance within a high-volume, fast-paced, omni-channel customer contact environment serving more than 2 million residential, commercial, and large Commercial & Industrial (C&I) customers.

The Emergency Response Supervisor directly leads, coaches, develops, and mentors a team of 15 or more hourly union employees. The position is responsible for monitoring operational performance, ensuring adherence to policies and procedures, maintaining regulatory compliance, and achieving key performance indicators and service-level expectations.

This position operates within a 24/7 contact center environment handling emergency and escalated contacts from internal and external customers, Georgia Marketers, 911/emergency services, Field Operations, Resource Management, Southern Company leadership, and other key stakeholders.

The Supervisor also maintains on-call responsibilities to quickly address unforeseen operational issues, including employee callouts, inclement weather, disaster recovery events, gas outages, and system or technology disruptions.

Successful candidates must demonstrate sound judgment, strong leadership, effective decision-making, and the ability to communicate clearly and in timely with employees, leadership, customers, and business partners.

Key Responsibilities

Business & Operational Execution

- Monitor and measure operational performance against established goals and key performance indicators, including service levels, productivity, quality, and customer experience.
- Ensure emergency and customer inquiries are handled in accordance with established safety, legal, regulatory, and liability protocols.
- Manage complex and escalated customer concerns, including direct customer interactions and internal referrals.
- Ensure emergency orders are processed efficiently, accurately, and consistently by employees.
- Identify, report, monitor, and resolve service disruptions involving systems, vendors, technology, staffing, and operational processes.
- Supervise daily employee activities, work assignments, and delegation to ensure operational goals are achieved.
- Provide guidance and direction to employees in resolving complex customer and emergency situations.
- Coordinate with Scheduling, Resource Management, Field Operations, and other business partners to support emergency response activities and service delivery.
- Maintain compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, ordinances, company policies, and procedures.
- Administer assigned budgets in accordance with established plans and monitor budget variances.
- Collaborate with Training and business partners to document workflows, identify gaps, and implement process improvements.
- Track operational activities and metrics and provide information for monthly reporting.
- Provide collaborative support for Customer Experience presentations for internal and external stakeholders.
- Partner with contact center leadership to support business continuity and contingency planning, including cross-market support and call center interflow strategies.

Leadership & Communication

- Provide timely coaching, feedback, and proactive communication to employees.
- Set and communicate clear performance expectations, goals, and service-level targets.
- Develop and manage operational plans, including contingency plans for core activities within the assigned area of responsibility.
- Communicate and consistently administer company and departmental policies and procedures.
- Ensure work processes align with Call Center policies and procedures related to customer contact handling, staffing, retention, workforce management, and employee relations.
- Analyze and interpret business data to identify trends, risks, opportunities, and performance gaps.
- Influence business decisions through root cause analysis, process validation, best-practice research, and timely communication.
- Identify and implement best practices that improve customer and employee experiences.
- Communicate effectively both verbally and in writing and present timely, accurate information to leadership and key stakeholders.
- Make sound, timely decisions while evaluating potential operational, customer, employee, and safety impacts.

Employee Development & Performance Management

- Lead, coach, mentor, and develop a team of 15 or more hourly union employees.
- Establish a clear vision for employee growth, development, performance, and success.
- Document, manage, and address employee performance in accordance with applicable policies and procedures.
- Coach and develop employees to strengthen their verbal, written, technical, and customer service skills.
- Establish clear performance expectations and provide ongoing feedback and recognition.
- Prioritize work and resources effectively, evaluate results, and take corrective action as appropriate.
- Develop action plans that support the business and operational needs of the organization.
- Partner with Training and leadership to establish training baselines and identify employee development opportunities.
- Drive consistent achievement of key performance indicators and service-level targets.
- Support employee engagement, retention, and overall team effectiveness.

Relationship Management & Collaboration

- Support the selection, development, engagement, and retention of employees.
- Build and maintain strong working relationships with peers, leadership, employees, and cross-functional business partners.
- Lead monthly meetings with peer groups and leadership to review trends, operational performance, and Customer Experience initiatives.
- Lead regular employee communication forums to promote information sharing, engagement, and participation in decision-making processes.
- Lead and support employee engagement and morale-building activities.
- Collaborate across departments to ensure operational alignment and effective resolution of customer and business issues.
- Provide strategic direction that balances business objectives, budget expectations, operational performance, and an engaged workforce.

Innovation & Continuous Improvement

- Lead strategic initiatives that improve operational efficiency across Call Centers through automation, streamlining, and digitalization.
- Identify opportunities to modernize the employee and customer experience through technology and process improvements.
- Optimize work-from-home operations while ensuring business continuity and consistent service delivery.
- Partner with the Technology department to evaluate and implement Interactive Voice Response (IVR) enhancements that improve operational effectiveness and the customer experience.
- Leverage Automated Quality Monitoring (AQM) capabilities to strengthen employee performance, quality, and customer satisfaction.
- Partner with New Business, Customer Onboarding, Resource Management, Field Operations, Technology, and other stakeholders to identify and implement Customer Experience improvements.
- Champion continuous improvement initiatives that produce measurable operational and customer experience results.

Qualifications

Education

Required:

- High School Diploma or General Educational Development (GED) credential.

Preferred:

- Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BS) degree.

Related Work Experience

Preferred:

- 2 to 3 years of customer care, contact center, or customer service leadership experience.
- 2 to 3 years of utility industry experience.
- Equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience may be considered.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

- Strong leadership, coaching, and employee development skills.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills.
- Strong analytical, critical-thinking, and problem-solving abilities.
- Ability to make sound decisions quickly in high-pressure or emergency situations.
- Demonstrated ability to lead employees within a high-volume, fast-paced customer contact environment.
- Ability to analyze performance data and use insights to improve business results.
- Strong organizational, prioritization, and time-management skills.
- Ability to manage multiple competing priorities while maintaining attention to safety, quality, and customer experience.
- Ability to effectively handle sensitive, complex, and escalated customer situations.
- Ability to build effective relationships with employees, leadership, and cross-functional business partners.
- Knowledge of performance management, workforce management, service-level metrics, and key performance indicators.
- Ability to lead organizational and operational change.
- Demonstrated commitment to continuous improvement, innovation, and operational excellence.

Additional Requirements / Working Conditions

- Must be able to support a 24/7 emergency customer contact operation.
- Must be available for on-call responsibilities, including after-hours support, as business needs require.
- Must be able to respond effectively to employee callouts, inclement weather, disaster recovery events, gas outages, system outages, technical issues, and other unforeseen operational events.
- Must be comfortable working in a fast-paced environment where customer safety, service reliability, regulatory compliance, and operational continuity are critical priorities.
- Must be able to effectively lead employees in both on-site and remote/work-from-home environments.