Head of Customer Engagement

Location:

Ireland (remote) / Belfast

Role Overview 

The Head of Customer Engagement is responsible for shaping and executing Wellington IT's customer engagement strategy. This role leads a team of Business Development Managers (BDMs), driving sustained satisfaction, retention, and advocacy across our existing customer base. In this context, 'customers' refers to Wellington IT's credit union clients. The role manages Wellington IT's relationships with these regulated financial institutions, not their individual members.  

This role equips the team with a consistent framework for building customer relationships, ensures a cohesive experience across all accounts, and collaborates cross-functionally to present a unified Wellington voice at an operational level. It owns back-to-base sales forecasting and tracking across the team and carries responsibility for marketing communications ensuring engagement and external messaging remain aligned and consistent. This role is pivotal in representing customer needs strategically and aligning execution with business objectives, evolving needs, and regulatory expectations across the Credit Union sector. 

This role requires some travel on an ad hoc basis including attendance at industry events and occasional support at onsite customer visits. 

Strategy & Planning 

• Shape and execute Wellington IT's customer engagement strategy across the existing customer base 

• Design a consistent engagement framework and standardised playbooks to ensure a cohesive experience across all accounts, regardless of individual BDM 

• Set satisfaction, retention, and advocacy targets for the team and define the approach to achieve them 

• Manage and strengthen customer relationships through periods of sector consolidation (transfers of engagement/mergers), partnering with Professional Services (PS), ensuring continuity of service and retention as the credit union base evolves. 

• Maintain awareness of customer sentiment, evolving needs, and the regulatory environment shaping the sector — including Central Bank of Ireland requirements, the Credit Union Act, and operational-resilience/third-party ICT obligations under DORA relevant to Wellington IT as a critical service provider. 

• Align engagement priorities with wider business objectives, in partnership with other functional teams 

Customer Engagement & Relationship Management 

• Oversee proactive relationship management, high-quality interactions, and touchpoints delivered by the BDM team across existing accounts 

• Represent the needs of the customer from a strategic perspective at a functional level 

• Understand and support customers' strategic growth agendas — including expansion into mortgages, current accounts, business/SME lending and digital services — positioning Wellington IT's solutions to enable that growth. 

• Maintain strategic relationships across the customer base, acting as a senior point of contact and escalation point for the BDM team on complex or high-value matters 

• Represent Wellington IT at key sector events (e.g. ILCU and CUDA conferences and AGMs) as an ambassador for customer engagement 

• Build a customer advocacy programme, including case studies, testimonials, and reference points to support wider business goals 

• Attend key conferences, meetings, and industry events as a company ambassador 

Cross-Functional Collaboration 

• Collaborate at a functional level to present a unified Wellington voice to the customer operationally 

• Embed continuous feedback loops to inform engagement priorities and service improvements across functional teams 

• Maintain awareness of the Credit Union market and how it shapes engagement priorities across the business 

• Represent customer engagement at leadership level, feeding customer insight into wider business planning 

Partnerships & Industry Relationships 

• Build and maintain relationships with key industry partners, including third-party suppliers, to support the customer engagement strategy 

• Represent Wellington IT's interests in partner and supplier relationships that impact the customer experience 

Metrics, Forecasting & Reporting 

• Own back-to-base sales forecasting and tracking across the BDM team ensuring high product penetration across the user base 

• Ensure accurate CRM logging of engagement activity, opportunities, and account status 

• Ensure quote hygiene across the team, with accurate, up-to-date, and consistently formatted quotes reflecting current pricing and commercial terms 

• Track team performance against satisfaction, retention, and advocacy metrics (e.g. CSAT, NPS) 

• Use customer feedback and engagement data to identify at-risk accounts and inform proactive action 

• Report on forecasting, pipeline, and engagement performance including marketing metrics to senior leadership 

Team Leadership & People Management 

• Manage, coach and develop the team, including performance management and professional development, ensuring alignment between customer engagement and external messaging 

• Foster a consistent, customer-centric culture across the team, aligned with company values 

• Lead by example, providing clear direction and guidance so all customers receive a similar standard of experience 

• Own marketing communications output, ensuring messaging is consistent with the customer engagement strategy 

Essential Experience: 

• Extensive leadership experience in customer success, customer engagement, relationship management, or related roles 

• Proven track record of achieving and exceeding customer satisfaction and retention targets 

• Experience managing high-performing teams and leading cross-functional initiatives  

• Demonstrated ability to identify, evaluate, and resolve customer needs and escalations  

• Strong negotiation, relationship management, and stakeholder engagement skills 

• Advanced proficiency in CRM software and customer engagement tools (e.g. HubSpot). 

• Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills 

• Strategic thinking, analytical ability, and data-driven decision-making 

• Working knowledge of the Irish credit union sector, its growth trajectory and operating model. 

Desirable Experience: 

• Background in technology, fintech, SaaS, or other regulated industries 

• Familiarity with financial-services regulation relevant to technology suppliers (CBI, DORA, and, where applicable, UK FCA/PRA) 

• Exposure to product lifecycle management, innovation, and process improvement initiatives  

• Experience leading customer advisory boards, structured engagement forums 

Competencies 

• Integrity 

• Energy & Drive 

• Initiative 

• Domain Expertise 

• Resilience 

• Execution 

• Customer Centric 

• Team Building 

Wellington IT Culture & Values 

• Commitment – We are committed to the success of our colleagues and customers 

• Teamwork - We do amazing things when we work as a team 

• Respect - We value and seek everyone’s contribution 

• Honesty - We are open and honest in everything we do 

• Positivity - We embrace and inspire positivity in each other 

• Leadership - We lead by example with our words, our actions and results