SCUK Ombudsman & Escalated Complaints Team Leader

About the role

This is an excellent opportunity to lead a specialist team responsible for managing complaints referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), delivering fair, timely and well‑evidenced outcomes for customers while strengthening complaint handling across the business.

Key responsibilities

• Lead day‑to‑day delivery, performance, wellbeing and capability of a specialist team managing FOS complaints.
• Ensure FOS referrals are investigated, evidenced and responded to within required timescales and to a high‑quality standard.
• Provide technical guidance and decision support on complex, sensitive, high‑value or precedent‑setting cases.
• Review case strategy, evidence, rationale and redress to ensure fair, consistent and customer‑focused outcomes.
• Oversee responses to FOS investigator views, provisional assessments and final decisions, ensuring actions and redress are completed accurately and promptly.
• Build constructive relationships with FOS, customers, internal stakeholders and third parties to support clear, timely and evidence‑based communication.
• Monitor team MI and KPIs, including caseload, ageing, timeliness, productivity, quality, outcomes and redress trends.
• Complete regular quality and case reviews, providing actionable feedback and coaching to improve technical judgement, investigation standards and written advocacy.
• Identify FOS themes, root causes, repeat failure points and systemic issues, escalating risks and translating insight into process, control and customer outcome improvements.
• Support governance reporting, priority escalations and continuous improvement activity across Customer Relations and wider business areas.

Required profile

• Significant experience in complaint handling, customer relations or a regulated financial services environment, including cases referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
• Strong working knowledge of FCA DISP complaint‑handling requirements and FOS complaint resolution.
• Previous people leadership, team management, coaching or technical leadership experience within a complaints environment.
• Confidence assessing evidence, jurisdiction, fairness, liability, redress and customer impact to support clear and defensible case decisions.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, able to explain complex complaint decisions to FOS, customers and senior stakeholders.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret MI, identify trends and use insight to manage performance, risk and improvement activity.
• Collaborative approach with ability to build effective relationships across Customer Relations, Quality Assurance, Risk, Compliance, Legal, operational and product teams.
• High levels of accuracy, judgement, accountability and resilience when managing competing priorities, sensitive cases and regulatory expectations.

Required skills

• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft Excel

What we offer

• Competitive salary dependent on experience
• 27 days holiday per annum, plus bank holidays
• Annual bonus based on personal and company performance
• Private medical cover
• £500 flexible benefit allowance
• Generous pension contributions
• Employee assistance programme
• Sharesave scheme
• Gym passes at a reduced rate for 3,000 gyms, leisure centres etc