Job Description

Industry - Publishing/Crowdfunding

Unbound is a uniquely innovative, award-winning and rapidly growing independent publisher. We bring a community of book lovers together with a diverse range of creative talent - from established literary names to bloggers, journalists, social media stars, designers and artists. All our titles are crowdfunded by an audience passionate about making them available to the general reader, before being given wider distribution in trade outlets.

Overview

The Customer Service and Operations Manager is an exciting and varied customer- and author-facing role in which the candidate will own the customer experience throughout the crowdfunding process, as well as managing the delivery of books and crowdfunding rewards to our customers.

Reporting to the Managing Director, you will be responsible for a critical component of the Unbound business model, putting your stamp on the customer journey and working alongside the wider Unbound team to ensure the customer is at the forefront of what we do.

We are looking for an experienced, enthusiastic, adaptable and organised individual who is passionate about the customer and will go the extra mile to offer the best service. Our ideal candidate will be happy working autonomously as well as working with the wider business. They will also be a great communicator, enjoy problem solving and be happy to roll up their sleeves and take a proactive approach to all tasks undertaken.

Unbound is committed to making book publishing a more diverse and representative industry so we would particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic candidates.

Key responsibilities and accountabilities:

• Advocate for the customer within all areas of the business
• Manage the customer journey and be the point of escalation for customer queries and complaints
• Solve customer issues and identify patterns to improve the customer experience and the efficiency of the customer support workflows
• Oversee the D2C stock on the Unbound website, ensuring stock is correct and arranging for restocks where necessary
• Manage the relationships with our external fulfilment partner and multiple merchandise suppliers
• Be responsible for the crowdfunding reward fulfilment critical path including:

• Managing the subscriber edition distribution schedule to deliver all pledge rewards and experiences to customers ahead of publication
• Creating merchandise design briefs and placing merchandise orders
• Managing fulfilment budgets and owning supplier relationships
• Liaising with authors to organise book signings, owning signing logistics including accompanying authors at the warehouse and assist with reward level fulfilment
• Organising live and online subscriber events
• Notifying customers of project development or delays by sending regular project updates and fulfilment communications
• Keep the wider business up to date with all developments affecting the customer journey with regular project updates and fulfilment communications
• Assisting in the day-to-day running of operations, supporting the Managing Director and CEO with business development and ad-hoc projects
• Collaborate with other departments such as:

• PR, Marketing and Editorial regarding author care
• Sales and Marketing to create and distribute point of sale packs to bookshops
• Liaise with relevant departments to develop new processes or product improvements to address the root causes of customer issues

Key relationships for the role

• Editorial and Production; keeping informed regarding delivery of projects and production schedules
• Commissioning and Crowdfunding; liaising on reward levels at the point of commissioning, reward fulfilment and stretch goals
• Product and development; identifying process improvements and solving issues raised by the customer
• Finance; managing crowdfunding fulfilment and events within budgets and communicating on timeline for purchasing and dispatch

The Ideal Candidate

• Has a minimum of two years\' experience in a customer-facing role, ideally with experience in logistics or distribution
• Has experience using customer-service software such as Gorgias or Zendesk
• Experience of ecommerce platforms such as Shopify Plus
• Sociable, friendly and charismatic
• Is curious, tech savvy and a natural problem solver
• Is self-driven and able to work autonomously, while also being collaborative within a team
• Enthusiastic and adaptable, with a commitment to excellent customer service
• Able to manage multiple projects at once and work well under pressure
• Organised and capable of meeting deadlines while juggling various projects at once
• Has excellent verbal and written communication skills
• A passion for books is a bonus

Salary \xc2\xa330k per annum. This role will be based at our London Bridge offices. Occasional travel to Swindon will be required for author signings.

To apply send an email including your CV to entitled \'Customer Service and Operations Manager\'.

Closing Date: 22 September 2023

The Bookseller