Customer Experience Manager

Kai Collective is looking for a Customer Experience Manager to join the team in London, playing a critical role in protecting the Kai brand experience and growing customer lifetime value.

The successful applicant will own KAI's post-purchase customer care experience.  From first contact through to resolution, and work across Operations, Marketing, Product and our fulfilment partner to improve the wider post-purchase journey.

Reporting directly to the Head of Operations, the Customer Experience Manager will own the quality, consistency, and continuous improvement of Kai Collective's entire post-purchase journey, from first contact to final resolution.

This is a hands-on leadership role: the Customer Experience Manager will personally manage customer communications via Gorgias, own escalations, returns, and reviews, and lead the CX team day-to-day.

The Customer Experience Manager will sit at the intersection of customer insight and operational delivery, identifying recurring fulfilment and product issues and working cross-functionally to resolve them at the root.

Core Responsibilities of the Customer Experience Manager:

Customer Service Delivery & Standards:

• Accountable for setting and monitoring service standards among the CX team across email, DMs, and any other active channel.
• Accountable for SLAs, tone, and first-contact resolution rates.
• Own and enforce SLA targets across all channels (email, DMs, social); ensure the team meets them consistently, including during launches and peak periods.
• Personally handle complex, escalated, or sensitive customer interactions that require senior judgement or brand-level decisions.
• Set and maintain a clear, warm, and brand-aligned tone of voice across all customer-facing communications.
• Build, maintain, and continuously improve the Gorgias macro library so the team can resolve routine queries accurately and at speed.
• Define and own the returns and refund process end-to-end; ensure it is clear, fair, and consistently applied.
• Monitor ticket queues daily; proactively manage backlog and prioritise by urgency, sentiment, and impact.
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive FAQ and self-service resource for customers to reduce inbound volume.

Team Management:

• Directly manage the CX team, setting clear expectations, developing their skills, and holding them accountable.
• Manage, coach, and develop direct report(s) - including regular 1-on-1s, structured feedback, and performance reviews.
• Set clear daily and weekly priorities for the CX team; ensure workload is distributed effectively, especially around launches and peak periods.
• Build out a drop-period playbook (roles, divide-and-conquer assignments, standby rota) so the team is never caught unprepared.
• Identify training needs and build team capability in Gorgias, Shopify, Mintsoft,and Extensiv..
• Cover escalations

Gorgias & CX Operations:

• Be the internal owner of Gorgias - responsible for its configuration, reporting, and ongoing optimisation.
• Own Gorgias as the team's primary CX tool: maintain workflows, rules, macros, tags, and views.
• Build and monitor dashboards for key CX metrics: response time, resolution time, CSAT, ticket volume by category, and first-contact resolution rate.
• Report weekly on CX performance to the Head of Operations; surface trends, risks, and recommendations clearly.
• Identify and implement automation opportunities within Gorgias to reduce manual handling without sacrificing tone.
• Ensure all integrations (Shopify, returns, review platforms) are set up and functioning correctly.

Escalations & Returns:

• Make decisions on escalated cases within agreed finance and policy limits, escalating material, legal, safety and reputation matters to the Head of Operations & Founder
• Define and document a clear escalation framework; ensure every team member knows exactly when and how to escalate.
• Own complex cases: lost orders, failed replacements, payment disputes, and any ticket requiring a commercial decision.
• Manage the returns process on Shopify and liaise with the warehouse/3PL on returns receiving, condition checks, and restocking.
• Track escalation and return patterns; surface root causes to the wider operations and product teams.

Customer Reviews & Feedback:

• Actively manage Kai's review presence and use customer feedback to drive operational improvement.
• Own the brand's review presence across all platforms; respond to reviews promptly and in line with the Kai tone of voice.
• Build a structured approach to encouraging post-purchase reviews from satisfied customers.
• Compile a monthly customer feedback report - themes, sentiment, verbatim examples - and present key findings to leadership.
• Identify the top recurring complaints and positive signals each month; translate them into actionable recommendations.

Post-Purchase Journey & Continuous Improvement:

• Own the customer experience from order confirmation to final delivery and beyond, working cross-functionally to close gaps.
• Map and audit the full post-purchase journey; identify friction points and own their resolution.
• Work with operations and fulfilment to address recurring issues (delays, incorrect items, damaged goods) at the source.
• Own customer communications around shipping delays, launch queues, and fulfilment exceptions proactively, not reactively.
• Feed product quality and packaging issues back to the product and operations teams with evidence from tickets.
• Track customer lifetime value and repeat purchase behaviour; flag risks to retention and propose remedies.
• Lead quarterly reviews of the post-purchase experience and present a structured improvement roadmap to the Head of Operations.

What Kai Collecitve is looking for:

• At least 3 years' experience in a senior customer experience or CX operations role
• Hands-on expertise in Gorgias - you have built macros, workflows, and reports yourself, not just supervised others doing it.
• Proven experience managing a small team: setting priorities, giving feedback, and developing junior staff.
• Strong analytical mindset - you are comfortable in data, can spot patterns in ticket trends, and translate them into action.
• Excellent written communicator with a natural ability to adapt tone: warm and empathetic with customers, clear and direct with internal teams.
• Solid working knowledge of Shopify, and familiarity with warehouse/3PL workflows (Mintsoft or similar is a plus).
• Calm under pressure and decisive when it matters - you make good calls quickly during launch periods or sensitive escalations.
• Proactive by default: you identify and fix problems before being asked, and you hold yourself to a high standard of delivery.
• Experience in a senior customer experience or CX operations role in fashion, e-commerce, or a D2C brand is a plus.

What Kai Collective offers:

• The chance to design for a globally recognised brand making its debut in bridal.
• A creative, inclusive, and ambitious environment.
• Freelance flexibility with the potential to grow as the bridal category expands.
• Competitive compensation and the opportunity to shape the future of Kai Bridal.

Application

Please apply with your CV, a cover letter and any relevant portfolio.