Please note, this is a hybrid role based on the successful candidate working at least two days a week in our London office. Remote contracts would not be considered for this role.

Purpose of Role

The Supporter Services Lead is a pivotal role dedicated to ensuring that every supporter’s interaction with Comic Relief is positive, memorable, and contributes to long-term relationships. By strategically managing both our fulfilment agency and in-house Supporter Services function, the Supporter Services Lead will oversee the delivery of efficient, and compliant supporter care, ensuring that all processes align with our commitment to excellence. 

Collaboration is a key element of this role, as you will work in partnership within the Fundraising & Public Relations Team and with other departments across the organisation to influence and implement best practices in supporter experience, fulfilment, and regulatory compliance. Your expertise will help shape strategies that enhance the supporter journey, ensuring that every interaction—from initial contact to fulfilment—is handled with care and precision. 

The Supporter Services Lead will also play a critical role in ensuring that all supporter care activities comply with relevant regulations and standards, safeguarding the organisation’s reputation and ensuring that we maintain the trust of our supporters. By championing best practices and driving continuous improvement, you will contribute to the development of a supporter experience that is both rewarding and sustainable. 

Operating at the heart of Comic Relief's mission to create a just world, free from poverty, as our  Supporter Services Lead, you will be instrumental in fostering meaningful connections with our supporters, ensuring they feel valued and motivated to continue their journey with us, thereby supporting the organisation’s mission and long-term success. 

Interviews are expected to take place on Wednesday 23rd October.

Key responsibilities:  

• Accountable for the successful contribution of the Supporter Care Team and relevant external providers to Comic Relief’s strategic ambitions, specifically related to income growth and brand reputation management,  overseeing the management of Comic Relief’s inbound communications from the pubic covering supporter enquiries across mail, telephone, email, social media, web forms etc. ensuring consistent management of these according to agreed organisational positions and relevant legislative requirements, ensuring compliance and acting as a point of escalation for complaints and reputational risks related to these. 

• Lead, develop and inspire the Supporter Care team to effectively steward, develop and retain supporters through strong one to one supporter care in support of organisational growth and reputational management goals by identifying, implementing and evolving stewardship practices, including donation processing, fulfilment services and ensuring supporter insight is reflected in business decision making to deliver the best experience for supporters. 

• Contract, lead and manage Comic Relief’s external third party fulfilment agencies and suppliers, with accountability for ensuring processes are in place to effectively monitor and manage performance including negitiating contracting, reviewing and setting Service Level Agreements and Key Performance Indicators, suggesting and implementing improvements and efficiencies and ensuring all related policies and compliance requirements are met. Where needed, manage under-performance and re-negotiate terms.  

• Operate as a x-organisational leader within the Fundraising & PR team, representing the Supporter Care team and Comic Relief supporters as part of the FR leadership team, strategizing and collaborating on the development of team plans and budgets and the implementation, management and monitoring and reporting against these. 

• Accountable for specific income and supporter management activities conducted by the Supporter Care team including:  -  Accountability for Gift Aid processes across the organisation, developing strategy, working with stakeholders to manage budget, income, claims, documentation, compliance and maximising income opportunities  - Accountability for ensuring the team are managing and capturing supporter feedback and complaints in a structured format that can be shared with the wider organisation as insight led recommendations that influence business decisions  - Accountable for the development and delivery of specific supporter care activities that meet agreed business goals and which are tailored, relevant and inspiring for our supporters via our inhouse and external teams 

• Act as a data champion, working with colleagues across the organisation to ensure supporter data is accurately captured, recorded and stored appropriately and proactively managing fulfilment supplier to conform to our compliance and operating standards 

• As a key stakeholder in the ongoing development of our online shop to ensure the requirements of our customers are prioritised and the performance of our fulfilment supplier can be optimised.  Accountable for ensuring all fulfilment requirements are met in line with agreed service level agreements, are compliant and in line with ethical sourcing policies. 

• Lead the development of annual plans and budgets for the Supporter Care Team, taking key learnings from previous activity and making recommendations to facilitate income and supporter base growth.  

• Keep abreast of the fundraising and / or Customer Experience marketplace to identify opportunities to enhance Comic Relief’s supporter experience. 

• Play an active role in the Fundraising Team, working collaboratively to support on a wide range of projects at peak periods and enabling inclusivity and diversity in order to drive high performance and an action-oriented culture. 

People Management  

• Line management will fluctuate throughout the year and increase during campaign periods. This includes leading recruitment and induction of new starters 

• Provide balanced, constructive feedback, undertake effective performance management to embed accountability and proactively support the professional development and growth of staff.  

• Proactively undertake performance management, prioritising activities and setting clear and realistic objectives for individuals based on capacity, expertise, and aspirations.  

• Maintain regular two-way communication and dialogue with staff, ensuring information is cascaded and escalated as needed.  

Person Specification

Essential Criteria:  

• Experience of managing supporter engagement operations, including a working knowledge of  all relevant regulatory frameworks; Direct debits; Gift Aid and the UK Fundraising context. 

• Experience of working in a  high-volume public fundraising environment.  

• Experience of working with Customer Relationship Management systems and tools and related analytics and customer feedback tools 

• Experience of managing complex, multi-faceted, cross-organisational projects. 

• Line management and budget management experience  

• Experience contracting with, leading and managing performance of external agencies.  

• Creative problem solving and project management experience.  

Desirable Criteria 

• Experience of Salesforce CRM 

• Experience in a commercial fast paced, high profile brand Customer Services function 

• Strong interpersonal and influencing skills  

• Effective negotiator 

• Experience with Freshdesk 

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of colour are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Comic Relief we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Why work at Comic Relief

There are lots of good reasons to join us at Comic Relief. You can read more about our employee benefits, such as our commitment to flexible and hybrid working. We ask staff to come to the office twice a week, normally on agreed team days, so that we can do all those things that are difficult to do online. Our office is based in Whitechapel, London, There are lots of opportunities to develop your skills and experience at Comic Relief, including opportunities to become a Mental Health First Aider or to participate in our Employee Network Groups that focus on making Comic Relief a more inclusive place to work.

Disability Confident employer

 As part of the Disability Confident scheme, we take positive action by providing first-round interviews to candidates who have a registered disability, provided they meet the minimum criteria for the role, as demonstrated on their CV.

We ask that candidates that wish to be considered for this scheme email j.scott@comicrelief.com to discuss further. Please do not email CV's/cover letters.