Customer Service Associate

Customer Service Associate

Application Deadline: 13 May 2026

Department: Admissions & Operations

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: Manchester

Reporting To: Customer Service Manager

Compensation: £26,228 / year

Description

1 x Permanent role
3 x Fixed-term roles until end of October 2026

Ambition Institute is looking for a number of Customer Service Associates to play a vital role in delivering excellent customer service to applicants and participants engaging with our programmes.

In this role, you'll:

• Be the first point of contact for queries, responding to calls and emails quickly and thoroughly.
• Use Salesforce and telephony systems to log, track and resolve cases, maintaining accurate records and data quality.
• Provide clear, accurate information about Ambition Institute's programmes, processes and policies.
• Escalate complex or urgent issues to relevant colleagues or teams.
• Share feedback to support continuous improvement and help shape the customer experience.
• Collaborate across teams to deliver a seamless service for all users.

We're looking for someone who is friendly and professional, quick to respond, accurate and able to explain information simply. If you're committed to our mission and thrive in a fast-paced, customer-focused environment, we'd love to hear from you.

Who are Ambition Institute?

A great teacher changes the future every day. Especially for children who have had a tough start in life, a teacher can be the critical factor in their success.

At Ambition Institute we help schools tackling educational disadvantage to keep getting better and help their teachers and school leaders to become more expert over time.

That's how we'll make sure every child gets a great education and the best possible start in life.

• We train teachers and leaders at all levels to get better at the things that make the biggest difference: what you teach, how you teach it, and how you create the conditions for schools to thrive.
• We share what works. Everyone can benefit from evidence of how great teaching and leadership can improve schools and change lives, so we connect people to the latest research and best practice.
• We champion every teacher and school leader's potential to develop, as the driving force for sustainable school improvement.

We would like you to:

• Handle calls and emails from applicants and participants
• Use Salesforce and telephony systems to log, track and resolve queries
• Provide clear and accurate information about Ambition Institute's programmes, processes and policies
• Maintain up-to-date records and ensure data quality in line with Standard Operating Procedures
• Escalate complex or urgent issues to relevant colleagues or teams as needed
• Support continuous improvement by sharing feedback on processes and customer experience
• Collaborate with colleagues across teams to provide a seamless service for all users
• Carry out administrative tasks to support the smooth running of the Front of House function

Skills, Knowledge and Experience Essential

• Right to work in the UK
• Commitment to Ambition Institute's mission and values, with a passion for supporting educators and improving outcomes for children
• Demonstrates our customer service principles by being:
• Friendly and professional in all interactions
• Quick to respond and thorough in resolving queries
• Transparent and positive when communicating
• Accurate and able to explain information simply
• Supportive to colleagues and customers, and accountable for their work
• Confident communicator, able to convey information clearly by phone and in writing
• Comfortable using IT systems, including Salesforce (or similar CRM) and telephony platforms
• Ability to manage a varied workload and prioritise competing demands
• Willingness to learn, take feedback and adapt to new processes
• Collaborative approach, with the ability to work independently when required
• Attention to detail and commitment to maintaining accurate records

Desirable

• Strong customer service skills, with experience in a customer-facing or administrative role
• Experience working in a fast-paced environment

What's in it for you ?

• Competitive annual salary
• Professional development for all staff
• 25 days' annual leave, plus bank holidays and "winter shut down" at the end of December/beginning of January
• Employer pension contribution of 11%
• Agile, hybrid working culture, so you can manage when and where you work
• Staff affinity networks that help keep equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of our work
• Blind recruitment process to ensure equality and fairness in our hiring
• Enhanced maternity pay after a year's service
• Shared parental leave package
• Access to free, confidential 24/7 wellbeing and support line
• Comfortable and collaborative workspaces in the city centres of Manchester, Birmingham and London
• Work-from-home technology package to support hybrid working
• Interest free season ticket / bike loans

Our values and culture

• You care deeply about educational disadvantage and being part of an organisation that challenges inequality
• You have a good work ethic and strive to make a difference in the job you do
• You always give maximum effort to understand and meet the needs of our partners and participants
• You always have a great attitude so we "can do" for all our colleagues, partners and participants
• You are open to feedback and learning because we want to keep getting better
• You work with your initiative to bring new ideas and a fresh perspective
• You are well organised and can prioritise work that will have the greatest impact
• You want a career with a person-centred organisation with a cause at its heart
• You have a collaborative work ethos, bring warmth and good humour to work and a constructive outlook to every situation
• You enjoy working in a fast-moving workplace, with a great support structure around you
• You would like to grow with an ambitious organisation as it progresses over time
• Want flexibility in how you work - splitting your time between one of our offices and remote working and managing your own working patterns to get the job done

Safeguarding

We are committed to the safeguarding of children and the most vulnerable in our society and, as such, we are unable to employ individuals with relevant convictions, including a conviction for an offence involving violence or dishonesty, of a sexual nature or against minors, or for any other offence that is relevant to the nature of the services provided by our organisation.

All applications must be received by the closing date 11:59pm on 13 May 2026. Interviews are expected to take place w/c 18 May 2026.