Highways Customer Officer

This role has a starting salary of GBP31,262 per annum, based on a 36-hour working week.

We are excited to be hiring a new Highways Customer Officer to join our fantastic team. The team is based in Merrow (Guildford) but as a Highways Customer Officer you will be required to work across the entire county.

A vehicle is provided for work only use, that vehicle is left at the depot each evening. You will also be able to work from home to complete the admin part of the role when not out on site visits, you will also be required to work from local offices, it is likely you will work from home one day per week therefore hybrid working is applicable.

Rewards and Benefits

• 26 days' holiday (prorated for part time staff), rising to 28 days after 2 years' service and 30 days after 5 years' service
• Option to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave
• An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
• Up to 5 days of carer's leave per year
• Paternity, adoption and dependants leave
• A generous local government salary related pension
• Lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, shopping and many more
• 2 paid volunteering days plus 1 team volunteering day per year
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources

About the Team

You will be one of a team of 14 Highways Customer Officers along with 2 Senior Highways Customer Officers. The team are a mix of ages (20s-60s) male and female, they have a vast range of prior skills, experience and positions to their current role. The team has been being created since November 2021 and has a can-do attitude.

About the Role

We are looking for a Highways Customer Officer (HCO) who will undertake a range of highway related works, including going out in response to customer calls for service daily.

Enquiries may involve conducting site suitability surveys for vehicle crossovers, tree and shrub concerns, or other highway issues such as defect and highway safety inspections. HCOs are responsible for managing their own workloads and ensuring customer response times are met.

Work will include a mixture of office work and visits to sites and customers throughout the year. The work split is likely around 75% out on site and 25% office/home based. You will be required to work in an open office environment on a weekly basis to ensure close relationships and working bonds are maintained with other service teams.

Shortlisting Criteria

This job is suited to a huge variety of past careers, as examples we have HCO's who were previous armed forces personnel, emergency service workers, lectures, hospitality managers, counsellors, engineers, customer service officers, civil enforcement officers etc.

To be considered for shortlisting for this position, your application will clearly evidence the following:

• A good standard of spoken communication and personal presentation, and be able to have robust and sometimes difficult conversations face to face with customers
• A good working knowledge and ability to use IT equipment and Microsoft Office suite such as Word, Excel, Outlook
• A working knowledge and interest or experience in Highway Works
• Experience of providing excellent customer service, both remotely and in a face-to-face environment
• Ability to manage workloads and deal with conflicting priorities
• A full UK manual driving license and a willingness to travel around the county when necessary, a vehicle will be provided for these journeys and left at your place of work overnight

You will need to achieve a competency-based training record within the 6-month probation period and have been successful in all categories.

Contact us

Please contact us for any questions relating to the role. This could be to discuss flexible working requests, transferable skills or any barriers to employment.

For an informal discussion please contact David Morgan or Richard Paton by telephone on .

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 29/02/2024 with interviews planned for week commencing 11th March.

We look forward to receiving your application, please click on the apply online button below to submit.

Our Commitment

Surrey County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. A guaranteed interview will be offered to all disabled applications where:

• The candidate has evidenced the minimum criteria for the role through their application
• The candidate has chosen to share that they have a disability on the application form

Our application form and onboarding process will provide an opportunity to request any reasonable adjustments for the interview and/or the role.

We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all underrepresented groups.