Director Call Center Operations - Recipient Customer Service
About the role
Change people's lives and love what you do at Cochlear—the most recognized brand in hearing health care, helping people hear and be heard around the world, while being part of one of Denver Business Journal's 2026 Best Places to Work honorees in Denver.
Key Responsibilities
Own performance outcomes across a 100+ FTE contact center, including service levels, quality, productivity, and customer satisfaction.
Drive consistent achievement of KPIs through rigorous performance management, data-driven decision-making, and continuous improvement.
Demonstrate a strong ownership mindset and extreme accountability for results, taking full responsibility for both successes and gaps.
Exhibit a willingness to do the hard, unglamorous work required to drive results, including deep dives into workflows, escalations, and frontline barriers.
Lead from the front by engaging directly with operations, reinforcing that no task is beneath leadership.
Remove obstacles quickly and decisively to ensure operational continuity and goal attainment.
Serve as a trusted advisor to regional and global leadership on customer service strategy, performance, and transformation.
Present regularly to senior executives on call center performance, service levels, customer insights, and operational risks/opportunities.
Define and execute a multi-year roadmap to scale the service center, incorporating automation, AI, digital channel expansion, and process redesign.
Partner cross-functionally (Commercial, Reimbursement, Supply Chain, IT, Quality) to improve end-to-end customer experience and order fulfillment outcomes.
Lead a multi-channel contact center ensuring delivery of service levels, responsiveness, and high-quality interactions.
Own performance across key metrics including ASA, SLAs, abandonment rate, first contact resolution, quality scores, and customer satisfaction.
Partner with Workforce Management to optimize staffing models, scheduling, forecasting, and real-time performance management.
Lead telephony and routing strategy, ensuring effective call segmentation, escalation pathways, and performance optimization.
Build operational discipline through data visibility, reporting, and real-time management practices.
Lead intake through end-to-end customer service for order management, including insurance and self-pay transactions.
Drive upgrade order growth, conversion, and revenue realization through process optimization and service excellence.
Ensure accuracy, compliance, and efficiency across order entry, verification, and fulfillment processes.
Identify and remove friction points impacting order cycle time and customer effort.
Lead transformation from manual, fragmented processes to standardized, scalable workflows.
Evaluate and implement automation, AI, and self-service capabilities to improve efficiency and reduce cost-to-serve.
Drive continuous improvement initiatives leveraging Lean or similar methodologies.
Partner with IT and Digital teams to enhance Salesforce, knowledge management, and workflow tools.
Establish scalable infrastructure for data-driven decision-making and performance management.
Lead, coach, and develop people leaders and frontline teams, ensuring strong leadership capability at all levels.
Create a high-performance, high-accountability culture where expectations are clear and results are consistently delivered.
Reinforce a culture of ownership, accountability, and disciplined execution at every level of the organization.
Coach leaders to take end-to-end ownership of performance and customer outcomes, avoiding escalation dependency.
Raise the talent bar through hiring, development, succession planning, and performance management.
Foster an environment grounded in trust, integrity, inclusion, and customer-centricity while maintaining high standards.
Establish and continuously refine KPIs, dashboards, and reporting frameworks aligned to business outcomes.
Use data to proactively identify trends, risks, and improvement opportunities.
Drive root cause analysis and corrective actions to improve service, quality, and efficiency.
Ensure consistency in quality monitoring, coaching, and calibration processes.
Lead initiatives to reduce customer effort and improve ease of doing business.
Incorporate customer feedback into process, policy, and service design improvements.
Champion a customer-first mindset across all interactions and decisions.
Key Requirements
Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree preferred
10+ years of progressive leadership experience in customer service, call center, or operations environments, with direct team leadership
Proven experience leading large-scale contact center operations (50+ agents; 100+ preferred)
Expertise in call center performance metrics, workforce management, and service level delivery
Demonstrated success driving operational transformation, process improvement, and technology adoption (AI/automation preferred)
Experience managing order management operations and/or revenue-supporting service functions
Strong executive presence with the ability to communicate complex operational topics to senior leaders
Proven ability to build high-performing teams, coach leaders, and drive accountability
Experience in regulated environments (healthcare, medical device, insurance-related services) preferred
Demonstrated high emotional intelligence (EQ) with the ability to build trust, navigate complex interpersonal dynamics, and lead effectively through change and ambiguity
Proven experience leading cross-functional projects and large-scale initiatives, with strong discipline in project management, prioritization, and execution
Strong expertise in process design, process improvement, and process governance, with the ability to standardize and scale operations in complex environment
Total Rewards
Pay Range in the United States: $165,000 - $185,000 based upon experience, as well as an annual bonus opportunity of 20% of base salary.
Exact compensation may vary based on skills, experience, and location.
Benefit package includes medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance as well as 401(K) matching with immediate vesting, Paid Time Off, tuition reimbursement, maternity and paternity leave, Employee Stock Purchase Plan and pet insurance.