Complaints & Hardship Manager

The Company
  
Our client is a well-established and highly regarded financial services organisation committed to delivering fair, ethical and customer-focused outcomes. They have built a strong reputation for supporting customers through challenging financial circumstances while maintaining the highest standards of compliance, governance and operational excellence.
  
With continued growth and an ongoing commitment to enhancing the customer experience, they are seeking an experienced Complaints & Hardship Manager to lead two critical business functions. This is an opportunity to influence strategy, drive meaningful operational improvements and lead a team that plays an integral role in delivering positive customer outcomes.
  
The successful candidate can be based in the organisation's Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne office, providing flexibility while working as part of a national leadership team.
  
  
The Job
  
Reporting into senior leadership, you will provide strategic leadership across the Complaints and Hardship functions, ensuring customers receive fair and timely outcomes while maintaining the highest standards of governance and regulatory compliance.
  
This is a highly visible leadership role where you will influence business strategy, develop your team and drive improvements across customer experience, operational performance and risk management.
  
Your responsibilities will include:  

• Leading the Complaints and Hardship functions and providing direction to leaders and team members.
• Managing complex complaints, hardship applications and other escalated customer matters.
• Representing the business in Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR) and External Dispute Resolution (EDR) matters, including AFCA.
• Analysing complaint trends, hardship outcomes and root causes to identify opportunities for business improvement.
• Developing and implementing strategies that enhance customer outcomes, strengthen operational performance and reduce complaint volumes.
• Coaching and mentoring leaders and team members to build capability and embed best-practice complaint and hardship management.
• Maintaining and enhancing policies, procedures and governance frameworks across both functions.
• Ensuring compliance with ASIC, AFCA, NCCPA and other relevant legislative and regulatory requirements.
• Preparing regulatory reporting and providing insights to senior leadership.
• Building strong relationships with internal stakeholders to influence business outcomes and support a customer-first culture.  

  
You
  
To be successful in this role, you will have significant leadership experience within complaints, hardship, dispute resolution or compliance in a regulated financial services environment.
  
You will be experienced in the following areas and posses the below personal qualities:  

• A minimum of five years' leadership experience within complaints, hardship, dispute resolution, compliance or customer advocacy in a regulated financial services environment.
• Strong working knowledge of ASIC Regulatory Guide 271 (RG 271), AFCA Rules and Operational Guidelines, NCCPA hardship obligations and relevant consumer legislation.
• Proven experience managing complex complaints, hardship matters, vulnerable customers and AFCA dispute resolution processes.
• Demonstrated success developing and improving complaints and hardship frameworks, policies and processes to enhance customer outcomes and operational performance.
• Experience using complaint data, trend analysis and root cause investigations to identify and implement continuous improvement initiatives.
• Strong stakeholder management, communication and influencing skills, with the ability to build relationships across all levels of the business.
• A collaborative leadership style with a genuine passion for coaching, mentoring and developing high-performing teams.  

  
How to Apply
  
If you're looking for an opportunity to lead meaningful change, improve customer outcomes and shape the future direction of two critical business functions, we'd love to hear from you. Apply via the link below or contact Sarah Bolster on 02 9002 5001 or 0452 618 025 for a confidential conversation.