Customer Service Center Leader

Position PurposeDedicated to helping farmers prosper, Cargill AgHorizons US helps customers manage their risk and maximize production through grain marketing alternatives, crop insurance, agronomic advice and crop inputs. Part of Cargill?s global agricultural supply chain group, Cargill AgHorizons serves over 40,000 customers with a 1,600-member team at more than 100 grain elevators and service centers across the United States.The scope of the Customer Operations Center includes administering approximately 2 million grain settlement transactions annually, customer contact and inquiry, customer reporting, control and compliance monitoring and reporting. Many of the grain transactions handled by the center include ?attached? grain marketing alternatives and can be further complicated by large customers with multiple legal entities, multiple landowners and lien holders. The center is accountable for compliance with many federal and multiple states? laws and regulations. This position is responsible for managing individuals who function within and support the Customer Operations Center inclusive of accounting and customer operations roles. Candidates should have prior experience in leading and providing direction to customer service teams. This position will require strategic and advisory decision making processes for internal and external processes impacting our teams and customers. Daily areas of focus to include cross functional team leadership, process improvement within the Customer Operations Representative (COR) daily functions, planning and execution of new processes, direct internal and external customer interaction, relationship building and partnerships with internal stakeholders. Additional areas of focus to include systems and data management with reporting and trending as needed and budget management.This position will include work closely with the Customer Operations Center Manager in leading the following aspects of strategy and operational requirements related to:? External and internal customer satisfaction? Complex change management aligning the business and its customers to a new process and service model? Understand regional commercial differences and develop consistent but flexible processes to handle an ever growing menu of added value solutions and innovative farm processes which include many CRM (Cargill Risk Management) products, e.g Focal Point, NBE Plus, On Farm Storage, Daily Floor Plus, Natural Hedge, and the BU?s Propricing solutions.? Enabling technologies to support the center? Continuous improvement and performance management of the Center operations? Resources and staffing, training programs and workforce forecasting and scheduling This role will assist with training/developing of the team, assist in implementation workforce and process efficiencies, internal controls, and continued enforcement of finance metrics as outlined in the Control Task List and Internal Audit reports. This position will work closely with the Customer Operations Supervisor and Customer Operations Leader to identify and implement opportunities to provide excellent customer service and increased productivity and efficiency. This role also includes focus on the controls necessary in the financial function of the settlement process and supporting accounting assistant processes.Principal Accountabilities 50% Lead and provide direction to 10-12 Customer Operations Representatives (CORs), including people selection, training, development, technical direction, coaching and retention. Update and maintain training materials for this team. Ensure workforce management process is in place to level-set workload within Customer Operations Center. Work proactively to have an engaged team.25% Develop, monitor and report performance standards on Customer Service Center settlement statistics, service levels and customer satisfaction.15% Collaborate closely with the finance, sales and merchandising functions to ensure settlement processes are aligned, efficient and effective to best serve our customers. Work closely with the Sr. Customer Service Center Leader and US Customer Service Leader to actively participate in the planning and execution of the BU strategy and business plans10% Work closely with the Regional Finance Leaders and Accounting Managers to ensure that appropriate controls are in place and monitored for settlement activities.This position is posted internally as well as externallySkills:
Required QualificationsBachelors Degree with a minimum of four years professional experience in finance, customer operations or related roles
Minimum of two years in supervisory experience
Demonstrated principled leadership and sound business ethics as outlined in Cargill?s Leadership Model and Guiding Principles
Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with internal/external customers
Proven influencing and conflict management skills
Demonstrated experience in financial budgeting, planning and fiduciary responsibility with proven commitment to internal control
Demonstrated strong organizational and prioritization skills?
Proven ability to deal effectively with change
Demonstrated ability to work in a fast-paced environment
Proven strong decision making and strong problem solving skills
Demonstrated ability to improve work processes?
Demonstrated commitment to safety
Demonstrated proficiency in MS Office, Word, Excel, PowerPoint & Outlook
Ability to travel up to 20%Preferred QualificationsSix or more years of customer operations supervisory or operations center experience?
Experience in leading significant and complex change, creating or transforming work processes and/or teams?
Knowledge of key I/T systems (Lynx, Agris, JDE)
Finance/budget experience.
Experience and understanding of core business processes of the grain origination/ag producer services business
Understanding of complex derivatives/Cargill Risk Management products and impacts on grain contracts and settlements