Hybrid Senior Operations Manager – Customer Incident

at loveholidays

• Job title: Senior Operations Manager – Customer Incident
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Senior
• Salary: Not specified
• Degree requirement: No Education Requirement
• Location requirements: Hybrid, London, United Kingdom

About the role

• Senior Operations Manager in Customer Experience handling high-impact travel disruptions. Leading incident management and operational responses for the loveholidays brand.

Responsibilities

• Reporting to the Head of Customer Operations, the Senior Operations Manager – Customer Incidents leads our response to high-impact disruptions (e.g. flight cancellations, extreme weather, partner failures, geopolitical events), safeguarding the end-to-end customer journey and protecting the loveholidays brand.
• You’ll own the operational response during incidents and crises, making critical decisions that balance commercial outcomes with empathy and customer-first thinking. Working cross-functionally with Commercial, Supply, Product, Communications, Health & Safety and Legal, as well as externally with airlines, hoteliers and other partners, you’ll ensure aligned, proactive responses.
• You’ll develop and maintain incident management playbooks, embedding a culture of preparedness, accountability and continuous improvement. Using data and insight from past events, you’ll drive operational enhancements, reduce risk and strengthen long-term customer trust.
• This role requires strong operational leadership, exceptional communication skills and the confidence to challenge senior stakeholders when customer outcomes or reputational risk are at stake.
• Lead the end-to-end management of customer-facing travel disruptions (e.g. cancellations, delays, weather events, strikes). Make time-sensitive, customer-focused decisions outside standard policy when required, using data insights to support and justify actions.
• Serve as the operational lead during real-time crises. Guide and support customer communication strategies while coordinating cross-functional responses across departments such as Operations, Communications, Commercial, Legal, and Safety.
• Own and regularly update crisis and incident management playbooks. Ensure clear escalation paths, defined roles and responsibilities, and that all relevant teams are trained and aligned on response protocols ahead of potential disruptions.
• Work closely with commercial teams and key supply partners (airlines, hotels, transport providers, etc.) to resolve incidents, manage escalations, and enhance partner performance in service recovery scenarios.
• Confidently challenge and influence senior-level decisions during operational crises to ensure customer welfare and reputational integrity remain the priority.
• Partner with internal teams to ensure aligned and consistent messaging and service recovery strategies during high-impact events. Act as a brand guardian, ensuring customer outcomes align with company values.
• Use insights from incident data, customer feedback, and operational performance metrics to drive efficiency, reduce disruption risk, and enhance customer satisfaction. Identify root causes and implement improvements in collaboration with internal and external partners.

Requirements

• Demonstrable experience in handling large-scale customer incidents with high commercial and reputational stakes within customer operations, service delivery, or crisis response - preferably in a fast-paced travel, airline or hospitality environment
• Strong crisis management and real-time decision-making capabilities
• Ability to work calmly under pressure, managing multiple critical issues simultaneously
• High attention to detail, accuracy, and follow-through, even in high-stress situations
• Clear and empathetic communicator with strong written and verbal skills
• Skilled at influencing and challenging senior leaders when necessary for customer advocacy
• Exceptional collaboration and stakeholder engagement skills across departments and partner networks
• Data-driven approach to problem-solving, with the ability to analyse complex situations and justify decisions with supporting evidence
• Experience designing and maintaining incident management frameworks or playbooks
• Track record of leading cross-functional improvement initiatives and enhancing customer outcomes

Benefits

• Company pension contributions at 5%
• Individualised training budget for you to learn on the job and level yourself up
• Discounted holidays for you, your family and friends
• 25 days of holidays per annum (plus 8 public holidays) increases by 1 day for every second year of service, up to a maximum 30 days per annum
• Enhanced maternity/paternity leave
• Cycle to work scheme, season ticket loan and eye care vouchers