Director Customer Contact Centers

FirstEnergy at a Glance

We are a forward-thinking electric utility powered by a diverse team of employees committed to making customers’ lives brighter, the environment better and our communities stronger.

FirstEnergy (NYSE: FE) is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and operational excellence. Headquartered in Akron, Ohio, FirstEnergy includes one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, more than 24,000 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, and a regulated generating fleet with a total capacity of more than 3,500 megawatts.

About the Opportunity

This is an open position with FirstEnergy Service Co., a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. [FEU]

This position is on-site and will be located in the Akron office.

The Director, Customer Contact Centers provides strategic leadership and operational oversight for delivering premier customer experience support for 6 million FirstEnergy customers. Oversees all contact center operations across multiple states and outsourced operations, including, but not limited to contact center operations in OH, PA and WV. This role is accountable for delivering exceptional customer experiences, employee development, critical metrics that matter, ensuring regulatory compliance, optimizing workforce staffing, delivering critical service levels and driving technology and operations transformation. The Director partners closely with business leaders across the enterprise to align customer service operations with the utility’s mission, values, and strategic objectives. This position is responsible for building and leading forward-thinking customer centric teams who are focused on enabling employees to maximize the customer experience .

Key Responsibilities:

- Develop and execute strategic vision for the customer contact centers to improve service quality, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

- Drive transformative change on a continual basis.

- Lead, inspire, and mentor employees to foster a high-performing culture.

- Drives results through a culture of coaching and performance root cause analysis.

- Drive employee engagement, retention, and performance improvement initiatives.

- Develop high performing teams, build succession plans and implement strategies to drive career development opportunities.

- Partner with senior leadership to align contact center operations with companywide customer experience initiatives.

- Oversee day-to-day operations across inbound/outbound customer contact channels including (but not limited to) voice, chat, email, text messaging, self-service, and digital customer channels.

- Establish performance goals, service level agreements (SLAs), and key performance indicators (KPIs) that meet or exceed regulatory, reliability, and customer expectations.

- Drive operational improvements through process optimization, technology adoption (IVR, chatbots, CRM tools), and workforce management best practices.

- Monitor customer feedback, complaints, and satisfaction metrics, translating insights into service enhancements.

- Leverage analytics and business intelligence to inform decision-making, forecast demand, and improve efficiency.

- Stay informed of industry best practices, emerging technologies, and customer service innovations in the utility sector.

Qualifications:

- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Management, Communications, or related field (Master’s preferred).

- Minimum 10 years of progressive leadership experience in contact center/customer operations, preferably within utilities, telecommunications, or other regulated industries.

- Demonstrated success in managing large-scale, multi-channel contact centers.

- Strong knowledge of workforce management, quality assurance, and performance metrics.

- Experience with customer service technologies (IVR, CRM, ACD, AI/automation).

- Proven ability to lead large teams and drive cultural and operational transformation.

- Experience building positive relationships and working with peers cross-functionally, demonstrating teamwork and collaboration with both internal and external stakeholders.

- Motivational and inspirational leadership, communicating a compelling vision, measuring performance, and fostering a culture of inclusion and accountability; a mentorship mentality, recruiting, developing, and growing high-caliber, diverse talent for current and future roles while building a high-performing team.

- Proven ability to foster teamwork and a culture of support, open and transparent communication with the team.

- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills to serve internal and external customers.

- Demonstrated leadership in the development, communication, implementation, and engagement of company initiatives.

- Experience in leadership, change management, consensus building skills preferred.

- Executive experience, stature, and overall credibility as a trusted business advisor; a change agent with the ability to contribute to the company’s strategic vision.

- Strong strategic thinking and execution skills, communication skills, collaboration, and executive presence/leadership skills

- Ability to proactively identify and mitigate risks and ability to solve issues and manage conflicts.

- Exceptional relationship management, leadership, and teamwork skills to be able to work broadly across the company and externally.

Benefits, Compensation & Workforce Diversity

At FirstEnergy, employees are key to our success. We depend on their talents to meet the challenges of our changing business environment. We are committed to rewarding individual and team efforts through our total rewards philosophy which includes competitive pay plus incentive compensation, a company-sponsored pension plan, 401(k) savings plan with matching employer contribution, a choice of medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, and life insurance programs, as well as skills development training with tuition reimbursement. Please visit our website at www.firstenergycorp.com to learn more about all of our employee rewards programs. FirstEnergy proudly supports workforce diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status as a protected veteran, or status as a qualified individual with a disability. No recruiters or agencies without a previously signed contract. Unable to sponsor or transfer H-1B visas at this time.

Safety

Safety is a core value for FirstEnergy and is essential to all of our business activities. We ensure employees have the tools, information, and processes to perform their duties in a manner that assures safety for themselves, their co-workers, our customers and the public. Our goals are to provide a safe work environment, to maintain an accident-free, injury-free workplace, and to promote and maintain public safety. To meet these goals, we dedicate ourselves to achieving world-class safety standards