Reports to: Manager, Customer experience
For over 70 years, WALTER Surface Technologies has been a world leader in surface treatment technologies providing high performance abrasives, tools, power tools, chemical solutions, safety solutions, and welding process solutions specifically designed for the metalworking industry. Our core philosophy is focused on helping customers work better and achieving greatness with the best technology, the best products, the best performance, the best safety, and the best durability - all designed to increase their productivity and profitability.
Position Summary
The Customer Experience Supervisor leads the day-to-day activities of the Customer Experience team, ensuring timely, accurate, and professional support for Walter Surface Technologies customers and sales teams. This role is accountable for team performance, coaching, process discipline, and the resolution of complex customer issues. The Supervisor works closely with Sales, Supply Chain, Purchasing, Operations, Shipping, Pricing, and Finance to support order fulfillment, customer satisfaction, and continuous improvement.
Key Responsibilities
- Supervise, coach, and support Customer Experience Representatives to deliver consistent, responsive, and professional service across phone, email, and case-management channels.
- Set clear performance expectations; monitor service levels, productivity, quality, customer feedback, and adherence to established processes; provide timely coaching and performance feedback.
- Lead onboarding, training, cross-training, and development plans to strengthen product knowledge, systems capability, and customer-service skills.
- Manage and resolve escalated customer concerns, order issues, and service failures with sound judgment, appropriate urgency, and adherence to company policies.
- Maintain working knowledge of customer-service processes and systems, including ERP, CRM, EDI, pricing, order management, shipping, returns, and discrepancy handling, to ensure accurate and complete transactions.
- Review customer orders and EDI transactions for accuracy, including pricing, freight terms, warehouse selection, shipping methods, special instructions, and customer-specific requirements.
- Lead and support customer promotions, national programs, volume-discount initiatives, and sales-support activities; coordinate execution, track results, and communicate outcomes to leadership.
- Develop, document, and continuously improve team processes, controls, and standard work to reduce errors, improve response times, and enhance the customer experience.
- Partner with cross-functional teams to address service risks, backorders, supply constraints, delivery issues, and customer-impacting operational changes.
- Prepare and maintain reports on service performance, order quality, discrepancies, returns, customer issues, and other departmental measures for leadership review.
- Support staffing needs through recruitment, scheduling, performance management, and employee development while fostering a constructive, accountable, and collaborative team environment.
- Maintain regular and dependable attendance in accordance with company policy and business requirements.
Qualifications and Experience
- High school diploma or equivalent required; post-secondary education in business, customer service, or a related discipline is an asset. Equivalent relevant experience will be considered.
- Minimum five years of customer service experience in a product-based, distribution, industrial, or manufacturing environment.
- Minimum three (3) years of supervisory or team-lead experience in a customer service or order-management function.
- Experience working with ERP and CRM systems required; experience with Tecsys, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and Salesforce is an asset.
- Bilingual French and English, written and spoken, is required for roles supporting Canadian customers and internal partners in both official languages.
Knowledge Skills and Abilities
- Demonstrated ability to lead, coach, and develop a customer-facing team.
- Strong judgment, problem-solving ability, and a practical customer-focused approach to resolving issues.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a calm, professional, and patient approach in challenging situations.
- Strong attention to detail, organization, and sense of urgency in a high-volume environment.
- Ability to interpret performance data, identify trends, and implement practical improvements.
- Proficiency with Microsoft 365 applications, including Teams, Excel, Outlook, and Word.
