Who are we?

South Western Railway (SWR) operates over 1,500 services each weekday across the network and employs more than 5,000 people. We provide easy and convenient mobility, connecting people and communities in South West London, southern counties of England, and the Isle of Wight.

Join our team and help us continue to bring people together to get the most out of life.

About the job

You'll play a pivotal role at the heart of our Customer Contact operation, acting as the key systems specialist for the technology that keeps our service running smoothly. As the primary owner of our new Customer Interaction Management platform, Zendesk, you'll ensure the technology behind our frontline teams is optimised, reliable, and continuously evolving to meet the needs of our customers and colleagues.

Working closely with the Business Technical and Performance Manager, you'll take responsibility for the day‑to‑day management, configuration, and enhancement of Zendesk—translating operational requirements into smart, scalable system solutions. Your expertise will also extend across our wider range of customer‑facing technologies, including telephony, Key IVR and Edge Tier, making you a key enabler of seamless customer journeys.

This is a role for someone who thrives in both customer operations and technical system ownership, bringing the two together to drive effective, well‑supported service delivery.—a proactive problem‑solver who enjoys improving processes, shaping system design, and supporting the rollout of new tools and upgrades. If you're motivated by impact, collaboration, and continuous improvement, you'll feel right at home here.

Your main responsibilities will be:

• Day to day operational responsibilities ensuring the Zendesk system is available for use by Customer Contact.
• Assist with developing comprehensive business continuity plans for the technical infrastructure used by Customer Contact.
• Work with other SWR departments to ensure the systems Customer Contact are available.
• Be the first point of contact for day to day issues with the Zendesk system.
• Work with suppliers to ensure system faults are identified and resolved within minimal impact to operational performance or data stream integrity.
• Identify system process obstacles and report these so SWR can challenge suppliers to improve and embrace user feedback in shaping future methods of working.
• Provide support with User Acceptance Testing of changes to Zendesk or other system developments.
• Provide support to Management in managing changes and the provision of design work for system changes and working with suppliers to create specifications.
• Help the operations team maintain the development of their knowledge and skillset with Zendesk and other systems for best practice.
• Support other team members in the support of operational systems and support roles such as WFM and QMS
• Support when required review of contact centre processes to help challenge and change to ensure the right outcomes are obtained.

Essential requirements:

• Technical IT / Business experience
• Zendesk Operational & Support experience
• Critical thinking ability
• Strong problem-solving capacity
• High-level written and verbal communication skills
• Project management skills
• Ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines.
• Ability to work effectively with various levels of Management/Team Leaders/Duty Managers

Working pattern

Working an average of 37 hours per week over 5 days. Mainly office hours. Monday to Friday, with an expectation to work flexibly across a 7 day week operational Contact Centre.

The Reward

In return we offer a competitive salary and a variety of valuable benefits, including:

• Free duty and leisure travel on SWR services for employees
• Free leisure travel for spouse/partner and dependants (criteria dependent)
• 75% discount on many other train operating companies
• Full training and support with development
• Excellent pension scheme

We all belong at SWR. Our vision is to provide an inclusive environment for all colleagues, ensuring all candidates have an equal opportunity to access meaningful employment.

We value our differences such as age, gender, LGBTQIA+, ethnicity, religion, and disability. We maintain a zero tolerance towards any form of prejudice towards our colleagues, customers, and future talent.

We celebrate and encourage diversity of thought, progressive ways of working and seeing all our colleagues grow and thrive.

If you require additional support to complete your application due to a disability or neurodivergent condition, for example, dyslexia, dyspraxia, or autism, please follow the links below. We encourage you to share any additional needs you may require so we can provide a fair and equal process for all who apply.

https://exceptionalindividuals.com/neurodiversity/

https://www.healthassured.org/blog/neurodiversity/