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Make a difference in the community you live in! As a Community Builder—an employee with the City of Gainesville— you will have a direct hand in building and improving your community and making a visible impact on the lives of your neighbors. Working for local government is more than a job, it’s a chance to contribute to community success and to help enhance the Gainesville way of life.

Department:

9110 GRU - General Manager

Salary Range Minimum:

$113,882.35

Salary Range Maximum:

$180,930.59

Closing Date:

Until Filled

Job Details:

Chief Customer Officer – Job Opportunity

Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU), Florida’s most comprehensive utility service provider, proudly serves approximately 200,000 customers with electric, natural gas, water, wastewater, and telecommunications services.

We are seeking a dynamic and customer-focused Chief Customer Officer (CCO) to champion our Customer-First approach across all facets of the utility. As a key executive leader, you will oversee GRU’s customer-facing departments, driving innovation in people, processes, and systems to enhance the customer experience. You will ensure GRU leverages the latest cost-effective technologies, allowing customers to engage with the utility in ways that best suit their needs.

Beyond exceptional customer service expertise, you will bring strong business acumen and a data-driven mindset, using customer insights and billing data to support financial, operational, and strategic planning. The CCO serves as the primary advocate for GRU’s customers, leading efforts to enhance service delivery, resolve inquiries, and shape initiatives that drive customer satisfaction and engagement.

Join us in shaping the future of GRU where we are committed to providing safe, reliable and affordable utility services 24/7/365.

Job Description:

SUMMARY

The Chief Customer Officer (CCO) oversees Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) customer-facing departments, including but not limited to customer service and support, customer experience, customer solutions, energy and business services, and customer operations. The CCO is the leader responsible for implementing and overseeing a customer-first approach throughout the Utility. The incumbent will develop and approve ideas to improve people, processes, and systems that directly impact the customer experience. The CCO is the go-to leader for all customer-related inquiries, concerns, and initiatives. The incumbent serves at the will of the CEO.

EXAMPLES OF WORK*

*This section of the job description is not intended to be a comprehensive list of duties and responsibilities of the position.  The omission of a specific job function does not absolve an employee from being required to perform additional tasks incidental to or inherent in the job.  Performance of lower-level duties may be required.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS

Understanding the utility customers and promoting a customer-first approach throughout the organization, prioritizing customer-facing departments.

Kick-starting voice-of-the-customer programs and ensuring efficient analytics and reporting to promote a data-driven approach to the needs and wants of the Utility and the customer base.

Assisting customer-facing departments in their workflows and providing feedback on strategies, reports, tactics, and more.

Stepping in to resolve escalated customer support requests and collaborating with service, support, and success teams to ensure memorable and positive customer outcomes regardless of their issues.

Strategizing, delegating, and collaborating on customer success initiatives and programs that drive customer trust, loyalty, and growth.

Approaching customer relations with a business perspective, keeping an eye out for any opportunities to collaborate, and build relationships.

Listening to customers and acting on their input in a diplomatic and analytical manner, prioritizing requests by relevancy, urgency, and importance.

Listening to internal team members and finding ways to best serve the customers while maintaining efficient internal processes.

Finding the narratives behind the metrics by reviewing reports and correlating data sets to create an accurate picture of the customer.

Having final decision power on customer facing initiatives and ideating to better serve the customers’ needs.

Ensuring implementation of the most recent and cost-effective technologies, allowing customers to interact with the utility in ways that best serve the needs of the customer.