The posting
Job Summary
The Director, Customer Insights and Advocacy is responsible for strengthening the independent voice of the client within the Client Experience team. The role leads structured customer research and insight gathering through SC Inner Circle and other feedback channels, translates customer and complaint signals into actionable themes, and drives the Customer Advocate agenda and deliverables. The role supports proactive identification of emerging or systemic client outcome risks, challenges whether products, processes and journeys deliver fair outcomes, tracks corrective and preventive actions, and prepares high-quality updates for senior management, the Customer Advocate, MAS and the ABS Fair Dealing Committee.
Key Responsibilities
Customer Advocate Agenda and Independent Challenge
• Drive the Customer Advocate workplan, governance calendar, deliverables and progress reporting, ensuring commitments are clearly owned, tracked and completed.
• Prepare decision-ready briefings for the Customer Advocate on material customer themes, vulnerable client matters, unfair treatment, systemic issues and reputational risks.
• Provide independent, evidence-based challenge on whether proposed products, processes, policies and complaint outcomes deliver fair and sustainable client outcomes.
• Coordinate second reviews or escalations commissioned by the Customer Advocate and ensure lessons are translated into corrective and preventive action.
SC Inner Circle Research and Client Listening
• Design and deliver a structured SC Inner Circle research programme covering priority products, journeys, service experiences and emerging customer concerns.
• Develop research questions, participant segments and discussion guides; facilitate listening sessions and synthesise findings into clear, balanced insights.
• Use SC Inner Circle as an early-warning mechanism to surface misunderstanding, friction, vulnerability and unintended consequences before issues develop into complaints.
• Close the feedback loop by communicating actions taken, measuring whether changes improve outcomes and maintaining a reusable repository of findings.
Insight Integration, Measurement and Early Warning
• Integrate qualitative and quantitative signals from SC Inner Circle, complaint data, post-resolution feedback, service metrics, vulnerable client indicators and other voice-of-client channels.
• Distinguish isolated operational noise from recurring, emerging or potentially systemic themes, with clear trigger points for escalation.
• Develop outcome-focused measures covering root causes fixed, action effectiveness, recurrence, client understanding and whether the fix holds over time.
• Produce concise dashboards, thematic analyses and forward-looking recommendations for management and governance forums.
ABS, MAS and External Forum Engagement
• Coordinate the Bank’s inputs, positions, papers and follow-up actions for the ABS Fair Dealing Committee and relevant workstreams.
• Prepare accurate, balanced and well-substantiated updates for MAS, ABS, senior management and internal governance forums.
• Track industry commitments, best-practice reflections, definitions, metrics and agreed deliverables, ensuring internal stakeholders are mobilised and deadlines are met.
• Translate relevant industry and regulatory developments into practical implications and recommendations for the Bank’s customer advocacy agenda.
Customer Outcomes by Design and Action Tracking
• Partner with product, process, operations, frontline, risk, compliance and technology teams to translate insights into improvements to products, policies, controls and client journeys.
• Support structured customer-outcome challenge for higher-risk changes, including consideration of misunderstanding, vulnerable clients and unintended consequences upfront.
• Maintain a transparent action tracker with accountable owners, milestones, interim controls and escalation of delays or ineffective responses.
• Validate implementation and assess whether actions sustainably reduce repeat issues and improve fairness, understanding and client experience.
Stakeholder Leadership and Capability Building
• Build strong partnerships across Client Experience, complaints, product, operations, frontline, data, risk, compliance and external industry stakeholders.
• Influence senior stakeholders through clear evidence, constructive challenge and practical recommendations, including where perspectives differ.
• Lead and develop team capability in customer research, insight synthesis, advocacy, executive writing, governance discipline and action tracking.
Reporting and Management Information
• Develop a coherent reporting suite covering client insights, complaint and feedback themes, vulnerability, emerging risks, action progress and outcome effectiveness.
• Prepare concise, decision-oriented materials for the Customer Advocate, senior management, governance forums, MAS and ABS.
• Maintain robust source evidence, definitions and methodology so that insights and recommendations are transparent, repeatable and audit-ready.
Risk and Compliance
• Ensure research, insight, advocacy and forum activities comply with applicable policies, privacy requirements, conduct standards and regulatory obligations.
• Escalate material client harm, unfair treatment, systemic themes, control gaps or reputational concerns through appropriate governance channels.
• Maintain audit-ready evidence for research findings, management reporting, action tracking and regulatory or industry submissions.
Core Accountabilities
• Drive the Customer Advocate agenda, workplan, deliverables, governance calendar and progress reporting.
• Lead SC Inner Circle research and structured listening to surface client needs, friction and emerging concerns early.
• Integrate voice-of-client signals from research, complaints, feedback and operational data into clear themes and recommendations.
• Provide independent customer-outcome challenge on material products, processes, policies, journeys and escalated cases.
• Prepare decision-ready briefings for the Customer Advocate, senior management and governance forums.
• Coordinate ABS Fair Dealing Committee engagement, including submissions, workstream updates, best-practice reflections and follow-up actions.
• Support MAS engagement with accurate, balanced and well-substantiated updates on advocacy initiatives and client outcomes.
• Translate insights into corrective and preventive actions with clear owners, milestones and escalation of delays.
• Measure whether improvements work, including recurrence, customer understanding, action effectiveness and whether fixes hold.
• Champion vulnerable client outcomes and early identification of potential harm or unintended consequences.
• Influence cross-functional stakeholders through evidence, constructive challenge and practical recommendations.
• Maintain robust governance and audit-ready evidence for research, reporting, actions and industry submissions.
• Lead and build team capability in research, insight synthesis, advocacy, executive writing and stakeholder management.
Motivations
• Giving clients a meaningful voice — energised by listening carefully, surfacing unmet needs and ensuring customer perspectives influence decisions.
• Turning insight into action — driven by converting research, complaints and feedback into practical improvements with measurable outcomes.
• Preventing harm before it occurs — motivated by identifying emerging themes, vulnerability and unintended consequences early.
• Influencing across boundaries — enjoys aligning senior stakeholders, business teams, regulators and industry peers around fair customer outcomes.
• Maintaining high standards under scrutiny — motivated by producing balanced, evidence-based work that withstands senior management, regulatory and audit review.
Our Ideal Candidate
• 7+ years of senior customer advocacy and insights leader with strong experience in Voice of Customer (VoC), customer research, fair dealing, and customer outcome governance within a regulated financial services environment.
• Proven ability to translate customer feedback, complaints, and operational data into actionable insights, influence senior stakeholders, and drive cross-functional improvements.
• Experienced in regulatory engagement, executive reporting, and championing fair and sustainable customer outcomes.
Role Specific Technical Competencies
• Customer Advocacy & Fair Outcomes Management
• Voice of Customer (VoC), Customer Insights & Research
• Complaint Analytics, Thematic Reviews & Customer Outcome Governance
• Qualitative & Quantitative Research Design
• Data Analysis, Insight Synthesis & Dashboard Reporting
About Standard Chartered
We're a global bank connecting clients to our differentiated network, offering growth opportunities in the world's most dynamic markets. Our strategy, which combines cross-border capabilities and leading wealth management expertise, helps us deliver our purpose - to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity.
Over our 170-year history, and across a unique geographical footprint connecting Asia, Africa and the Middle East to each other and the world, we've built a bank like no other, with diverse capabilities and partnerships that set us apart.
What we offer
Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions, and geographies.
In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.
Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations.
Time-off including annual leave, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 months maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum.
Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns.
Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market-leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global employee assistance programme, sick leave, mental health first-aiders and self-help toolkits.
A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual, and digital learning.
Visit our careers website to learn more about us: www.sc.com/careers.
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