Community Relations Executive

About Us

Join the Southern Region – where your work truly matters. Covering Wessex, Sussex, and Kent, the Southern Region is one of the busiest and most dynamic parts of the railway. Our teams keep some of the UK’s most vital passenger and freight routes moving every single day. This is a place where collaboration, innovation, and resilience are key – and where your contribution will directly impact millions of journeys. We’re entering an exciting new chapter as we integrate with train operating companies ahead of the creation of Great British Railways, creating even greater opportunities to shape the future of rail. From supporting major modernisation programmes to improving performance for local communities and enhancing safety across our operational environments, Southern offers a rewarding environment to grow your career and make a real difference.

We’re committed to creating a diverse, inclusive workplace that reflects the communities we serve. We value flexibility and understand the importance of a healthy work-life balance. As a Disability Confident Leader, we’ll do everything we can to accommodate any needs throughout the recruitment process. If you’re ready to make a real difference, we’d love to hear from you!

About the Role

Join our team in a dynamic, customer-focused role where you’ll deliver a first-class, professional service across a range of communication channels, ensuring enquiries, service requests and complaints are resolved at the first point of contact wherever possible. You’ll play a key role in building and maintaining strong relationships within the local community, working closely with lineside neighbours, residents and businesses during disruptive works to keep them informed, supported and engaged.

What You’ll Do

• Manage your own caseload in a fast-paced environment, responding to enquiries, service requests and complaints via phone, email and letter, with a strong focus on resolving issues at the first point of contact.
• Use sound judgement to assess each enquiry, making decisions within established processes while accurately logging and tracking cases through our Customer Relationship Management system, meeting key performance and service standards.
• Maintain clear, accurate and comprehensive records of all customer interactions and service requests.
• Champion the customer voice across the organisation, actively seeking feedback, identifying opportunities for improvement, and making recommendations to enhance services.
• Investigate recurring or complex issues, working with Public Affairs, Media and Communications teams to deliver consistent, coordinated responses.
• Represent the organisation at community events and public meetings, advising colleagues on the most effective ways to communicate and engage with stakeholders around planned works.
• Build strong relationships with operational teams to ensure customers receive timely, accurate and high-quality responses.
• Work collaboratively as part of a supportive team, stepping in for colleagues when needed and contributing to shared goals and performance targets.
• Support the onboarding and development of new team members, helping to maintain high standards and up-to-date knowledge across the team.
• Take on additional responsibilities as required, contributing flexibly to the wider success of the team.

Salary and Location

Salary: Band 5 / £25,409-£32,000

Location: Basingstoke

This is a full-time, 12-month fixed-term position. We are recruiting for two roles.

Remote working opportunity! This role requires working in the office 3 days a week.

Closing date: 1st July 2026 – Late applications will not be accepted.

What’s in it for you

Here are a few of the benefits we offer:

• 28 day annual leave with the option to buy and sell days
• Choice of pension schemes
• 75% discount on leisure travel for you and your family
• Private Healthcare
• 5 days paid volunteer or carers leave
• Up to 75% subsidised Rail and Underground travel
• Gym Pass – access to gyms across UK
• My Benefits platform – giving national and local retail discount

Your Experience and Skills

We’re looking for someone who can demonstrate the following essential criteria:

• Proven experience in fast-paced customer service or handling complaints, with a strong focus on delivering positive outcomes
• Familiarity with customer management systems and the ability to use them effectively to manage cases and track interactions
• Excellent organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise tasks and manage a busy workload
• A professional and confident telephone manner, complemented by clear, concise and high-quality written communication skills
• Strong time management skills, with the ability to meet deadlines and service level expectations
• Experience in planning and delivering proactive customer engagement, with a focus on keeping stakeholders informed and involved

Our aim is to ensure your candidate experience is as positive as possible. Should you require any reasonable adjustments/modifications, please add a note to your application. All offers of employment are conditional upon satisfactory completion of pre-employment checks.

Some of our roles require face-to-face Drugs & Alcohol testing. We will share further details with you as part of your formal offer.