Director of Customer Service

Job Title: Director of Customer Service

Department: Sales

Reports to: EVP/Co-Founder

Job Status: Full Time, Exempt

Travel: Frequent travel among Cypress Rail Solutions facilities and customer sites, up to 50% percent or more, including overnight travel.

Summary

The Director of Customer Service leads the customer service function across all Cypress Rail Solutions facilities, setting the vision and strategy that drives customer satisfaction, retention, and a consistent experience throughout the railcar repair, maintenance, and service business. This role owns the end-to-end customer service experience, from order intake and scheduling commitments through car flow, documentation, and delivery, and ensures customer expectations are clearly communicated to and met by the production organization.

The Director of Customer Service serves as the senior escalation point for customer matters and partners closely with operations, scheduling, supply chain, accounting, and the commercial team to align service delivery with customer commitments. The role combines strategic leadership with hands-on operational coordination and requires regular travel to facilities and customer sites.

At Cypress Rail Solutions (CRS) the Director of Customer Service builds and leads a customer-centric culture, develops the metrics and standards that define service performance, and ensures customer service practices align with FRA, AAR, and Company standards, rules, and policies.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities are but are not limited to:

Leadership

• Develops and executes the overarching customer service vision and strategy to elevate customer satisfaction across the business platform.
• Builds, leads, and develops the customer service team across multiple facilities, including hiring, training, coaching, and performance management.
• Establishes standardized customer service processes, playbooks, and service-level standards, and drives consistent adoption across all locations.
• Ensures customer expectations are clearly communicated to the production team and follows cars through the production process to support meeting those expectations.
• Manages the customer service departmental budget, staffing plan, and resource allocation as applicable.

Customer Experience

• Manages the day-to-day activities of the customer service function across plants to provide a consistent customer experience across the business platform.
• Prepares and distributes customer reports and communications, and leads customer update meetings.
• Owns the voice of the customer, capturing feedback, analyzing root causes of service issues, and leading corrective and preventive actions.
• Leads recurring customer business reviews and executive-level account touchpoints to strengthen key relationships and identify growth opportunities.

System Management

• Maintains the accuracy of customer schedules and commitments.
• Coordinates project-specific documents and project plans across facilities.
• Partners with operations and IT to optimize customer service systems, ERP, and reporting tools, and champions automation and continuous improvement.

Escalation Management

• Serves as the primary point of escalation for customer interactions, including shopping documentation, estimate approvals, and car flow.
• Establishes escalation protocols and response-time standards, and monitors adherence across facilities.
• Ensures compliance with customer-specific requirements, contractual commitments, and applicable regulatory and Company standards.

Performance Analytics

• Develops and maintains key performance indicators (KPIs) and service metrics, and communicates results across the organization to ensure standards are met.
• Analyzes service performance trends and reports customer service performance, risks, and opportunities to executive leadership.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partners with operations, scheduling, supply chain, and accounting to ensure schedule attainment and on-time delivery.
• Assists the commercial team in customer presentations and performance reviews.
• Collaborates with the commercial team on retention strategy, at-risk account recovery, and expansion of existing accounts.
• Supports the customer service integration of newly acquired facilities, including onboarding customers, aligning processes, and standardizing reporting.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in business, transportation, logistics, or a related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of progressive customer service experience, including 3 to 5 years in a leadership capacity.
• Demonstrated experience leading customer service teams across multiple sites or a multi-location business.
• Strong process implementation and development capability, including design and rollout of standardized service practices.
• Advanced data analysis skills, including development and management of KPIs and service metrics.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including executive and customer-facing presentation.
• Proven ability to build and sustain a customer-centric culture.
• Ability and willingness to travel extensively as required by the role.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in the railcar, rail, or transportation service industry highly preferred.
• Experience managing customer service across multiple facilities or a multi-plant platform.
• Experience with ERP, customer service, or scheduling systems and reporting tools.
• Experience partnering with commercial or sales teams on customer reviews and retention.
• Experience supporting customer service integration of acquired facilities.

Physical Demands:

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the physical demands listed below:

• Frequently required to sit, stand, walk, and use hands to operate a computer and office equipment.
• Occasionally required to climb, stoop, kneel, crouch, and bend while visiting facilities and observing operations.
• Ability to move safely throughout industrial, rail yard, and field environments.
• Ability to wear required personal protective equipment (PPE), including hard hats, safety glasses, gloves, steel-toe footwear, and respiratory protection as required.
• Ability to occasionally lift, carry, or move objects consistent with facility observation and travel duties.
• Ability to visually inspect work areas, equipment, records, and operational activities.
• Ability to communicate verbally with employees, customers, and site personnel in office and field conditions.
• Ability to travel by vehicle and by air for extended periods as required by the role.

Environmental:

• Work is performed in a combination of office settings and various operating locations, including rail yards, industrial facilities, and other outdoor or semi-outdoor environments.
• Exposure to varying weather conditions, including heat, cold, rain, snow, and wind, depending on location and season.
• Exposure to industrial hazards such as moving equipment, railcars, machinery, noise, vibration, dust, and fumes when visiting operating sites.
• Work may be conducted near heavy equipment, elevated work areas, or active rail operations.
• Schedule may include early mornings, evenings, weekends, or extended hours based on operational demands.
• Travel and overnight stays are routinely required based on geographic responsibilities and customer needs.

Requirements of joining our team:

Our comprehensive pre-employment process ensures the well-being and integrity of our team. To join our organization, candidates are required to:

• Pass a mandatory drug test to maintain a drug-free workplace. Random, reasonable suspicion, and post-accident testing may also be required throughout employment.
• Complete a comprehensive background check to confirm suitability for the position.
• Provide evidence of eligibility to work in the United States in the form of approved forms of identification.

This job description is not intended to represent a complete, comprehensive list of all duties and responsibilities that may be required in this position. There may be unplanned activities and other duties assigned. This job description may change at any time as declared by Management.

Cypress Rail Solutions is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected under local, state, or federal statute, ordinance, or regulation.