Technical Assessment Team Manager

27 February 2025

Role:                                    Technical Assessment Team Manager

Salary:                                 Dependent on skills and experience

Location:                            Sci-Tech Daresbury, Warrington

Contract:                            37.5 hours per week; permanent, full-time

 

Our Technical Assessment team play a pivotal role in upholding MCS Standards, providing protection to consumers, and helping installers to solve and prevent complaints.

Honing an in-depth knowledge of our Scheme requirements, our Standards and consumer protections, they conduct on-site assessments of MCS certified installations of low carbon technologies such as heat pumps, solar panels and battery storage. They are looking to evidence conformity to the MCS requirements which include technical standards, installer operating requirements and the MCS Customer Commitment which mandates how consumers should expect their installer to treat them.

Additionally, as we launch the reforms to MCS, including taking on centralised complaints management, the role of the Technical Assessment team is evolving. The range of assessments will need to broaden to include everything from what they assess today to full scale complex complaint investigations.

The Assessors are supported from a technical perspective by our Senior Technical Assessors who have expertise in heating, plumbing and electrical technologies. Whilst you will be required to quickly gain a broad understanding of MCS, the MCS standards and scheme requirements, your role will be focused as a people leader for the team, ensuring that they are fully supported, engaged and immersed into the wider organisation.

We are looking for an inspiring, warm, consumer focused people leader who can take our Technical Assessment team to even greater heights – adding consumer protection and advocacy to their skill set and broadening out the scope of assessments to become all encompassing of not only the technical performance and compliance of installations but also of the entire consumer journey.

As MCS changes, we need new processes, systems and ways of working. You must not only be comfortable with leading through and implementing exponential change but also have demonstrable experience of creating new processes collaboratively, with input from your team and other key stakeholders as appropriate.

You’ll be fantastic at building relationships, an outstanding communicator and a strong but compassionate leader.

 

MAIN ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Provide leadership to our Technical Assessment team which includes assessors, senior assessors and our scheduler, providing support both remotely, out in the field and during regular visits to the MCS office in Daresbury, Cheshire.
  • Lead on the ongoing recruitment and development of the Technical Assessment Team with support from the Senior Technical Assessors, Sector Skills Managers and Head of Customer Experience as appropriate.
  •  Develop a collaborative and inclusive team culture by promoting open communication and creating opportunities for collaboration and side by side working.
  • Ensure the team are fully integrated into the wider MCS team to promote collaboration, alignment with company objectives and engagement.
  • Act as a Consumer and Brand Champion, ensuring that your team expand and evolve the scope and value of assessments to include checks against the Customer Commitment to become all scheme embracing assessments.
  • Uphold and demonstrate our company values at all times, leading by example in all interactions with Consumers, Installers, Certification Bodies and all internal and external stakeholders to ensure that the MCS brand is represented positively and professionally.
  • Produce regular reports for the Head of Customer Experience and the MCS Senior Leadership Team on outcomes, trends, performance and activity of the Technical Assessment team, making recommendations for improvements as appropriate.
  • Engage in high-profile meetings with government, regulators, working groups, and the wider MCS team, presenting report findings and contributing to key discussions. You will therefore need to be confident in delivering presentations, hosting, chairing, and actively participating in meetings at all levels.
  •  Identify and support external and in-house training for the Technical Assessment team, to aid their professional development, ensure compliance with health and safety and support career growth opportunities.
  • Establish and oversee a quality management programme to ensure assessors consistently meet technical, safety, and customer interaction standards. This will involve conducting regular site and safety audits, ensuring fair and consistent assessments, and reviewing assessor engagement with consumers and installers. This may also include call listening, shadowing on site, proof reading and checking of reports, emails and any other interactions. Working closely with the Senior Technical Assessors who will carry out any technical aspect of audits and use the findings to develop structured improvement plans for both individual assessors and the wider team.
  • Support the Technical Assessment team with the delivery of their assessment programme, setting KPIs and SLAs, monitoring performance, ensuring quality of reports and ensuring assessment coverage across the UK and technology types.
  •  Support the ongoing design and development of our Technical Assessment processes and assessment criteria based on ongoing feedback, insights and identified trends.
  • Support our Technical Assessment Scheduler on maximising assessment appointments, assessor utilisation and coverage.
  • Ensure Scheme, sector and technology knowledge is kept current for your team, demonstrating and encouraging commitment to continual professional development.
  • Develop, implement, and enforce safe ways of working to ensure a safe working environment for all team members, including arrangements for remote working.
  • Work closely with the wider Customer Experience Management team to identify cases where Technical Assessments are required and to feedback results and associated risk.
  •  Organise and lead regular team meetings, 1:1s and integration activities to enhance team cohesion and alignment with business goals.
  •  Ensure that your team provide advice, support and guidance on sensitive and complex cases as required to the Customer Relations Manager, Complaint Case Handlers, Complaints Manager and the wider Customer Experience management team.
  • Work collaboratively with other teams across the organisation including Scheme Management, Complaints, Customer Support Helpdesk and Customer Relations.
  • Contribute to the ongoing development of the MCS installation standards. Identify risks and areas of potential advantage and improvement based on your team’s assessment findings and feedback through established channels.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential – E

Desirable – D

Knowledge:

  • Experience in leading & developing a field-based team – E
  • Leading a growing team of people through exponential change – E
  • Experience in a sector with high consumer impact such as energy, health, and or high value consumer service provision – E
  • Experience in high impact/high profile complaint investigation – E
  • An understanding of the small-scale renewable technology sector and the MCS Scheme – D
  • Evidence of your continual professional development, especially in relation to understanding and practice of consumer protection and people leadership – D
  • Experience working with external stakeholders such as installation companies and homeowners – E
  • Consumer protection experience – D
  • Leading and supporting team members in identifying and supporting consumers in vulnerable circumstances – D

Skills:

  • Exceptional people leadership and team management skills, with the ability to motivate and develop others – E
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills – E
  • Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, able to effectively interact with diverse stakeholders, both internally and externally – E
  • Exceptional written and verbal communication skills including presentations to large groups – E
  • Outstanding organisational and administration skills – E
  • Mapping, creation and implementation of processes – E
  • Ability to learn and master MCS – E
  • Ability to produce in depth reporting and to analyse information in complex situations – E
  • Confident in communicating and presenting to a range of internal and high profile external stakeholders – E
  • Experience in creating a quality assurance programme to set performance expectations, raise standards and support team members’ development – D
  • The ability to remain patient, calm, and professional when dealing with challenging situations – E
  • Be willing to go the extra mile to ensure high customer satisfaction and inspire others to do the same – E

Behaviours:

  • Approachable and empathetic, with a passion for people development – E
  • Proactive and solutions-focused with a continuous improvement mindset – E
  • Adaptable and resilient to change – E
  • Commitment to fostering a positive workplace culture – E
  • High attention to detail and strong organisational skills – E
  • A motivated self-starter who can comfortably work independently and manage own workload – E
  • A proven track record of building and maintaining productive relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders – E
  • Ability to manage conflicting priorities – E
  • Be willing to work flexibly – E
  • Solution focused and able to handle challenging situations – E
  • Exceptional attention to detail – E
  • Drive, enthusiasm, versatility, and self-motivation – E
  • Comfortable with change – E

ABOUT MCS

MCS (Microgeneration Certification Scheme) is the UK’s national quality mark for small-scale renewable technology, such as solar panels and heat pumps. We’re here to set standards and provide protection, giving consumers confidence to invest in renewable technologies to heat and power their homes and small businesses. Working with industry, MCS defines, maintains, and improves quality, by setting standards for low-carbon energy technology products, contractors, and their installations.

Now is an exciting time to join MCS; especially as we plan to launch the redevelopment of the Scheme, which will have a greater focus on consumer protections, quality workmanship, and dispute resolution. 2023 was a record-breaking year for the small-scale renewables industry in terms of installation volumes and we look forward to continuing our vital role in driving forward the UK’s progress towards Net Zero.

Our People:

As an MCS employee, you will have the ability to demonstrate, understand and apply our company values. These are embedded in all roles across the business, and you should evidence these values as part of the application process:

  • We are open and inclusive
  • We are understanding
  • We are expert
  • We are innovative
  • We are principled
  • We are passionate

We are a strong and ambitious team of nearly 70 and growing. People are at the heart of MCS and we empower each other, support each other, and work together to achieve our goals. From members of our team who are just starting their journey as an apprentice, to those who have worked in renewables for years, we have wide range of talents and expertise. We are especially proud that women make up 68% of our workforce.

WHAT WE OFFER

At MCS we care about our employees, as reflected by our attractive set of employee policies which includes enhanced maternity, paternity, and adoption policies and enhanced sick leave, to name a few. We always support our team with their personal growth whether this be through funding training and qualifications, lunch & learn sessions, coaching, etc.

  • 25 days’ annual leave per annum – increasing to 28 days with 3 years’ service, and to 30 days with 5 years’ service
  • 8% company pension contribution
  • Access to and support with continuous professional development
  • Access to salary sacrifice schemes, such as Cycle2Work and Electric Vehicle Scheme
  • Payment of one professional subscription
  • Access to annual medical benefit, a mental health first aider, a menopause champion and counselling support
  • Provision of free fruit, tea and coffee, soft drinks and breads and spreads in the office
  • An innovative office environment that encourages collaboration.

Don’t meet every single requirement? We know that sometimes people can be put off applying for a job if they think they can’t tick every box but we realise the ‘perfect candidate’ doesn’t exist. So, if you can do most of what we’re looking for, go ahead and apply. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles!

Please send a CV and covering letter outlining how you meet the person specification. Email careers@mcscertified.com no later than Friday 14 March at 9.00am.

Successful applicants will be invited to a face-to-face interview at the MCS office, Sci-Tech, Daresbury WA4 4AB