Customer Experience Manager

About Al-Futtaim

Established in the 1930s, Al-Futtaim is one of the most diversified and progressive privately held regional businesses, headquartered in Dubai. Operating across more than 20 countries, the group spans automotive, financial services, real estate, retail, and health. With more than 40,000 employees, Al-Futtaim represents over 200 of the world’s most recognised brands, including Toyota, Lexus, IKEA, ACE, and Marks & Spencer. Driven by its purpose to enrich lives and elevate communities, Al-Futtaim focuses on digital innovation, AI, sustainable growth, and strategic partnerships, creating long-term value for customers, communities, and partners while building a responsible legacy for future generations.

Overview of the role

The Customer Experience Manager at Dubai Festival City Mall is responsible for redefining and elevating the mall’s end-to-end customer experience. This role manages key customer-facing functions such as customer service, concierge, and valet, ensuring that all interactions reflect the mall’s high standards of hospitality and service excellence. The manager leads efforts to go beyond traditional customer service operations by embedding a proactive, hospitality-driven mindset across the customer journey. Success in this role is measured by improved customer satisfaction, seamless service across touchpoints, and elevated staff engagement.

What you will do

Customer experience strategy and ownership

• Own and continuously enhance the end-to-end customer journey at Dubai Festival City Mall.
• Develop and implement the mall’s customer experience strategy, ensuring alignment with brand positioning and business objectives.
• Champion a hospitality-first service culture focused on proactive, personalised engagement.
• Regularly review and improve the entire customer journey, from pre-arrival to departure.
• Identify service gaps and opportunities to improve customer satisfaction.
• Collaborate with marketing, operations, security, and other teams to ensure customer experience consistency.
• Develop initiatives that differentiate Dubai Festival City Mall through service and create memorable customer moments.

Customer service operations

• Lead the customer service function across all information desks and public areas.
• Establish and maintain clear service standards and operating procedures.
• Ensure team members have comprehensive knowledge of mall services, tenants, promotions, and events.
• Oversee customer enquiries, complaints, and feedback, ensuring timely and thoughtful responses.
• Implement escalation procedures for complex or sensitive cases.
• Regularly review customer feedback to identify trends and implement corrective actions.
• Maintain premium presentation standards for customer service desks and programmes.

Concierge services

• Lead the development of a premium concierge service offering for the mall.
• Ensure concierge services deliver proactive, personalised assistance beyond traditional information.
• Develop concierge service standards, standard operating procedures, and service-level agreements.
• Benchmark concierge standards against leading hospitality and retail environments.
• Train concierge teams to cater to diverse customer profiles, including VIPs and families.

Valet and arrival experience

• Oversee valet operations to ensure a premium first and last impression.
• Monitor greeting standards, vehicle handover times, customer communication, and professionalism.
• Manage valet capacity during peak periods, holidays, and events.
• Ensure third-party operator alignment with Dubai Festival City Mall’s standards.
• Drive improvements to arrival and departure experiences, including signage and queuing.

Team leadership and service culture

• Lead, motivate, and develop the customer service, concierge, and valet teams.
• Build a strong hospitality culture that promotes proactive customer engagement.
• Establish roles, responsibilities, and performance expectations among teams.
• Conduct training programmes covering hospitality, communication, and service recovery.
• Identify high performers for development opportunities and strengthen succession planning.
• Ensure consistent grooming, uniform standards, and professional behaviour.

Customer feedback, complaints, and service recovery

• Own the customer feedback and complaint management framework.
• Ensure complaints are logged, investigated, and resolved promptly.
• Personally oversee escalated cases and analyse complaint trends.
• Work with departments to develop corrective action plans and empowered service recovery mechanisms.
• Use survey and direct feedback for continuous service improvement.

Performance management and key performance indicators

• Develop and monitor customer experience performance frameworks, including CSAT and NPS.
• Track metrics such as complaint resolution, service response times, and mystery shopping scores.
• Use performance data to set improvement targets and hold teams accountable.
• Conduct internal service audits and create action plans based on findings.

Required skills to be successful

• Strong leadership and people management skills.
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal abilities.
• Proficiency in handling customer complaints and service recovery.
• Strong operational and organisational skills, with attention to detail.

What qualifies you for the role

• Bachelor’s degree in hospitality management, business administration, retail management, or a related field.
• Extensive experience in hospitality, luxury retail, shopping malls, or destination management.
• Demonstrated leadership experience managing customer-facing teams and multiple service functions.
• Experience managing outsourced service providers and ensuring compliance with service-level agreements.
• Skills in customer journey mapping, service standards, and complaints management.
• Proficiency in English is required; Arabic or additional languages are advantageous for diverse customer interactions.

About Al-Futtaim Real Estate

With a legacy of more than six decades in real estate and asset management, Al-Futtaim Real Estate, part of Al-Futtaim, creates real impact on the communities it serves through long-term investment and growth. As one of the region’s leading private developers, the company plans, creates, and manages developments across the MENA region.

Al-Futtaim Real Estate has a diversified, multi-billion-dollar portfolio across the real estate value chain and asset types, including residential, commercial, malls, and industries such as hospitality, healthcare, infrastructure, and education. Flagship mixed-use urban communities include Dubai Festival City and Cairo Festival City.

Al-Futtaim Real Estate is also responsible for Al-Futtaim Contracting, a fully integrated, end-to-end specialist division operating across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Egypt. The business has delivered industry-leading construction, engineering, technology, and facilities management solutions for more than 50 years.