The pathway
How you actually get there, here
How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.
- 1
Head of Customer Service / Customer Success
5-8 years in this role before DirectorSkills to master
- Scaling teams, managing large budgets, cross-functional project leadership, advanced VoC analysis, strategic planning for a department.
You're ready to move on when
- Successfully grew a customer service team by 50%+ while maintaining high CSAT/NPS.
- Led a major technology implementation (e.g., new CRM, helpdesk) from selection to adoption.
- Consistently exceeded departmental KPIs and demonstrated strong people leadership.
- Presented strategic initiatives to senior leadership with measurable impact.
- 2
Senior Product Manager (with CX focus)
7-10 years in this role before DirectorSkills to master
- Deep understanding of product lifecycle, user experience (UX) design, technical architecture, stakeholder management across engineering and business units, data-driven product strategy.
You're ready to move on when
- Successfully launched and iterated on customer-facing products or features that significantly improved CX metrics.
- Demonstrated ability to translate customer needs into technical requirements and influence product roadmaps.
- Strong collaboration with customer service teams to understand pain points and build solutions.
- Experience with agile development methodologies and managing product P&L.
- 3
Management Consultant (specialising in CX)
8-12 years in this role before DirectorSkills to master
- Strategic problem-solving, client relationship management, programme management for large-scale transformations, executive communication, industry benchmarking and best practices.
You're ready to move on when
- Led multiple successful CX transformation projects for diverse clients.
- Developed and presented strategic recommendations to C-suite level clients.
- Proven ability to analyse complex business problems and design actionable solutions.
- Strong track record of driving change and achieving measurable results in client organisations.