Customer Service Manager

<p><strong><span class="collapsed-field-text">Customer Service Manager </span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Takealot.com, a leading South African online retailer, is looking for a highly talented Customer Service Manager to join our team in Cape Town. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">We are a young, dynamic, hyper growth company looking for smart, young, creative,&nbsp; hard working people to join us. We offer market related benefits, a great work&nbsp; environment and a promise that you won’t be bored as long as you are prepared for a&nbsp; challenge and want to build something great.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><strong>The position reports to the Customer Service Operations Manager&nbsp;</strong></p> <h4><em>Your responsibilities will include:</em></h4> <h4>Purpose of the Role</h4> <ul> <li>Lead a high-performing, customer-obsessed team to deliver world-class support across channels, driving CSAT/NPS, First Contact Resolution (FCR), and resolution time while reducing recontact and backlog</li> <li>Coach and develop Team Leaders to raise quality, productivity, and engagement; coach the coaches.</li> <li>Own operational excellence, incident management, and continuous improvement to remove root causes across consumer, courier/driver, and merchant journeys.</li> <li>Use data to set strategy, prioritise improvements, and communicate performance and plans to stakeholders.</li> </ul> <h4><em>Key Responsibilities</em></h4> <h5>People Leadership &amp; Culture</h5> <ul> <li>Lead, coach, and develop Team Leaders through weekly one-on-ones, performance reviews, and development plans.</li> <li>Set clear goals and standards; recognise top performance; manage underperformance with structured performance improvement plans.</li> <li>Oversee hiring, onboarding, certification, cross-skilling, and succession; ensure HR compliance such as leave and attendance.</li> <li>Foster an inclusive, high-trust, and high-accountability culture centered on customer empathy and ownership.</li> </ul> <h5>Customer Experience &amp; Quality</h5> <ul> <li>Own the quality framework including QA rubric, calibration cadence, evaluation targets, coaching standards, and action plans.</li> <li>Set and manage channel standards for FCR, SLAs, backlog, recontact rate, complaint rate, and social response and resolution.</li> <li>Ensure Team Leaders conduct regular monitoring across calls, chats, and emails, and provide feedback, coaching, and reporting.</li> </ul> <h5>Process Improvement &amp; Voice of Customer (VoC)</h5> <ul> <li>Run a continuous improvement pipeline by identifying key drivers of contact, defect leakage, and customer effort, and prioritising solutions.</li> <li>Translate insights into product and process improvements and track measurable impact such as contact reduction and CSAT improvement.</li> <li>Standardise SOPs across teams to ensure clarity and consistency in execution.</li> </ul> <h5>Cross-Functional Leadership</h5> <ul> <li>Partner with Operations, Logistics, Merchant/Restaurant Operations, Courier/Driver Operations, Product, Risk/Fraud, Finance, Legal, and Communications to improve end-to-end journeys.</li> <li>Represent Customer Service in business reviews, align on priorities, and advocate for customer-focused decisions.</li> </ul> <h5><strong>T</strong>ools, Data &amp; Reporting</h5> <ul> <li>Govern the operational use of CRM, ticketing systems, telephony platforms, QA tools, workforce management systems, knowledge bases, and reporting tools.</li> <li>Define metrics and dashboards; ensure accurate and timely reporting by Team Leaders with clear action plans.</li> <li>Promote data-driven decision-making and analytical capability within teams.</li> </ul> <h5>Compliance, Risk &amp; Safety</h5> <ul> <li>Ensure adherence to company policies, data privacy regulations, and audit requirements.</li> <li>Govern the safe handling of sensitive and payment data; escalate incidents according to protocol.</li> <li>Establish service recovery and compensation guidelines and partner with Risk teams to prevent fraud and abuse.</li> </ul> <h5>Governance &amp; Communication</h5> <ul> <li>Maintain a structured operating cadence including daily stand-ups, weekly operational reviews, monthly business reviews, QA calibrations, and training sessions.</li> <li>Communicate priorities, updates, and performance outcomes clearly, maintaining documentation and change logs.</li> </ul> <h5><strong>Output</strong></h5> <ul> <li>High-performing and engaged Team Leaders with defined goals and development plans.</li> <li>Consistent achievement of SLA targets, reduced complaints, and improved resolution rates.</li> <li>Measurable improvements in CSAT and reduced contact rates through actionable process and product changes.</li> <li>Enhanced end-to-end customer journeys through aligned cross-functional initiatives.</li> <li>Accurate and timely reporting with clear insights and actions.</li> <li>Established safeguards for sensitive data handling and incident management.</li> <li>Well-maintained documentation, SOPs, and change logs.</li> </ul> <h5>Minimum Required Competencies</h5> <ul> <li>Leadership and coaching with the ability to mentor Team Leaders and manage performance.</li> <li>Strong interpersonal communication with internal and cross-functional stakeholders.</li> <li>Strategic planning and prioritisation of operational improvements.</li> <li>Data-driven decision-making with strong analytical skills.</li> <li>Customer-centric mindset focused on quality and experience.</li> <li>Problem-solving with the ability to identify root causes and implement sustainable solutions.</li> <li>Adaptability in a fast-paced and changing environment.</li> </ul> <h5>Skills, Knowledge &amp; Abilities</h5> <ul> <li>Leadership and people management.</li> <li>Analytical expertise.Operational excellence.</li> <li>Proficiency with relevant technology and tools.</li> <li>Familiarity with customer service metrics such as FCR, SLAs, and CSAT.</li> <li>Ability to collaborate effectively across teams and stakeholders.Experience leading change management and cross-functional initiatives.</li> <li>Understanding of cross-functional operations including Logistics, Product, Risk, and Finance.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Qualifications and Experience:&nbsp;</strong></p> <ul> <li>Diploma or Advanced Certificate.</li> <li>3 to 5 years’ experience as a manager in a customer service environment.</li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Experience in the redesign and implementation of new processes and best&nbsp; practices to improve customer satisfaction metrics.&nbsp;</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Experience in working in an e-commerce or technology company is a plus&nbsp;</span></li> </ul> <p><strong>The Environment</strong><span style="font-weight: 400;">:&nbsp;</span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">takealot.com employees are entrepreneurial and dynamic, smart, customer centric, fun and have the shared ambition of takealot.com being the leading e commerce company in Africa.&nbsp;</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">We have fun, work hard, take ownership, work in teams to create solutions,&nbsp; and are always open to direct feedback/new ideas on where we can improve.&nbsp;</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">We are short on ego and high on output.&nbsp;</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">We are doers and not only thinkers, it's all in the execution after all.&nbsp;</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">We love what we do and what we are creating.&nbsp;</span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We seek to Employ an </span><strong>Extra Ordinary Mind </strong><span style="font-weight: 400;">who:&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is forthright but respectful&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is an expert at doing, who can not only design but also execute&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is analytical, able to use data to make decisions&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is competitive, self-directed and strive to be the BEST (GREAT requires a lot&nbsp; of work and does not only happen during business hours)&nbsp;</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is passionate about the potential of e-commerce and delivering a world-class&nbsp; customer experience&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is entrepreneurial, thrives under change and accepts it is a constant and&nbsp; always looks for solutions to do something better and faster&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is able to think about problems from a business perspective using technical&nbsp; and product input&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is curious and challenge the status quo&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is innovative and enjoys iteration&nbsp;</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is collaborative&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> will be at the cutting edge of developing new concepts for takealot.com.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> thinks like an owner of the business.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is </span><strong>SMART, has INTEGRITY </strong><span style="font-weight: 400;">and </span><strong>is HARDWORKING&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you meet the above you are an </span><strong>Extraordinary Mind </strong><span style="font-weight: 400;">so come and join us!&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Takealot is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applicants from the previously disadvantaged&nbsp; groups and people with disabilities will be given preference.</span></em></p>