Head of Customer & Business Support Operations

Purpose of the Role

The company vision, values and culture are understood, communicated and positively promoted. Be an inspiring leader who can build high morale for all Customer Service Managers, Customer Service Team Leaders and Representatives by providing consistent support and strong positive leadership.

Team Responsibilities (Day-to-Day Responsibilities)

• Promote and reinforce the company vision, values and culture.
• Lead, coach and inspire Customer Service Managers, Team Leaders and Representatives.
• Proactively analyse industry trends and make recommendations to the Head of Customer Experience.
• Develop key metrics and performance indicators to measure customer experience and financial performance.
• Introduce effective change management controls within a fast-paced and evolving environment.
• Identify opportunities to improve productivity across the business.
• Oversee the end-to-end management of the Takealot, Superbalist, Mr D Courier and Mr D Food contact centres, including future call centre initiatives.
• Drive the career development of Customer Service Managers through coaching, stretch objectives and ongoing training.
• Build a scalable and sustainable management structure.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement through daily and weekly operational meetings.
• Partner with Customer Service Managers to achieve divisional OKRs while ensuring consistency in training, processes and performance.
• Drive operational efficiencies using insights gathered from Customer Service Agents.
• Own weekly, monthly and bi-annual reporting and dashboard management, including productivity, response times, CSAT, NPS and other operational metrics.
• Manage the full divisional budget.
• Plan staffing and resource requirements to support business growth and strategic initiatives.
• Plan, implement and evaluate operational initiatives that improve the customer experience.
• Manage third-party providers, communication systems and telephonic platforms to ensure excellent customer service delivery.
• Stay informed of industry developments and customer experience trends.

Outputs / Success Measures

• Deliver a high-performing customer service operation across all brands.
• Improve customer experience through continuous operational enhancements.
• Achieve divisional OKRs and productivity targets.
• Maintain strong customer satisfaction metrics (CSAT, NPS and service levels).
• Deliver accurate operational reporting and business insights.
• Effectively manage budgets and workforce planning.
• Develop high-performing Customer Service Managers and leadership teams.
• Drive operational efficiency and scalable growth across the contact centre environment.

 

Minimum Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's Degree or Advanced Diploma.

Preferred

• MBA.

Minimum Experience

• Minimum 5–7 years' overall experience.
• At least 5 years' experience in a Customer Service Operations Management role.
• Proven experience managing large-scale customer service operations.
• Demonstrated success leading projects that improve customer support processes.

Skills

• Excellent analytical and reporting skills.
• Strong communication skills with the confidence to express ideas and opinions.
• Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills.
• Leadership and people management.
• Performance management.
• Budget management.
• Workforce planning.
• Operational excellence.
• Change management.
• Continuous improvement.
• Strategic thinking.
• Data-driven decision making.
• Customer experience management.

Personality Traits

• Inspirational leader.
• Strategic thinker.
• Results-driven.
• Highly analytical.
• Proactive.
• Strong decision-maker.
• Adaptable in a fast-changing environment.
• Collaborative.
• Excellent coach and mentor.
• Customer-focused.
• Influential communicator.
• Continuous improvement mindset.

How to Sell the Role

• Lead customer service operations for some of South Africa's largest e-commerce brands, including Takealot, Superbalist and Mr D.
• Own the strategy and operational performance of multiple large-scale contact centres.
• Play a key role in shaping the future customer experience across the business.
• Lead and develop a large management team while influencing company-wide operational improvements.
• Work closely with senior leadership to drive innovation, efficiency and business growth.
• Take ownership of strategic initiatives, budgeting, workforce planning and customer experience transformation.
• Join a fast-paced, data-driven environment where your leadership will directly impact business success.