Customer Service Manager

Customer Service Manager

Takealot.com, a leading South African online retailer, is looking for a highly talented Customer Service Manager to join our team in Cape Town. We are a young, dynamic, hyper growth company looking for smart, young, creative,  hard working people to join us. We offer market related benefits, a great work  environment and a promise that you won’t be bored as long as you are prepared for a  challenge and want to build something great. 

The position reports to the Customer Service Operations Manager 

Your responsibilities will include:

Purpose of the Role

• 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
• Coach and develop Team Leaders to raise quality, productivity, and engagement; coach the coaches.
• Own operational excellence, incident management, and continuous improvement to remove root causes across consumer, courier/driver, and merchant journeys.
• Use data to set strategy, prioritise improvements, and communicate performance and plans to stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

People Leadership & Culture

• Lead, coach, and develop Team Leaders through weekly one-on-ones, performance reviews, and development plans.
• Set clear goals and standards; recognise top performance; manage underperformance with structured performance improvement plans.
• Oversee hiring, onboarding, certification, cross-skilling, and succession; ensure HR compliance such as leave and attendance.
• Foster an inclusive, high-trust, and high-accountability culture centered on customer empathy and ownership.

Customer Experience & Quality

• Own the quality framework including QA rubric, calibration cadence, evaluation targets, coaching standards, and action plans.
• Set and manage channel standards for FCR, SLAs, backlog, recontact rate, complaint rate, and social response and resolution.
• Ensure Team Leaders conduct regular monitoring across calls, chats, and emails, and provide feedback, coaching, and reporting.

Process Improvement & Voice of Customer (VoC)

• Run a continuous improvement pipeline by identifying key drivers of contact, defect leakage, and customer effort, and prioritising solutions.
• Translate insights into product and process improvements and track measurable impact such as contact reduction and CSAT improvement.
• Standardise SOPs across teams to ensure clarity and consistency in execution.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Partner with Operations, Logistics, Merchant/Restaurant Operations, Courier/Driver Operations, Product, Risk/Fraud, Finance, Legal, and Communications to improve end-to-end journeys.
• Represent Customer Service in business reviews, align on priorities, and advocate for customer-focused decisions.

Tools, Data & Reporting

• Govern the operational use of CRM, ticketing systems, telephony platforms, QA tools, workforce management systems, knowledge bases, and reporting tools.
• Define metrics and dashboards; ensure accurate and timely reporting by Team Leaders with clear action plans.
• Promote data-driven decision-making and analytical capability within teams.

Compliance, Risk & Safety

• Ensure adherence to company policies, data privacy regulations, and audit requirements.
• Govern the safe handling of sensitive and payment data; escalate incidents according to protocol.
• Establish service recovery and compensation guidelines and partner with Risk teams to prevent fraud and abuse.

Governance & Communication

• Maintain a structured operating cadence including daily stand-ups, weekly operational reviews, monthly business reviews, QA calibrations, and training sessions.
• Communicate priorities, updates, and performance outcomes clearly, maintaining documentation and change logs.

Output

• High-performing and engaged Team Leaders with defined goals and development plans.
• Consistent achievement of SLA targets, reduced complaints, and improved resolution rates.
• Measurable improvements in CSAT and reduced contact rates through actionable process and product changes.
• Enhanced end-to-end customer journeys through aligned cross-functional initiatives.
• Accurate and timely reporting with clear insights and actions.
• Established safeguards for sensitive data handling and incident management.
• Well-maintained documentation, SOPs, and change logs.

Minimum Required Competencies

• Leadership and coaching with the ability to mentor Team Leaders and manage performance.
• Strong interpersonal communication with internal and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Strategic planning and prioritisation of operational improvements.
• Data-driven decision-making with strong analytical skills.
• Customer-centric mindset focused on quality and experience.
• Problem-solving with the ability to identify root causes and implement sustainable solutions.
• Adaptability in a fast-paced and changing environment.

Skills, Knowledge & Abilities

• Leadership and people management.
• Analytical expertise.Operational excellence.
• Proficiency with relevant technology and tools.
• Familiarity with customer service metrics such as FCR, SLAs, and CSAT.
• Ability to collaborate effectively across teams and stakeholders.Experience leading change management and cross-functional initiatives.
• Understanding of cross-functional operations including Logistics, Product, Risk, and Finance.

Qualifications and Experience: 

• Diploma or Advanced Certificate.
• 3 to 5 years’ experience as a manager in a customer service environment.
• Experience in the redesign and implementation of new processes and best  practices to improve customer satisfaction metrics. 
• Experience in working in an e-commerce or technology company is a plus 

The Environment: 

• 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. 
• We have fun, work hard, take ownership, work in teams to create solutions,  and are always open to direct feedback/new ideas on where we can improve. 
• We are short on ego and high on output. 
• We are doers and not only thinkers, it's all in the execution after all. 
• We love what we do and what we are creating. 

We seek to Employ an Extra Ordinary Mind who:  

• is forthright but respectful  
• is an expert at doing, who can not only design but also execute  
• is analytical, able to use data to make decisions  
• is competitive, self-directed and strive to be the BEST (GREAT requires a lot  of work and does not only happen during business hours) 
• is passionate about the potential of e-commerce and delivering a world-class  customer experience  
• is entrepreneurial, thrives under change and accepts it is a constant and  always looks for solutions to do something better and faster  
• is able to think about problems from a business perspective using technical  and product input  
• is curious and challenge the status quo  
• is innovative and enjoys iteration 
• is collaborative  
• will be at the cutting edge of developing new concepts for takealot.com.  
• thinks like an owner of the business.  
• is SMART, has INTEGRITY and is HARDWORKING  

If you meet the above you are an Extraordinary Mind so come and join us!  

Takealot is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applicants from the previously disadvantaged  groups and people with disabilities will be given preference.