Customer Support Manager

iStore is looking for an experienced Customer Support Manager to lead and grow our customer support operation.

In this role, you will take ownership of the end-to-end customer support function, leading a team of Customer Support Agents who manage customer queries, service requests, onboarding support, complaints and disputes across multiple channels.

You will be responsible for ensuring that customers receive accurate, timely and fair resolutions, while driving service excellence, team performance, quality and operational efficiency.

Working closely with Risk Operations, Collections, IT, Finance and other internal stakeholders, you will use customer and operational insights to identify trends, resolve recurring issues and continuously improve the customer experience.

Key responsibilities

Team leadership & people management

• Lead, coach and performance-manage the Customer Support team.
• Set and monitor clear daily, weekly and monthly service, productivity and quality targets.
• Conduct regular one-on-ones, coaching sessions and call/interaction quality reviews.
• Build a high-performance, customer-focused team culture.
• Recognise strong performance and address performance gaps through appropriate coaching and corrective action.
• Support succession planning and the ongoing development of team members.
• Manage team rostering, leave and workforce planning to ensure appropriate coverage against customer volumes and service-level requirements.

Customer support & service management

• Own the end-to-end customer support journey, including inbound queries, onboarding support, account servicing and general customer assistance.
• Ensure customer queries and service requests are resolved accurately, professionally and within agreed turnaround times.
• Monitor individual and team performance and take corrective action where service levels or quality fall below expectations.
• Ensure customer cases, interactions and service requests are accurately recorded and maintained across relevant systems.
• Promote a consistent and customer-centric approach across phone, email and digital support channels.

Complaint & dispute resolution

• Take ownership of escalated customer complaints and disputes.
• Ensure complaints are handled fairly, consistently and in line with internal policies and regulatory requirements.
• Monitor complaint and dispute trends and identify recurring issues and root causes.
• Partner with relevant internal teams to implement corrective actions and improve customer outcomes.
• Ensure complaints are accurately logged, tracked and resolved within required turnaround times.
• Provide regular reporting on complaint volumes, themes, trends and resolution outcomes.

Stakeholder management

• Act as the key link between Customer Support and internal functions including Risk Operations, Collections, Legal/Compliance, IT and Customer Experience.
• Collaborate with the Risk Operations Manager and Collections Manager on customer matters involving credit decisions, arrears and account servicing.
• Share customer and agent insights with the Senior Operations Manager to support broader customer experience and operational improvements.
• Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders to ensure effective resolution of cross-functional customer issues.

Systems, MI & reporting

• Operate confidently across customer support, CRM, case management and telephony platforms.
• Act as a super-user and point of support for the Customer Support team.
• Produce accurate daily, weekly and monthly management information covering service levels, productivity, quality, complaints and team performance.
• Use MI and performance data to identify trends, root causes and opportunities for improvement.
• Identify system and data issues that impact customer support performance and collaborate with IT/digital teams to resolve them.
• Drive continuous improvement through data-led insights and operational reporting.
• Ensure customer support activities comply with applicable legislation, including the National Credit Act (NCA) and POPIA, as well as internal policies and procedures.
• Conduct and/or oversee quality assurance reviews of customer interactions.
• Maintain accurate records and documentation of customer interactions and support activities.
• Identify and escalate potential compliance, conduct or reputational risks.
• Ensure customer interactions consistently meet required quality and compliance standards.

Required

• 5-8 years' experience in customer support, customer service or a related operational environment.
• 2-3 years' experience managing a team of customer support/contact centre agents.
• Proven experience managing customer complaints and dispute resolution processes.
• Strong knowledge of customer support, CRM and case management systems.
• Strong MI and reporting capability, with advanced Excel skills.
• Good understanding of the South African consumer protection and credit regulatory environment, particularly NCA and POPIA.
• A Bachelor's degree in Business, Communications or a related field will be advantageous, but is not essential.

Advantageous

• Experience within consumer lending, retail finance or financial services.
• Exposure to digitally enabled customer support environments.
• Experience managing digital and self-service customer support channels.
• Experience working with multiple customer service technologies and platforms.

We are looking for someone who demonstrates:

• Strong people leadership, coaching and performance management capability.
• A customer-first mindset with strong complaint and query resolution skills.
• Analytical and MI-driven decision-making.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and relationship-building skills.
• Confidence working across multiple systems and technology platforms.
• Excellent communication skills across customer, team and stakeholder interactions.
• High levels of integrity, accountability and compliance awareness.
• A proactive approach to identifying problems and implementing practical solutions.
• The ability to remain calm and effective when dealing with escalated customer matters.

Working conditions

• Based at 1 Sandton Drive, Johannesburg.
• Standard office hours, with flexibility required when responding to urgent customer service escalations.
• Regular collaboration with Risk Operations, Collections, Finance, IT/Systems and other internal teams.