Customer Service Manager at Yoco

About the role

• As the Customer Service Manager, you will play a pivotal role in leading our team through an exciting and strategic evolution. Historically focused on delivering exceptional customer service excellence, your primary mission will be to spearhead the transformation of our team into a proactive Merchant Success Centre. This involves moving beyond reactive problem-solving to proactively engaging with our merchants, understanding their business goals, and providing strategic support that drives their growth and maximises their long-term value through the Merchant Success Centre.
• This role will require you to collaborate with the Head of Customer Support: defining, implementing, and optimising strategies that not only resolve issues efficiently but actively contribute to merchant retention, engagement, and the overall success of their ventures on our platform. This leadership role demands a strategic operator who can inspire and empower a team to become trusted advisors, ensuring our merchants thrive.

What you will be doing
Strategy & Merchant Success Transformation:

• Formulate and implement comprehensive Merchant Success strategies that drive retention, growth, and satisfaction through proactive engagement models and value realisation frameworks.
• Foster a culture that prioritises long-term merchant partnerships over transactional support, ensuring seamless transition from reactive support to proactive partnership.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Sales, Product, Marketing, and Tech teams to ensure a unified approach to merchant satisfaction and success.

Team Leadership & Development:

• Recruit, onboard, mentor, and develop a high-performing team capable of acting as trusted advisors and proactive success enablers.
• Perovide regular coaching and performance feedback, empowering team members to master both traditional service excellence and advanced merchant success methodologis.
• Partner with the Enablement team to design targeted learning experiences and create career development pathways that support ongoing skill development and staff retention.

Operations & Process Management:

• Oversee daily operations of the Merchant Success Centre, ensuring efficient workflows and timely resolution of merchant inquiries.
• Develop and implement scalable processes, tools, and best practices that enhance the merchant experience and improve team productivity.
• Act as escalation point for critical merchant issues, ensuring swift resolution whilst maintaining focus on long-term merchant health.

Performance Analysis & Reporting:

• Monitor comprehensive KPIs including traditional metrics (AHT, FRT, CSAT, NPS, SLAs, QA) and strategic Merchant Success metrics (retention rate, churn rate, activation rates, feature adoption, LTV, expansion revenue).
• Utilise advanced data analytics to identify trends, patterns, and root causes impacting merchant health and growth, using insights to formulate targeted success initiatives.
• Prepare detailed reports on operational performance and merchant success strategy effectiveness, presenting findings to senior management with actionable recommendations for continuous improvement.
• Establish clear, achievable goals and benchmarks for all KPIs based on historical data, industry best practices, and organisational objectives.
• Gather merchant feedback to inform product development, marketing initiatives, and overall business strategy, acting as the voice of the merchant within the organisation.

About you

• Minimum 10 years managing customer support teams in contact centre environments with a proven track record in high-pressure situations
• Demonstrated experience in strategic transformation projects and cross-functional collaboration (minimum 2 years)
• Experience working within fast-growing companies and scaling operations
• Previous exposure to merchant success, customer success, or account management methodologies preferred
• Strong mentoring and coaching abilities with track record of developing high-performing team leaders who can manage strong team
• Understanding of merchant/customer lifecycle management and value realisation frameworks
• Experience gathering customer feedback and translating insights into business strategy
• Ability to balance operational excellence with strategic merchant success initiatives
• Results-oriented focus on improving both customer outcomes and business performance
• Proficiency in performance metrics including traditional customer service KPIs (CSAT, AHT, FRT, SLAs, QA) and merchant success metrics (retention, churn, LTV, activation rates)
• Advanced Excel/Google Sheets skills for numerical analysis and reporting
• Experience with contact centre management tools and CRM systems (e.g., Zendesk)
• Ability to establish KPI benchmarks and track performance against strategic objectives
• This role requires you to be on-site working alongside Customer Support agents
• Experience with and exposure to AI tools and platforms