The Lead Portfolio Manager will manage a team of Customer Service Excellence (CSE) Specialists and work closely with the CSE HOD and CSE Analyst to ensure our Key Merchants experiences a continued smooth journey, enabling growth and expansion through products and services. The Incumbent will drive success in the team through employing leadership, coaching, mentoring, and strategic direction, oversee escalations, act as a key resource for pain point resolution, and drive both Merchant retention and satisfaction with the aim to increase our NPS. The Lead will be responsible for leading through information and data analysis, guiding the specialists in early trend identification, idea generation and change implementation, driving the achievement of departmental KPIs, including capacity and capability expansion, retention, satisfaction, and revenue growth.
Responsibilities
Leadership & Team Management
- Assist in the establishment and expansion of the CSE team through the implementation of best practice, strategies, monitoring and performance growth mechanisms
- Lead, mentor and develop a team of Customer Service Excellence Specialists to optimize performance and proactive engagement
- Foster a high-performance culture focused on merchant-centric solutions and data-driven decision-making
- Critically analyse and sense check data gathering efforts by the team, providing guidance and support, and drawing inference from data
- Monitor Team Performance, set clear objectives, and implement performance management strategies.
- Conduct monthly and quarterly one-on-one feedback sessions to enhance capabilities in portfolio management, retention, data analysis, and revenue growth
- Ensure that escalations from Merchant Services, Sales, Operations and the like are handled effectively
- Collaborate with internal stakeholders to address Social Media Complaints and all Escalations coming into the CSE Department
- Oversee strategic management of merchant portfolios to ensure long-term retention and growth
- Guide the team in identifying risks to retention, including churn indicators and pain points, and develop targeted intervention strategies alongside the CSE Analyst
- Ensure that proactive engagement strategies are executed to maximize merchant value and satisfaction
- Collaborate with the internal stakeholders to create tailored solutions that align with the Merchants business goals and drive product/service adoption
- Quality Assess interactions with Merchants, ensuring that Specialists are taking a proactive approach to identifying and dealing with potential Merchant unhappiness
- Manage team Administration, i.e., leave management, schedule management, reporting etc
- Conduct site visits with Merchants where the need or opportunity is identified to foster relationship building, understanding merchant growth strategies, offer our products and services to drive merchant enablement and growth
- Drive initiatives to maximize revenue through upsell, cross-sell, and expansion strategies within existing portfolios
- Equip the team with the necessary skills to identify growth opportunities, handle objections, and present compelling value propositions
- Develop data-driven playbooks to assess merchant lifetime value, identifying, driving and prioritizing high-impact engagements
- Ensure the accurate tracking of data and leverage the health score system to identify trends, risks, and opportunities
- Work closely with the data team to refine health score measurement, methodologies and weightings
- Leverage insights from the health score to refine engagement strategies and tailor playbooks for different merchant segments
- Collate Merchant feedback into a reportable format
- Own incident tracking and effects on Merchants within the key portfolio
- Together with the Marketing Team, conduct bi-annual check-ins/surveys with key Merchants, to further aid in tracking and increasing NPS
- Collectively analyse the Merchant journey and experience on an ongoing basis with the aim to streamline and enhance the experience
- Identify training requirements within the team, as well as within other stakeholder teams such as Merchant Services, Operations, and Sales
- Collaborate with internal stakeholders to enhance systems, automation, and workflows that support the success of the team and business as a whole
- Drive continuous learning within the team, leveraging Udemy and other resources, training opportunities, workshops, and knowledge sharing with other departments
Successful demonstration of change orientation is an on-going responsibility in all positions.
Qualifications
Minimum Requirements:
- Grade 12; a tertiary education in Business Management, Data, Communications or a related field of study would be advantageous
- 3 Years+ experience as a Lead in portfolio management of high book value, or similar role
- e-Commerce and POS experience would be advantageous
- Familiarity with various payments products and features in the market is essential
- Proficiency using support ticketing systems and CRM software such as ZOHO and similar
- Strong analytical and reporting ability
- Strong leadership and management team skills
- Employ a customer-first mindset in self and those you lead
- Detail-oriented and analytical ability, using data to guide decisions
- Collaborative spirit to work with cross-functional teams
- Excellent problem-solving and decision-making abilities
- Ability to communicate proactively and with empathy
- Proficiency using support ticketing systems and CRM software
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
- Proficiency in both written and verbal communication
- Ability to work independently and as part of a leadership team
- Good organizational skills and the ability to multitask in a fast-paced environment
- Willingness to work shifts and flexible working hours, including weekends and public holidays, if necessary
