Customer Support Manager

About Happy Pay

Happy Pay is an ad-subsidised payments network that gives South Africans access to zero-cost credit at checkout. Our model is powered by a blend of merchant fees and a performance advertising platform that connects high-intent shoppers with relevant brands.

We exist to save consumers millions in interest and fees, while helping merchants boost conversion, increase average order value, and drive repeat sales. At the core of what we do is a commitment to responsible credit, fair customer outcomes, and building systems that scale sustainably.

Customer support is where our promise to consumers is kept. We are a customer-centric business, and every interaction is a chance to give someone the best possible experience and to treat them with dignity and respect. We already hold the highest-rated Google review of any buy-now-pay-later provider in South Africa, and we protect that standard fiercely — turning frustrated customers into loyal, happy ones is at the heart of how we operate.

About the Role

Happy Pay is looking for a Customer Support Manager to take full ownership of our customer support function and lead it into its next phase. This is a hands-on leadership role: you will run the day-to-day support operation, manage the team, and raise the standard of everything we do for customers.

Our support systems are wired into modern AI and reporting tooling — every queue, response time, and agent metric can be measured and exported. What we need is a strong, structured leader who will use that visibility to hold a high bar, coach the team, and build a culture of learning and accountability. You will move us to seven-day-a-week coverage, put proper shift management in place, and make sure that when problems arise, the answer is captured in our knowledge base and the team is trained on it — so we solve each issue once, not every day.

This is a support-first role. Customers frequently raise repayment and account questions through our channels, including replies to our automated WhatsApp journeys, and you and your team will own those conversations end to end. This role does not include outbound debtor calling or deep collections — that sits outside support.

Key Responsibilities

Lead & Manage the Support Team

- Take full ownership of the customer support function and its performance.

- Directly manage the support team (currently 6 agents and growing), setting clear expectations and standards.

- Handle the people side of the team end to end: leave management, rostering, attendance, day-to-day supervision, and conflict resolution.

- Run structured, regular performance reviews and one-on-ones with every team member.

- Change the culture on the floor — from relaxed and reactive to focused, professional, and high-performing.

Shift Management & Seven-Day Coverage

- Design and run a fair, well-managed seven-day shift schedule that keeps customers covered every day.

- Build rosters that balance coverage, fairness, and cost, and manage swaps, absences, and public-holiday cover.

- Ensure every shift has clear ownership, hand-overs, and accountability for the queue.

Performance, Metrics & Reporting

- Own the support metrics: response times, resolution times, queue health, quality, and customer satisfaction.

- Rank every agent monthly across their key metrics and use the rankings to coach, reward, and address underperformance.

- Use our AI-integrated systems and exportable queues to monitor the team in real time and spot issues early.

- Report support performance clearly and regularly to the COO, with insight into trends, risks, and wins — not just numbers.

Knowledge, Training & Continuous Improvement

- Get up to speed quickly on all Happy Pay systems and processes, and become a credible authority the team can rely on.

- Build a culture of teaching and learning — when a new issue arises, capture the solution in the knowledge base and train the team on it.

- Own and grow the support knowledge base so answers are consistent, accurate, and easy to find.

- Onboard and train new agents on systems, tone, and process; keep existing agents sharp as products and processes change.

Customer Experience & Query Ownership

- Champion a customer-centric culture: every customer is treated with dignity, empathy, and respect.

- Own the inbound queries that come through support channels, including repayment and account questions and replies to our automated WhatsApp journeys.

- Set and enforce quality standards for written and voice responses across all channels.

- Turn upset customers into loyal, happy ones — treat complaints and difficult conversations as a chance to build trust.

- Identify recurring customer problems and channel friction, and feed them back to product, operations, and comms so we fix root causes.

Reviews & Reputation

- Monitor all customer reviews (Google and other platforms) daily and keep our rating at the standard we hold ourselves to.

- Respond to reviews promptly and professionally, and follow up with unhappy reviewers to resolve issues and win them back.

- Drive a proactive review culture — encourage happy customers to share their experience at the right moments.

- Track review themes and sentiment, and feed the insights back into training, process, and the wider business.

Requirements

What We're Looking For

- 2+ years' experience in a customer support, contact-centre, or customer operations role, including team leadership or supervision.

- Proven experience managing a team through shift-based or seven-day coverage.

- A track record of raising performance and changing team culture, not just maintaining the status quo.

- Strong people-management skills: rostering, leave management, performance reviews, coaching, and difficult conversations.

- Comfortable working with data — reading queues and metrics, ranking performance, and reporting to leadership.

- Confident with modern support tooling and AI-assisted systems; able to learn new platforms quickly.

- Experience in fintech, payments, banking, or a regulated environment is an advantage.

- Based in Cape Town and able to work from the office.

What You're Like

- Leads from the front and sets the tone — people raise their game around you.

- Is structured, organised, and holds a high bar without losing empathy for the team.

- Is genuinely customer-obsessed and takes pride in a great review and a happy customer.

- Believes in teaching and documenting, so problems get solved once and the whole team gets better.

- Is comfortable being measured and measuring others fairly and transparently.

- Wants to build something and take real ownership, not just keep the lights on.

Benefits

- Salary of R25,000 - R40,000 per month, dependent on experience and system knowledge.

- Office-based role in a fast-growing, mission-driven team.

- Real career growth as the support function scales.

- Be part of one of South Africa's fastest growing fintech companies.

- Work with modern, AI-integrated systems that give you real visibility over your team.

- Report directly to the COO with the autonomy to make a visible impact.

- Collaborative, mission-driven team culture.