As Customer Care Manager, you’ll ensure the needs of both our DTC and B2B customers are met and exceeded. Your purpose is to deliver and champion service excellence: developing our customer care strategy, building operational best practices, setting and monitoring KPIs, and coaching a lean but powerful team of Customer Advisors.
You will inspire, motivate, and elevate the team through thoughtful leadership; improve efficiency at a macro level; and ensure our customer experience reflects Nkuku’s values of Natural, Ethical and Crafted.
Responsibilities
Leadership & Customer Experience
- Lead, inspire and manage a lean but high‑performing team of Customer Advisors across DTC and B2B.
- Ensure efficient resolution of customer queries while maintaining SLA compliance across all channels.
- Work directly on complex or high‑impact customer tickets, using your expertise where it makes the greatest difference.
- Deliver consistently high customer satisfaction at every touchpoint, embodying a customer‑first mindset.
- Investigate and resolve escalated customer issues, coordinating cross‑functionally and managing major incidents effectively.
- Conduct regular team and individual meetings, fostering development, cohesion and a strong team ethos.
Operational Excellence
- Continuously identify opportunities to improve team efficiency, process quality, and customer outcomes.
- Monitor and analyse KPIs using tools such as Zendesk (or similar CX platform), Shopify, and Khaos Control (ERP) – or similar platforms.
- Build and implement service improvements that enhance operational excellence, consistency, and scalability.
- Uphold and optimise customer service procedures, policies, and standards.
- Oversee and adhere to company‑wide operational processes, ensuring alignment with broader business practices.
- Maintain strong relationships with operations, ensuring a seamless customer journey from order to delivery.
Team Development & Culture
- Train, coach and develop team members, nurturing strengths and adapting to evolving business needs.
- Support a culture where learning, training and skill‑building are embedded in the everyday.
- Recruit, onboard and train temporary and permanent team members as required.
- Promote and model Nkuku’s core values: Natural, Ethical, Crafted - ensuring they’re reflected in team behaviour and decision‑making.
- Build a stable, motivated team that feels connected, empowered and aligned with our brand ethos.
- Conduct reviews, training sessions and performance check‑ins in line with company policy.
- Create a positive, respectful and inclusive working environment, upholding our zero‑tolerance stance on bullying, harassment and discrimination.
Finance
- Manage departmental costs, identifying opportunities to drive efficiency without compromising quality or service.
- Maintain understanding of P&L and budget performance, contributing to commercial outcomes through operational decisions.
- Ensure controllable costs are monitored and managed effectively.
- Demonstrate proficiency in Excel for reporting, forecasting and analysis.
Health & Safety
- Maintain a safe and healthy work environment, ensuring compliance with H&S, Risk Assessments, COSHH and fire regulations.
- Ensure swift response to any H&S shortfalls or risks for customers and team members.
Social & Brand Representation
- Maintain a positive, friendly, honest and professional approach at all times.
- Champion Nkuku’s ethical and eco‑friendly standards in daily practices.
- Project a favourable image of Nkuku internally and externally, supporting our vision and customer promise.
Profile
You will bring:
- Proven experience delivering outstanding customer service in a fast paced‑ environment across DTC and/or B2B channels.
- Experience managing and developing a customer facing team, ideally within a retail, lifestyle‑ or e‑commerce setting.
- Hands ‑on experience with Zendesk or similar CX platforms, with confidence using data to guide decisions.
- A natural ability to inspire, motivate and uplift teams, leading by example and championing our customer first‑ ethos.
- Strong operational mindset, with experience improving service processes, workflows and ways of working.
- Ability to support resource planning and forecasting, ensuring the right coverage to meet customer demand while maintaining a lean, efficient team.
- Excellent organisation and time management‑ skills, with the ability to balance multiple priorities.
- Strong administrative skills and high IT literacy.
- Exceptional communication skills, combining clarity with a calm, empathetic approach.
- Ability to thrive under pressure, adapt quickly to change and maintain high standards.
- A positive, can do‑ attitude with openness to feedback and continuous improvement.
- Reliable, punctual, and committed to representing Nkuku’s values of ethical craftsmanship, care and integrity.
