Who are we? Sanlam Developing Markets (SDM) (a wholly‑owned subsidiary of Sanlam Life Limited) is one of the top financial services providers in the South African entry‑level and emerging middle market. It aims to understand the unique requirements of clients and offers a wide range of simple and affordable financial solutions that cover needs such as funeral insurance, savings for education, life cover and personal accident plans. In terms of the Sanlam Group Governance Policy, SDM is managed by the SA Retail Mass cluster, which is part of the Sanlam Life and Savings cluster within the Sanlam Group. The cluster focuses on retail products, as well as group schemes. Location: The position is based in Gauteng and will support activities at the Menlyn and Pretoria offices. Job Purpose The purpose of the role is to lead and manage departmental operations, ensuring efficiency, service quality, and alignment with company objectives. The Manager will oversee supervisors/team leaders to maintain staffing, training, and productivity standards, collaborate with other departments to achieve service levels, manage budgets and cost‑saving initiatives, support team leader development, and review industry benchmarks to drive continuous improvement. What will you do? Operational Management Own overall operational performance across the call centre, with direct accountability for service levels, productivity, adherence, service recovery, and execution discipline. Remove performance barriers quickly and effectively to maintain service quality. Ensure operational decisions translate into measurable improvements in performance and customer outcomes. Direct the day‑to‑day activities of the call centre team to maintain efficiency and high performance. Stakeholder Engagement Act as a key operational leader across the contact centre, ensuring alignment and execution. Partner closely with WFM, QA, Training, BI, and other supporting functions to resolve performance risks. Identify, address, and mitigate risks that impact service delivery. Deliver clear, data‑driven insights to guide decision‑making and execution. Escalate emerging issues early to prevent disruption and ensure timely resolution. Drive cross‑functional action that improves end‑to‑end delivery and enhances customer service outcomes. Workforce Management & Capacity Planning Lead workforce execution in partnership with WFM, ensuring forecasts, schedules, shrinkage controls, and real‑time interventions are effectively applied to capacity management. Align demand with resource deployment to protect service levels and maintain operational stability. Drive productivity improvements through proactive workforce planning and efficient allocation of resources. Minimise avoidable inefficiency by monitoring performance trends and implementing timely adjustments. Performance Management & Reporting Drive disciplined performance management across key measures including SLA, productivity, adherence, quality, repeat contact drivers, and client experience indicators. Provide clear visibility of performance results to ensure transparency across the team. Hold leaders accountable for meeting delivery targets and operational standards. Take quick corrective action when results are off track to restore performance. People Leadership Build and lead a high‑accountability frontline leadership team by strengthening the capability of team leaders and supervisors. Develop leaders to manage performance effectively, coach with impact, and lead consistently. Create a culture of ownership and engagement that drives team efficacy. Promote leadership discipline to support retention of critical talent and long‑term success. Customer Experience Management Improve client experience by ensuring quality interactions in every call. Reduce repeat contacts by addressing issues fully the first time. Resolve complaints and service failures through root‑cause fixes, not short‑term solutions. Use operational insight to spot recurring pain points and drive improvements. Strengthen client trust and ensure consistent service delivery. Process & Efficiency Improvement Lead continuous improvement across processes, controls, and ways of working. Identify inefficiencies and take action to remove them. Strengthen standard operating discipline to ensure consistency. Support simplification and automation initiatives that make work easier and faster. What will make you successful in this role? Qualification & Experience Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Management, or related field (preferred). 8–10 years of experience in a call‑centre environment (inbound and outbound), with at least 5 years in a supervisory or managerial role. RE5 (advantageous). Proven track record of achieving operational targets and improving team performance. Skills And Competencies Strong operational leadership. Workforce and capacity management insight. Performance turnaround capability. Data‑led decision‑making. Stakeholder influence. Ability to build accountable frontline leadership teams. Sound understanding of contact centre systems, reporting environments, and continuous improvement disciplines. Behavioural Attributes Decisive and resilient. Execution‑focused. Commercially aware and credible in high‑pressure environments. Strong ownership, sound judgement, and the ability to lead through complexity and performance pressure. Our commitment to transformation The Sanlam Group is committed to achieving transformation and embraces diversity. This commitment drives us to deliver a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace. The Group's Employment Equity plan and targets will be considered as part of the selection process. #J-18808-Ljbffr