Customer Support Manager

Initiate International; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 500 000 - 650 000; Full time

Job summary

A dynamic iGaming operator in Cape Town is seeking an experienced Customer Support Manager to lead and enhance their operations. This senior role involves managing sportsbook and casino support, ensuring quality, compliance, and effective dispute resolution. The ideal candidate has over 5 years in customer support within iGaming, strong team leadership skills, and a deep understanding of regulatory requirements. The position offers a significant opportunity to impact customer experience and operational excellence in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in customer support within iGaming, sports betting, or online gaming.
• Proven management experience of customer support teams.
• Experience working for a licensed South African bookmaker or gaming operator.

Responsibilities

• Manage the customer support operation across sportsbook and casino.
• Ensure service levels meet or exceed agreed SLAs.
• Own the complaints handling process in line with regulatory conditions.
• Recruit, onboard, and manage customer support staff.
• Oversee customer-facing support for payments and KYC queries.

Skills

Understanding of iGaming customer support operations

Team management in regulated environments

Dispute resolution skills

Attention to detail

Leadership and coaching ability

Job description

Our client is a licensed and fast-scaling iGaming and sports betting operator building a high-performance operation in Cape Town. With customer experience sitting at the core of their growth strategy, they are looking for an experienced Customer Support Manager to lead, structure, and elevate their support function across sportsbook and casino.

This is not a call-centre role.

This is a senior operational leadership position responsible for service quality, regulatory compliance, dispute resolution, and player protection in a highly regulated environment.

If you understand iGaming customers, thrive under regulatory scrutiny, and know how to run a disciplined, player-first support operation, this role will suit you perfectly.

The Role

As Customer Support Manager, you will take full ownership of the customer support function, ensuring a consistent, fair, compliant, and high-quality player experience across all channels.

You will manage teams, processes, escalation frameworks, and reporting while working closely with Operations, Compliance, Risk, Payments, and Product to ensure issues are resolved efficiently and in line with WCGRB requirements.

Key Responsibilities

Customer Support Operations

• Lead and manage the day-to-day customer support operation across:
  • Sportsbook and casino players
  • Multiple channels (live chat, email, ticketing systems)
• Ensure service levels meet or exceed agreed SLAs for:
  • First response times
  • Resolution times
  • Customer satisfaction
• Implement clear workflows for:
  • Account-related queries
  • Betting and settlement issues
  • Payment and withdrawal queries
  • Casino game disputes

Player Complaints & Dispute Resolution (WCGRB-Focused)

• Own the end-to-end complaints handling process in line with:
  • WCGRB licence conditions
  • Internal Control Procedures (ICPs)
• Ensure all player complaints are:
  • Logged accurately
  • Investigated thoroughly
  • Resolved fairly and timeously
  • Escalated where required
• Prepare and support responses for:
  • Regulator escalations
  • Formal dispute submissions
• Maintain clear audit trails and documentation for inspections and reviews

Team Leadership & Performance Management

• Recruit, onboard, train, and manage customer support staff
• Set clear performance expectations, KPIs, and quality standards
• Conduct regular:
  • Quality assurance reviews
  • Performance coaching
  • Skills development and training
• Foster a culture of accountability, empathy, and regulatory awareness

Responsible Gambling & Player Protection

• Ensure operational execution of Responsible Gambling measures, including:
  • Self-exclusions
  • Betting limits
  • Time-outs
  • Player interventions
• Train support teams to identify and respond appropriately to:
  • At-risk player behaviour
  • Responsible Gambling triggers
• Work closely with Compliance and Risk to ensure player protection obligations are met

Payments, AML & KYC Support

• Oversee customer-facing support relating to:
  • Deposits and withdrawals
  • Verification and KYC queries
  • Transaction-related escalations
• Support AML and KYC workflows by:
  • Ensuring correct customer communication
  • Escalating suspicious activity to Compliance
• Ensure sensitive cases are handled professionally and consistently

Process Improvement & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Identify recurring issues, friction points, and service gaps
• Work with Operations, Product, Payments, and Platform teams to:
  • Resolve root causes
  • Improve tools, workflows, and player journeys
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of:
  • Support procedures
  • Knowledge bases
  • Training materials

Reporting & Governance

• Produce regular reporting on:
  • Support volumes and trends
  • SLA performance
  • Complaint and dispute metrics
  • Player feedback and satisfaction
• Maintain accurate records for:
  • Regulatory inspections
  • Internal audits
• Contribute to operational and board-level reporting where required

Key Skills & Competencies

• Strong understanding of iGaming customer support operations
• Experience managing support teams in a regulated environment
• Excellent knowledge of sportsbook and casino products
• Strong dispute resolution and stakeholder management skills
• Calm, structured, and decisive under pressure
• High attention to detail and documentation standards
• Strong leadership, communication, and coaching ability

Qualifications & Experience

Essential

• 5+ years experience in customer support within iGaming, sports betting, or online gaming
• Proven experience managing customer support teams
• Experience working for a licensed South African bookmaker or gaming operator

Advantageous

• Direct exposure to WCGRB or other provincial gambling board requirements
• Experience handling regulatory complaints and escalations
• Responsible Gambling or compliance exposure

Authority & Decision-Making

• Day-to-day operational authority over customer support functions
• Authority to escape disputes and incidents to Operations, Compliance, and senior management
• Decisions made within approved policies, ICPs, and regulatory frameworks

Performance Measures

• SLA adherence and response times
• Quality and consistency of player support
• Complaint and dispute resolution turnaround times
• Regulatory compliance with zero material findings
• Customer satisfaction and retention metrics

This role is ideal for a hands-on, commercially aware Customer Support Manager who understands that in iGaming, customer experience, compliance, and reputation are inseparable.

If you know how to protect players, satisfy regulators, and still deliver an outstanding customer experience, this is an opportunity worth pursuing.