Operations Manager - Build & Own

AI Acquisition; South Africa; On-site; ZAR 1,800,000 - 2,600,000; Full time

Job summary

AI Acquisition is seeking a hands-on operator to run the Customer Success organization day-to-day, owning the P&L and building the accountability infrastructure from scratch. You will directly manage account management leads and senior operators, setting clear expectations and making hard calls when needed.

You'll partner with Sales and Delivery to align capacity, handoffs, and pipeline-to-onboarding flow. A founder-led, fast-moving environment awaits an operator who thrives on high

Qualifications

• Agency background in marketing, advertising or performance marketing.
• Verifiable P&L, retention or margin ownership.
• Experience leading 30+ team members and client services or account management.

Responsibilities

• Own the P&L for the Customer Success function and set targets.
• Build accountability infrastructure from scratch with named outputs.
• Direct management of account management leads and senior operators.
• Partner with Sales and Delivery on handoffs, capacity planning, and onboarding flow.
• Define profiles and raise management depth with People & Talent.

Skills

Agency background

P&L ownership

Account management leadership

Operations management

People management

Urgency/ownership

Job description

About AI Acquisition

AI Acquisition is a bootstrapped, multi-entity business running high-velocity acquisition, coaching, SaaS, and performance marketing operations. We are founder-led, fast, and commercially driven. We build it, test it, and scale it — before others are still planning.

Description

About AI Acquisition

AI Acquisition is a bootstrapped, multi-entity business running high-velocity acquisition, coaching, SaaS, and performance marketing operations. We are founder-led, fast, and commercially driven. We build it, test it, and scale it — before others are still planning.

The Opportunity

Our Customer Success organization has grown fast — roughly 2,500 active clients today, with 250 new clients onboarding every month, served by a ~100-person team where each account manager owns about 50 accounts. Growth has outpaced the operating system underneath it.

We need a hands-on operator to run this organization day-to-day: own the P&L, build the accountability infrastructure from scratch, manage the department heads and account managers directly, and make the hard calls when performance or capacity issues show up. This is not an advisory or strategy seat. You will be in the org, running it.

This role requires an agency background. You must have built or operated inside a marketing, advertising, or performance-marketing agency — ideally with direct ownership of an account management or client services function. We're not considering candidates from IT-services, software development, staffing/recruiting, pure SaaS-product companies, or in-house brand roles.

Requirements

The Problem You'll Own

As the company has grown, client experience has become dependent on the judgment and confidence of individual account managers rather than a system. Some manage expectations well; others occasionally overpromise when nervous about disappointing a client. This creates inconsistency, forces expectation resets downstream, and puts pressure on delivery teams. Your first 30 days are about diagnosing why the variation exists — not proposing a training deck, but rebuilding the structure that removes reliance on individual heroics.

What You'll Own

• P&L Ownership — Full P&L ownership of the function: targets, retention, expansion, cost-to-serve. You own the number.
• Operating System — Build the accountability infrastructure from scratch: account segmentation by risk, escalation paths, expectation-setting guardrails, scorecards, QA on client commitments, operating cadence. Real systems with named outputs, not templates.
• Direct Management — Direct management of account management leads and senior operators. Radical clarity on expectations, consequences, and growth. You make the hard calls — exits, restructures, resets — without deferring upward.
• Cross-Functional Partnership — Partner with sales and delivery leadership on handoffs, capacity planning, and pipeline-to-onboarding flow. You understand where problems actually originate upstream and fix root cause, not just symptoms.
• Hiring & People Ops — Partner with People & Talent to build management depth. You define the profiles, set the standard, hold the bar.
• Founder Leverage — Free the founders from day-to-day operational firefighting so they can focus on vision, growth, and external relationships.

What We Need From You

• Agency background — built or operated inside a marketing/advertising/performance-marketing agency
• Direct ownership of an account management, client services, or customer success function at scale (50+ team members, hundreds to thousands of accounts)
• Verifiable P&L, retention, or margin ownership — improved during your specific tenure
• Built operating infrastructure from scratch — not inherited, not fractional
• Made hard people decisions: exits, restructures, real performance management
• In-house operating experience — not exclusively consulting or fractional work
• Managed teams of 30+ with direct reports at manager/lead level
• High agency and urgency — you move before you're asked, and you push back when needed

Nice to Have

• Leadership experience in Customer Success, Operations, or Client Services at a founder-led marketing agency (50–500 employees)
• Improved retention or reduced churn by a documented, measurable amount
• Built an operating cadence (QA reviews, KPI dashboards, incentive structures) that outlasted your tenure
• Experience managing distributed or remote teams across geographies
• Public writing or speaking on operating philosophy

The Environment

This is not a polished corporate environment. We move fast, we change direction, and we hold high standards. The founding team is commercially excellent and operationally under-resourced. You will have real authority, real accountability, and real upside.

If you need consensus to act, a structured onboarding program, or six months to understand the business before driving outcomes, this isn't the right role.

If you've done it before, can size up what you're looking at within 30 days, and want to build something worth building — we want to talk.

Benefits

Compensation is competitive with the role's scope and accountability. Details are confirmed during the process.