Senior Manager, Customer Service

About Us

SPH Media’s mission is to be the trusted source of news and lifestyle content in Singapore and Asia. One of our core purposes is to produce credible, balanced, and objective news and analysis, always with a view to uphold the public good and fostering an informed, engaged citizenry.

We welcome talented individuals to join us and grow a career in a vibrant and collaborative environment built around a culture of respect and inclusivity.

As an employer, we are committed to rewarding our people fairly and developing them in their careers.

About the Role

The Head, Customer Service is responsible for spearheading the end-to-end operations of SPH Media’s multi-channel Contact Center (calls, emails, chats and walk-ins) alongside the subscription processing unit. The core focus of this role is to transform traditional customer support into a modern, low-effort, emotionally intelligent experience.

This leader will champion continuous operational improvements, leveraging a blend of human empathy and AI-driven automation to enhance customer retention, optimize operational workflows, and deliver a frictionless digital and physical lifecycle for all SPH Media subscribers.

Job Responsibilities 

Operational Excellence & Multi-channel Management: Oversee the daily operations of the Contact Center and subscription processing workflows. Establish, monitor, and continuously elevate service benchmarks such as service level, maximizing First Contact Resolution (FCR) and Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) across channels.

Process Optimization & Technical Innovation: Identify operational gaps, review existing business practices, and execute transformation roadmaps. Drive the integration of advanced contact center tools (e.g., Generative AI assistance, conversational chatbots, and automated analytics) to handle routine tasks, allowing the frontline team to focus on complex, high-empathy customer resolutions and customer retention. Drive capacity planning, forecasting, and resource optimization strategies to ensure a highly scalable and cost-effective operations model. 

Data-Driven Strategy & Insights: Review and refine key performance indicators (KPIs) and data analytics frameworks to measure operational health. Translate frontline data, customer sentiment, and operational capacity trends into actionable long-term strategies, providing structured feedback to cross-functional business units. 

Cross-Functional Project Leadership: Act as the primary customer experience stakeholder in key enterprise initiatives. Collaborate closely with the following teams such as but not limited to

   - Project & Operations and Digital on next-generation CRM developments (requirement gathering, user testing, and deployment) and with 

   - Consumer Marketing to ensure operational readiness for new product/campaign rollouts and churn reduction 

Strategic & Financial Planning: Develop, execute, and align a comprehensive customer service roadmap as well as budget that supports SPH Media’s digital transformation goals taking into consideration anticipated shifts in media consumption and subscriber behavior.

People Leadership & Talent Development: Recruit, inspire, and upskill a high-performing Customer Service team. Cultivate a strong culture of resilience, inclusion, and adaptability, ensuring team leaders are equipped with real-time analytics to coach frontline agents effectively.

Requirements

Skills
- Strong Knowledge in multi-channel Contact Center platforms, enterprise CRM systems (e.g.ServiceNow, AWS)
- Strong data literacy with the ability to leverage predictive analytics and real-time dashboards to forecast demand spikes and identify process bottlenecks.
- Excellent stakeholder management and negotiation skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with senior leadership, newsrooms, digital, product, marketing teams.
- Exceptional people skills with experience in managing relationships with demonstrated ability to communicate with internal staff across ranks.
- Excellent command of written and spoken English and presentation skills.
- Good project management skill to ensure timely delivery of initiatives and outcomes.

Competencies & Personality Traits (Required Competencies)
- Customer-Centric Advocate: Deeply committed to designing accessible, seamless, and emotionally intelligent customer journeys.
- Empathetic & Resilient Leader: Able to maintain composure during crises, navigate ambiguity, and foster psychological safety within a high-volume operations environment.
- Agile & Innovative Thinker: Quick to adapt to shifting consumer behaviors, media landscapes, and emerging technological advancements.
- Self-motivated, inquisitive and strong ability to thrive in a complex environment and steep learning curve.
- Adaptability, detail oriented, problem solving mindset, open to feedback and a growth-oriented, continuous improvement attitude.

Working Experience
- Minimum 15 to 18 years of progressive experience in contact center operations, customer service, or customer experience environments.
- At least 8-10 years in a proven leadership capacity managing large, diverse frontline and supervisory teams.
- Demonstrated experience in driving digital transformation projects, AI tool implementations, or large-scale change management initiatives is highly preferred.

Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Communications, Information Systems, or a related discipline from a recognized tertiary institution.
- Professional certifications in COPC (Customer Operations Performance Center), Customer Experience (e.g., CCXP), Agile frameworks are advantageous.