Cape Town: S1 Team Lead (Manager) — First-Line Support & Client Experience posted by Ello Technology (Pty) Ltd

About the Role

The S1 Team Lead (Manager) role is a critical position that delivers a predictable, professional client experience through rapid response and triage, high first-contact resolution, clean communication, disciplined escalation, and stable day-to-day operations.

Key Responsibilities

### Support Operations Leadership (Core)

• Own ticket queues: prioritisation, assignment, SLA discipline
• Ensure fast triage and correct categorisation
• Drive high first-contact resolution and reduce unnecessary escalations
• Identify common issues and implement fixes (scripts, SOP updates, user education)

### Customer Communication Discipline (Core)

• Set and enforce standards for ticket updates and client messaging
• Ensure customers always know: whats happening, by when, and whats next
• Handle high-stakes customer escalations calmly and professionally

### Escalation Hygiene into S2 / S3 (Core)

• Define S1S2 and S1S3 escalation criteria and required info checklist
• Ensure escalations include: context, troubleshooting done, logs/screenshots, urgency, business impact
• Prevent escalation ping-pong through clean ownership and documentation

### SOP Creation and Enforcement (Non-Negotiable)

• Maintain S1 SOPs: onboarding/offboarding, password resets, email issues, printer/network basics, device setup, common app issues, remote tools, etc.
• Audit SOP compliance and correct behaviour quickly
• Stop-the-line rule: incomplete info = clarify before action

### Quality Management and Continuous Improvement

• Run weekly ticket QA reviews (random sampling)
• Track repeat ticket patterns and drive root-cause prevention
• Partner with S2/S3 to eliminate recurring technical noise

### People Leadership

• Set clear expectations and daily rhythm for the team
• Coach technicians on troubleshooting, communication, and ticket hygiene
• Run performance conversations when standards are missed
• Contribute to hiring and onboarding S1 techs where needed

### Commercial Contribution (with BU Sales Consultant)

• Ensure billable work is flagged and scoped correctly
• Ensure notes and evidence are sufficient for quoting/invoicing
• Participate in BU planning where upgrades/projects emerge from support patterns

KPIs / Scorecard

### Weekly + Monthly

#### Operational Performance

• Tickets opened vs closed (weekly throughput)
• Backlog size and ageing (02 days, 37 days, 8+ days)
• SLA compliance (response + resolution, where defined)
• First-contact resolution rate
• Average time to first response / average time to resolution

#### Quality & Customer Experience

• Ticket QA score (notes, comms, resolution steps)
• Repeat ticket rate (same issue, same user/client)
• CSAT score / customer feedback trend (if measured)
• Escalation bounce-back rate (S2/S3 returns due to poor info)

#### SOP and Documentation Compliance

• SOP compliance audit score
• Knowledge base and SOP library maturity

#### Commercial Hygiene

• Billable opportunities flagged per week
• Missed-billing incidents due to poor S1 handoff (target: zero)
• Upgrade/project opportunities identified from recurring issues

Non-Negotiables

### Behavioural Rules

• Calm, professional, client-first tone always
• No ticket closes without clear notes and resolution steps
• No sloppy escalations if S2/S3 cant act, it wasnt ready
• SOPs are followed; exceptions are documented and approved
• No hero culture: systems and standards win

30 / 60 / 90-Day Plan

### Days 030: Stabilise the Queue + Enforce Standards

• Audit current backlog, top repeat issues, top clients generating noise
• Implement daily triage cadence + queue rules
• Publish S1 ticket hygiene standards (notes, comms, closure criteria)
• Define escalation criteria + escalation checklist into S2/S3

### Deliverables by Day 30:

• S1 Queue SOP + escalation checklist
• Scoreboard live weekly
• First measurable reduction in aged backlog

### Days 3160: Improve Quality and Throughput

• Improve first-contact resolution through playbooks and training
• Reduce repeat tickets by implementing fixes and user education
• Increase consistency of customer communication

### Deliverables by Day 60:

• Higher first-contact fix rate
• Lower repeat ticket trend
• Better client comms consistency

### Days 6190: Scale Predictability + Reduce Reactive Noise

• Mature knowledge base and SOP library
• Implement continuous improvement loop with S2/S3 (root-cause elimination)
• Ensure commercial hygiene: billable work flagged and handed to BU Sales Consultant cleanly
• Make S1 reporting reliable and forecastable

### Deliverables by Day 90:

• Predictable S1 operations with clear improvements across the scoreboard
• Reduced escalations due to better S1 resolution and cleaner escalations

Benefits

### Earning Potential

• Competitive, market-related salary aligned to leadership level
• Role built around ownership, performance, and measurable outcomes
• Opportunity to grow your value as your