Customer Engagement Lead

Location: Cape Town Northern Suburbs
Work model: Hybrid (3 days in-office 2 days from home)
Salary: R1.1 - 1.3 mill CTC (potential flexibility up to R1.5 mill for the right candidate)

Why youd want to work here..

• Genuine mandate and budget behind you this isnt a nice to have hire its a business-critical role with executive visibility
• Lead and grow a team of 68 with real scope to mentor develop and shape the departments future
• Retirement fund medical aid and a profit bonus paid twice yearly (4.5%17% of annual salary performance-dependent)
• Annual salary reviews
• Flat structure first-name culture no titles no hierarchy games from specialist to CEO
• Strong grow together ethos with lateral movement encouraged and returning staff welcomed back with open arms
• A rare chance to build something from a relatively blank slate the department is new ambitious and investing heavily in the platforms and people to back it up

About our client..
Our client is one of South Africas largest retailers running a loyalty programme with millions of members and a fast-growing data and retail media business. Theyre looking for a Customer Engagement Lead to own the full customer journey from first touch to loyal returning shopper and to bring together currently disconnected channels into one coherent data-led strategy.

What the job involves..

• Owning the end-to-end customer engagement strategy across all touchpoints email SMS WhatsApp app push website and behavioural nudges
• Breaking down silos between disconnected customer journeys and unifying them into a single joined-up experience
• Leading and developing a team of around 68 including CRM managers and campaign coordinators
• Building business cases and managing a tight budget with a clear understanding of consumption-based platform costs and how to demonstrate ROI to the business
• Acting as the point of stakeholder management and conflict resolution across IT product brand and commercial teams comfortable pushing back on unrealistic asks and prioritising what matters
• Mentoring and growing the team supporting succession planning and driving engagement and morale
• Setting direction and removing blockers for the team rather than working hands-on in the tools day to day
• Spotting opportunities to unlock more value from the businesss marketing automation platform including for the growing retail media function

What you need to be considered..

• Proven experience in CRM or customer engagement ideally in a leadership capacity
• Strong background in customer lifecycle and journey management
• Experience implementing or working closely with a marketing automation platform (Salesforce Marketing Cloud experience is a strong plus though not mandatory)
• Solid grounding in campaign strategy and performance optimisation
• A data-driven approach to decision-making
• Experience in retail e-commerce or loyalty programmes
• Strong stakeholder management skills with the confidence to navigate cross-functional and sometimes competing priorities
• People leadership experience genuinely enjoys developing and growing a team
• Commercial acumen including budget management and building a case for investment

Bonus points if you..

• Have hands-on or oversight experience with Salesforce Marketing Cloud specifically
• Have worked on a loyalty programme
• Understand consumption-based software pricing models and how to manage them commercially