International Operations Manager

a leading South African online retailer is looking for a highly talented International Operations Manager to join our team in Cape Town.

We are a young dynamic hyper-growth company looking for smart creative hard-working people with integrity to join us. We offer a market-related Total Remuneration Package which allows full flexibility according to your needs a great work environment and a promise that you wont be bored as long as you are prepared for a challenge and want to build something great.

This is a senior position reporting to the Head of Cross-Border Commerce.

Purpose of the Role

is building a cross-border commerce business unit from the ground up enabling international sellers to reach South African consumers through Africas leading e-commerce marketplace. The Operations Manager Cross-Border Selling is responsible for designing implementing and continuously improving the systems processes and performance frameworks that make this channel operate at scale spanning the full seller lifecycle from registration and onboarding through to fulfilment inventory management and seller performance. This role is the operational backbone of the cross-border channel: it sets the standards builds the infrastructure and drives the collaboration that enables international sellers to succeed on Takealot while consistently delivering a high-quality experience for South African customers.

Key Responsibilities

Seller Registration & Onboarding

• Design and own the end-to-end process for registering and onboarding international sellers onto the Takealot platform. Build a framework that is scalable compliant with cross-border trade and import requirements and quality-controlled ensuring every seller that goes live meets Takealots standards before their first order is placed.

Order Fulfilment & Logistics Framework

• Design and manage the operational framework that governs the movement of goods from seller warehouses in their origin country through to Takealots local warehouses and ultimately to the South African customer. Define SLAs at each stage of the logistics chain build exception-management processes and work with logistics partners and internal fulfilment teams to ensure consistent on-time delivery.

Inventory Management

• Own the processes and standards for inventory management across the cross-border channel covering seller stock held in origin-country warehouses and stock held locally. Design workflows that maintain healthy stock levels enable accurate stock balancing between locations and minimise out-of-stock and overstock situations.

Product Quality & Listing Standards

• Establish and enforce product quality standards from the point of listing request through to post-sale customer feedback. Define the requirements sellers must meet for product content imagery and compliance with South African consumer and import standards. Build feedback loops that surface quality issues early and drive corrective action.

Seller Communications

• Design and own a structured scalable seller communications framework that keeps international sellers informed compliant and supported at every stage of their lifecycle. This includes onboarding communications operational updates performance feedback and compliance notifications.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Act as the primary operational interface between the Cross-Border team and Takealots internal services including warehousing fulfilment marketplace tech/product finance and legal teams. Drive alignment on processes SLAs and platform capabilities to ensure the cross-border channel is fully integrated into Takealots broader operational ecosystem.

Seller Experience & Performance Management

• Own the frameworks metrics and processes used to monitor and manage seller performance. Define seller health scores track performance against agreed SLAs and build structured improvement loops that escalate underperformance and reward excellence.

Data Reporting & Operational Visibility

• Build and maintain the reporting infrastructure that gives the cross-border business real-time visibility into operational performance across all key metrics. Use data to identify problems before they escalate prioritise improvement initiatives and provide senior stakeholders with accurate timely reporting.

Compliance Framework Design

• Define the cross-border compliance requirements that sellers and logistics partners must meet covering import documentation product standards regulatory requirements and operational SLAs. This role sets the framework and holds parties accountable; direct execution of customs clearance SARB payment flows or SARS filings remains with sellers and their appointed third parties.

Continuous Improvement & Problem-Solving

• Identify operational bottlenecks process gaps and systemic risks across the cross-border channel. Lead root-cause analysis and drive the design and implementation of durable solutions. Own improvement projects end-to-end from problem definition through to outcome measurement.

Required Qualifications & Experience

• Minimum 5 years of relevant experience in cross-border commerce marketplace operations international trade or e-commerce logistics with proven hands-on experience in a similar role. Broad exposure without delivery ownership is insufficient.
• Bachelors degree in Commerce Supply Chain Management Logistics International Trade or a related field.
• Demonstrable track record of designing and implementing operational processes and frameworks at scale ideally within a marketplace or platform environment.
• Deep working knowledge of cross-border trade: international logistics flows import and export documentation requirements compliance frameworks and trade regulations relevant to South Africa or comparable markets.
• Strong analytical and data skills able to build operational models interpret large datasets identify patterns and translate data into clear decisions and recommendations.
• Proven ability to solve complex ambiguous operational problems independently with evidence of root-cause thinking and durable solutions rather than short-term fixes.
• Experience working in or with an e-commerce marketplace is strongly preferred.

Desired Skills & Attributes

• Analytical rigour: Breaks down complex problems using structured frameworks and data. Comfortable with quantitative analysis and building models to support decision-making.
• Problem-solving track record: Designs solutions that address root causes not symptoms. Thrives in ambiguous fast-moving environments and applies first-principles thinking under pressure.
• Data-driven decision-making: Uses data and operational insights as the primary lens for prioritisation performance management and escalation.
• Independence and ownership: A self-starter who takes full accountability for their deliverables and drives work to completion with minimal supervision.
• Learning agility: Fast learner who quickly develops competence in new domains whether that is a new regulatory environment a new market or a new logistics model and applies that knowledge immediately.
• Innovation: Actively seeks better ways of doing things. Challenges existing processes with evidence and proposes improvements that are practical and implementable.
• Leadership and influence: Leads through credibility and structured accountability. Able to hold sellers logistics partners and internal teams to agreed standards without direct authority.
• Communication: Clear and structured communicator written and verbal. Able to translate operational complexity into plain language for seller partner and executive audiences. Produces sharp SOPs briefs and performance updates.

The Environment:

• employees are entrepreneurial and dynamic smart customer-centric fun and have the shared ambition of being the leading e-commerce company in Africa.
• We have fun work hard take ownership work in teams to create solutions and are always open to direct feedback/new ideas on where we can improve
• We are short on ego and high on output
• We are doers and not only thinkers its all in the execution after all
• We love what we do and what we are creating

We seek to Employ an Extra Ordinary Mind who:

• is respectful but forthright
• is an expert at doing who can not only design but also execute
• is analytical able to use data to make decisions
• is competitive self-directed and strive to be the BEST (GREAT requires a lot of work and does not only happen during business hours
• is passionate about the potential of e-commerce and delivering a world-class customer experience
• is entrepreneurial thrives under change and accepts it is a constant and always looks for solutions to do something better and faster
• is business SMART. Able to think about problems from a business perspective using technical and product input;
• is curious and challenge the status quo
• is innovative and enjoys iteration
• is collaborative
• will be at the cutting edge of developing new concepts for
• thinks like an owner of the business
• is SMART has INTEGRITY and is HARD WORKING

If you meet the above criteria and are an Extraordinary Mind come and join us!

Takealot is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applicants from the previously disadvantaged groups and people with disabilities will be given preference.