Customer Support Lead

👋 About Us

NALA is building Payments for the Next Billion. Faster, smarter, and fairer transfers for everyone. Since 2022, we've grown our business 120x, grown the team from 9 to 150+, raised $50M+ from top-tier investors, and were named to the Forbes Fintech 50 in 2025.

We operate two core products:

• NALA, our consumer app makes cross-border payments cheaper, faster and more reliable for the global diaspora. Allowing users to send money from the UK, US and EU to Africa and Asia.
• Rafiki, our B2B payments infrastructure, is powering global payments.

Our team includes alumni from Wise, Stripe, Monzo, Revolut, and CashApp — operators who’ve scaled world-class products. We act with urgency, think deeply, and put our customers first always.

At NALA, this isn’t just a job. It’s ownership, impact, and the chance to change global payments forever.

Join us in building Payments for the Next Billion.

🙌 Your Mission

At NALA, customer support is where trust is built. We are hiring a Customer Support Team Lead to own how we show up when it matters most: when transactions fail, money is delayed, and customers need fast, clear answers. Your mission is to deliver reliable, high-quality support at scale while ensuring every interaction strengthens confidence in NALA fintech.

You will lead a team, own performance end-to-end, and continuously improve how we operate across markets. This is a hands-on role, you’ll stay close to the work, step into escalations, coach in real time, and fix what’s broken. As we scale, your role is to bring structure to complexity and build a support function that is fast, consistent, and trusted.

👥 Team Management & Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team of customer support representatives
• Set clear performance expectations and accountability standards
• Conduct regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and real-time coaching
• Build a culture of urgency, ownership, and customer obsession
• Identify and address performance gaps quickly and effectively

📊 Performance & Metrics Ownership

• Own key support metrics end-to-end:
• CSAT
• First Response Time
• Resolution Time
• Backlog and escalation rates
• Monitor performance daily and take proactive corrective action
• Identify trends, diagnose root causes, and implement improvements
• Build reporting rhythms and provide clear performance insights

🚨 Escalation & Incident Management

• Act as the primary point of contact for complex or high-risk customer issues
• Resolve escalations quickly while maintaining customer trust
• Establish and refine escalation frameworks and response protocols
• Partner with Product, Ops, and Compliance on critical incidents

⚙️ Operations & Process Improvement

• Identify inefficiencies in support workflows and customer journeys
• Design and implement scalable processes and playbooks
• Improve tooling, routing, and support operations for speed and consistency
• Continuously optimise how the team works as volume and complexity grow

🔄 Customer Insights & Cross-Functional Impact

• Translate customer feedback into actionable insights
• Partner with Product and Operations to improve user experience
• Surface recurring issues and influence product or process changes
• Act as the voice of the customer internally

✅ Quality Assurance Oversight

• Implement and maintain QA frameworks and support standards
• Ensure adherence to regulatory and compliance requirements
• Conduct regular audits and maintain consistency across interactions
• Drive continuous improvement in support quality

✅ Success in the Role Looks Like

📍 30 Days — Diagnose & Gain Control

You’ve built a clear, honest picture of how support is performing today — no blind spots.

• Fully ramped on team structure, workflows, tools, and key corridors
• Established credibility with your team and cross-functional stakeholders
• Gained full visibility into core metrics (CSAT, FRT, resolution time, backlog, escalations)
• Identified key gaps, inefficiencies, and failure points across support operations
• Confidently handling escalations and understanding risk areas

👉 Output: A clear view of what’s broken, what’s slow, and what needs to change first

📍 60 Days — Fix & Stabilise

You’ve started to move from insight to action — and the system is getting tighter.

• Improved response and resolution times across key queues
• Implemented at least 2–3 high-impact process improvements
• Established a consistent performance management rhythm (1:1s, QA, feedback loops)
• Reduced repeat escalations through root cause analysis
• Increased team clarity on expectations, accountability, and performance standards

👉 Output: Metrics are moving, the team is sharper, and operations feel more controlled

📍 90 Days — Optimise & Scale

You are no longer reacting — you are running a system that performs.

• Measurable improvement across core metrics (CSAT, FRT, resolution time, escalation rate)
• Clear ownership and accountability embedded within the team
• Scalable processes and escalation frameworks fully in place
• Strong cross-functional alignment with Product, Ops, and Compliance
• Customer issues are not just resolved — they are prevented from recurring

👉 Output: A high-performing, structured, and reliable support function that can scale with the business

➡️ Interview Process

You will need to first submit your application through our ATS Workable. There is no need to submit a Cover Letter.

If successful, you will be selected for our interview process, which has the following stages:

• Talent Screen [30 Mins]
• An initial conversation to align on your background, trajectory, and why NALA’s mission to build for the "Next Billion" resonates with you.
• Technical Problem Solving [1 Hour]
• A deep-dive session with the Hiring Manager focused on a live, role-specific growth challenge.
• We don't care about generic theory; we want to see how you navigate the fragmented payment landscapes and liquidity constraints inherent to African markets.
• Final Interview
• A final-stage interview with the Head of Operations
• This is a high-level assessment of your leadership potential, cultural alignment with our "Customer First" philosophy, and your ability to scale within a company that has grown 120x since 2022.

🔥 Must-have Requirements

• Proven experience leading customer support teams in high-volume, fast-paced environments (fintech, payments, or similarly complex operations strongly preferred)
• Strong ownership of support performance metrics (CSAT, first response time, resolution time, backlog, escalations) with a clear track record of improving them — not just reporting on them
• Hands-on operator mindset — comfortable getting into the detail, handling escalations, and fixing issues directly when needed
• Experience building or improving support processes — including workflows, escalation frameworks, QA, and performance management systems
• Ability to coach and manage performance — setting clear expectations, giving direct feedback, and driving accountability within a team
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills — able to identify patterns, diagnose root causes, and implement effective solutions quickly
• Experience working cross-functionally with Product, Operations, and Compliance to resolve issues and improve customer experience
• Clear, structured communication skills — able to simplify complex issues for both customers and internal stakeholders
• Comfort operating in ambiguity — able to create structure, prioritise effectively, and move quickly in a scaling environment

💪 Nice-to-have Requirements

• Experience in a high-growth startup or scaling environment
• Exposure to cross-border payments, remittance, or financial services
• Familiarity with support tools and systems (e.g. CRMs, ticketing platforms, QA tools, reporting dashboards)
• Experience managing multi-market or multi-corridor support operations

⭐️ Benefits

• 23 Days Off Plus KE Bank Holidays: Take the time to decompress. Working at a startup is hard!
• Birthday Leave: Celebrate your special day with a bonus day off to take off in that month.
• Enhanced Parental Leave: We offer 16 weeks of full pay for the primary caregiver and 4 weeks of full pay for the secondary caregiver (After a 6-month probationary period)
• Learning Budget: Fuel your growth with $1000 annually for learning and development.
• Monthly Socials: Join fun social events every month for great times.
• Free Coffee: Enjoy barista-style coffee at your fingertips.
• Free Lunch: Every day