Customer Service Manager

Customer Service Manager

The Customer Service Manager is responsible for leading ACE Scholarships’ Customer Service team, ensuring the consistent delivery of high-quality support across phone, email, and chat channels. This role oversees Customer Service Representatives and Senior Customer Service Representatives, managing day-to-day operations, staffing, performance, and customer experience outcomes in a high-volume call center environment.

This role partners closely with Business Support, Program, and Business Technology teams to ensure Customer Service Representatives are equipped with the tools, training, and processes necessary to support families, schools, and donors. The manager owns team performance, service quality, and escalation management, ensuring customer cases are handled accurately, efficiently, and in compliance with program requirements.

• Lead, manage, and develop a growing team of Customer Service Representatives and Senior Customer Service Representatives.
• Conduct performance management including coaching, feedback, corrective action, and formal evaluations.
• Foster a high-performance, customer-focused team culture aligned with ACE’s mission and values.

• Develop and manage team schedules to ensure adequate coverage across service channels and business hours, including day and swing shifts.
• Monitor staffing needs and partner with the Vice President of Operations and Human Resources to support workforce planning and hiring forecasts.
• Lead hiring and onboarding of Customer Service Representatives and Senior Customer Service Representatives.

• Oversee daily customer service operations across phone, email, and chat channels using Service Now and Empower Ed by ACE Scholarships.
• Ensure Customer Service Representatives maintain ownership of cases through resolution while providing oversight for complex or escalated situations.
• Own all formal escalations, including customer ownership transfer when required, and ensure timely and appropriate resolution.

• Own team performance metrics, including service level agreements (SLAs), response times, case resolution rates, productivity, and quality scores.
• Monitor performance trends and implement corrective actions or improvements as needed.
  
  Partner with Business Support to leverage quality assurance insights and training improvements.

• Ensure team members accurately support, verify, and process scholarship applications, including manual review when required.
• Oversee compliance with program rules, documentation standards, and eligibility requirements across all programs, including tax credit programs requiring full manual review.

• Partner closely with Business Support to implement training, knowledge base updates, and process improvements.
• Collaborate with Program, Compliance, and Business Technology teams to support program changes, system enhancements, and operational readiness.
• Provide feedback on recurring operational issues, system gaps, and process improvement opportunities.

• Strong experience leading teams in a high-volume customer service or call center environment.
• Demonstrated ability to manage performance, coach employees, and drive accountability.
• Strong organizational and workforce planning skills.
• Ability to manage complex customer issues and escalation scenarios.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills across multiple teams.
• Alignment with ACE’s mission, values, and founding principles.

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience.
• Five or more years of experience in customer service, operations, or call center environments.
• Prior people management experience required.
• Experience managing performance metrics, staffing, and scheduling.
• Experience working in nonprofit, education, or regulated environments preferred.
  
  Experience with systems such as Service Now, customer support platforms, and Microsoft 365 preferred.