Sr. Customer Support Specialist

Introduction

As a Vendor Management Lead, you will be responsible for managing outsourced call center partners and leading initiatives to continuously improve customer experience. The primary objective of this role is to enhance customer satisfaction, drive customer advocacy, and maximize lifetime value (LTB). To achieve this, you will collaborate with internal teams and external partners, ensuring effective vendor governance and service delivery. This role requires a strong understanding of call center and repair center operations, as well as the ability to manage vendors in a dynamic business environment. This is an opportunity to join the growing robot culture in Japan as a member of a leading global home robot company. You will be able to plan and execute new service offerings for iRobot products in Japan and possibly expand it to global by working with other regions' team not only APAC but also US and EMEA.

Job Description:

Essential Functions / Job Duties:

• Manage outsourced call center partners against multiple KPIs such as service levels, handle time, escalation management, and quality scores
• Effectively and efficiently manage and resolve customer escalations in a timely manner
• Own forecasting of customer contact volumes
• Track and manage costs against forecast and approved budgets
• Drive optimal delegation of tasks to vendors, continuously reviewing scope of work to improve efficiency and internal workload balance
• Lead vendor governance including contract scope optimization and renewal discussions
• Identify and implement opportunities to improve call center efficiency, including tools, scripts, training, and quality programs
• Plan and implement new service offerings to increase customer retention and acquisition
• Analyze and monitor call center performance, and prepare clear and concise reports in English for global stakeholders
• Act as a liaison for technical inquiries, ensuring timely alignment with the appropriate stakeholders and effective rollout of solutions to operations
• Collaborate with global and regional teams to align on best practices and performance standards
• Perform other duties as assigned by the line manager

Qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience in customer service or call center management (help desk or contact center environment)
• 5+ years of experience managing third-party vendors, including outsourced call centers
• Experience identifying, selecting, and managing external service providers to meet business requirements
• Understanding repair center and other business operations related to call center management
• Proven ability to identify inefficiencies and drive process improvements
• Experience in budget planning and cost management
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to clearly structure and summarize data
• Logical and structured thinking; goal- and process-oriented
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and work with autonomy
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with vendors and cross-functional teams
• Strong negotiation and stakeholder management skills
• High level of professionalism and accountability
• Self-starter, results-driven, and team-oriented, with a “can-do” attitude
• Strong prioritization skills and ability to manage multiple tasks effectively
• Native-level Japanese and business-level English (both written and verbal)
• Experience working with global teams across multiple time zones is a plus
• Proficient in Microsoft Office tools
• Ability to plan, execute, and meet deadlines
• Change management capability
• Technical knowledge (e.g., chat support tools, automation, generative AI) is a plus
• Customer experience (CX) management experience is a plus
• Experience in a high-tech environment is preferred; experience in consumer electronics is a plus (not mandatory)