Purpose of the role
The Counter Area Manager is to manage all Central Issuing and Refund Counters (CIRC) in Japan from setup, implementation to daily operations. As a key management role, this includes the management of all respective counter managers at each location and the team of frontline counter staff (fulltime, part-time and outsourced staff). This position must work with the Developer/Tenants person in charge on the merchant side to achieve shared objectives. This position must possess the dedication to customer service and customer satisfaction. As a key role for counter operations in Japan, this position requires to work closely with internal central management and ensure best practice standards and KPIs are met. The position requires strong Japanese skills and English in conversational level for communication with internal and external stakeholders.
Responsibilities
- Counter Area Management
- Works with Head of Counter Operations and the Commercial team to implement and operate the counter operations in Japan
- Responsible for implementation of new counter setup for new locations (involved during initial negotiations to final implementation) – includes leading and advising the team to achieve best possible conditions for the counter operations
- Responsible for creating a scalable operations model for each counter and ensure consistent performance for all counters
- Knowledgeable for the end to end issuing to refunding process and how the operations at each counter works; includes issuing process, refunding process, cash management, internal staffing operations, operating manuals other ad-hoc processes, etc
- Responsible for the counter operations team, including hiring, training, shift planning, vacation planning, declarations, and performance evaluations to ensure KPIs by the teams are being achieved
- Liaise with outsource agents for staffing – ensure best conditions for Global Blue and ensure that outsource agents are able to comply with staffing requirements
- Work with technology teams to resolve any technology or IT related issues
- Responsible for achieving high standards for overall customer service quality
- Manage any renovations or related changes to the counters
- Complaints are successfully handled and dealt with in a professional and speedy manner with the team
- Conduct site visits and supervise or operate at the counters as required
- As the business expands and develops, this role will manage a portfolio of counters based on location and will transition from implementation to operation management
- External Stakeholder engagement
- Responsible for establishing and maintaining good relations at the relevant management and store level for all key stakeholders
- Involved in negotiations and discussions with the merchant (Department stores, authorities, developers, tenants, etc) on all matters related to the counter operations (pricing, operations, fraud, compliance, technology etc)
- Possess strong relationship and negotiation ability and able to interact with senior level stakeholders
- KPIs, continual improvement and reporting
- Achieving and maintaining KPIs which include performance of the counters and control of operational costs
- Responsible for recommending and executing improvement initiatives to increase the profitability and operational efficiency of the counters
- Responsible for reporting of performance of the various counters to senior management based on set KPIs (monthly, annual and ad-hoc reviews)
Qualifications and education requirements
- 5-7 years’ experience of team management in an operational context/field
- Retail/Department store experience is highly valuable
- Experienced Area Management which includes some stores
- Must be able to speak/write Japanese fluently
- Must possess a basic business English skills
- Demonstrate high customer service standards
- Demonstrate high ethical standards
- Base knowledge of MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
- Competence in Staff management
- Must command respect and be able to motivate
- Basic HR knowledge
- Organisational skills
- Accuracy, thorough, meticulous, methodical and reliable
- Creative and willing to introduce and explore new ideas
- Possible to go on a long business trip for one month at the maximum
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