XAVIER K SMITH
Cape Town
Summary
Results-driven Operations and Customer Service Leader with a strong background in fintech, telecommunications, IT service management, and contact centre environments. Expertise in optimising service operations, managing KPIs and SLAs, and driving continuous improvement. Proven ability to lead high-pressure teams, coordinate stakeholders, and enhance customer experience. Certified in ITIL, Six Sigma, Power BI, Cybersecurity, and Project Management.
Overview
1
1
Certification
26
26
years of professional experience
Work History
TEAM LEADER / OPERATIONS LEAD
Pulse Credit Technologies (Randify)
Century City
10.2024 - 07.2026
- Led strategic operations to establish and manage service delivery and credit support operations within a high-growth fintech environment.
- Built the customer support/contact centre function from the ground up, including staffing requirements, performance frameworks, SOPs and service workflows.
- Established operational processes for SLAs, quality assurance, escalation management and compliance in a regulated credit environment, ensuring adherence to industry standards.
- Lead day-to-day service delivery, operational performance and technical escalations.
- Managed and supported agents to achieve operational KPIs and align with business objectives.
- Evaluated and supported selection of service-management platforms, including LiveAgent, Freshdesk and Zoho.
- Partner with technology teams on operational tooling, product features and reporting dashboards.
- Developed knowledge bases, training documentation and performance playbooks to enable consistent service delivery and enhance agent performance.
- Monitor system behaviour, service queues and operational issues, escalating customer-impacting incidents appropriately.
- Coordinate escalation of credit decisioning issues, disputes and platform incidents across operations, engineering, vendors and senior leadership.
- Establish feedback loops between frontline operations and technical/product teams to identify recurring issues and improvement opportunities.
Real Estate Agent
AIDA and Realty 1
Atlantic Seaboard, South Africa
09.2016 - 04.2024
- Guided home buyers, sellers and renters through different types of property transactions.
- Negotiated sales and lettings agreements, securing favourable terms for clients.
- Led property tours for potential buyers and tenants, highlighting key features and benefits of each property.
- Assisted clients in leasing homes, flats, and retail spaces, ensuring alignment with their needs.
- Estimated property value by conducting comparative market analysis.
- Monitored property market trends and relevant legislation to provide informed advice to clients.
INCIDENT, CHANGE & PROBLEM MANAGER
Vodacom
Foreshore
02.2006 - 08.2016
- Led 4 teams of 20+ employees in incident, change and problem-management activities, enhancing operational resilience.
- Led incident, change and problem-management functions supporting telecommunications service operations and customer-impacting technology environments.
- Maintained 99.5% service availability through structured incident management and operational controls.
- Achieved resolution of 90% of incidents within SLA.
- Managed major incidents, coordinating P1/P2/P3 recovery activities with technical and business stakeholders to minimise downtime.
- Chaired the Change Advisory Board (CAB), supporting controlled implementation of operational and technology changes.
- Reduced repeat incidents by 15% through root-cause analysis and problem-management initiatives.
- Conducted blameless post-incident reviews and implemented corrective actions, contributing to a 15% reduction in repeat failures.
- Used trend analysis and operational data to identify recurring service issues and improvement opportunities.
- Produced daily, weekly and monthly operational reporting for senior stakeholders, including executive-level incident communications.
- Managed escalations involving major customers, technology teams and external vendors.
- Worked with organisations including IBM and Dimension Data on critical incident resolution and SLA adherence.
- Facilitated ISO 27001 compliance audits and implemented security controls, strengthening operational risk management.
- Facilitated Voice of Customer initiatives contributing to a 12% improvement in NPS.
CALL CENTRE MANAGER
Dimension Data (now NTT Ltd) – Merchants Projects: America Online & ASDA
Bryanston and Mowbray
09.2000 - 02.2006
- Oversaw two high-performance BPO/contact-centre operations in a 3,000-agent environment, ensuring alignment with organisational objectives.
- Led 5 Team Leaders and 75 consultants across Johannesburg and Cape Town.
- Managed daily service delivery, performance, quality assurance and client KPI requirements.
- Both campaigns achieved Top 3 positions among 100+ teams in performance league tables.
- Maintained 98%+ QA scores, less than 3% absenteeism and 85%+ First Contact Resolution.
- Reduced Average Handling Time by 12% while maintaining 95% CSAT.
- Enhanced agent productivity by 17% through targeted coaching, real-time support, and consistent performance monitoring.
- Conducted regular one-to-ones, team huddles, performance reviews and appraisals.
- Managed cross-site coordination and knowledge transfer between Johannesburg and Cape Town operations.
- Standardised SOPs and operational processes, ensuring consistent service delivery across all teams.
- Supported Team Leaders through coaching, performance management and operational problem solving.
Skills
- Contact Centre Operations Management
- KPI & SLA Management
- Incident management
- Escalation management
- Root Cause Analysis
- Quality Assurance
- Continuous improvement
- Operational Risk & Compliance
- Process development
- Project Management
- Power BI & Operational Reporting
- Reporting & Analytics: Power BI
- Customer service
- Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Staffing & Operational Coordination
- Performance Management
- Team mentoring
- Leadership coaching
- Vendor management
Websites, Portfolios and Profiles
www.linkedin.com/in/xavierksmith
REFERENCES
Stan, Horwitz, Senior Director, +44 7307 070606, LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/stanhorwitz
Certification
- Six Sigma, Council for Six Sigma Certification, White Belt & Yellow Belt | May 2025,
- ISC2 Cybersecurity Certificates, May 2025, Security Principles, Incident Response, Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Concepts, Access Control Concepts, Network Security, Security Operations,
- Power BI Certificate, Exodus Experts | March 2025,
- ITIL V3, APM Group | May 2011,
- Project Management Higher Certificate, Damelin Management School | September 2001,
- Executive Coaching Certificate, PMI | October 2020, Executive Leadership Certificate,
- PMI | October 2020, Business Analysis Foundations,
- IIBA | October 2020,
- Digital Marketing Certificate, Google Skills for Africa | October 2020
LEADERSHIP & VOLUNTEERING
Allan Gray Orbis Foundation South Africa, BUSINESS & CAREER MENTOR, 2020-03, Present, Provided 400+ hours of online mentorship to university and college students., Support mentees with career development, entrepreneurship and professional decision-making., Supported 12 business launches and 3 career transitions., Use structured coaching, accountability and problem-solving approaches to support mentee development.
ADDITIONAL ACHIEVEMENT
- Author – Entrepreneurial Mindset
- Published on Amazon, 2022
Websites, Portfolios, Profiles
www.linkedin.com/in/xavierksmith
Timeline
TEAM LEADER / OPERATIONS LEAD
Pulse Credit Technologies (Randify)
10.2024 - 07.2026
Real Estate Agent
AIDA and Realty 1
09.2016 - 04.2024
INCIDENT, CHANGE & PROBLEM MANAGER
Vodacom
02.2006 - 08.2016
CALL CENTRE MANAGER
Dimension Data (now NTT Ltd) – Merchants Projects: America Online & ASDA
09.2000 - 02.2006