Senior Manager: Service Design at Cell C

Purpose of the role:


Cell C is a leading telecommunications company in South Africa, committed to providing innovative solutions and exceptional service to our consumers (B2C) and business customers (B2B). Cell C is positioned as a Spirited Disruptor and values integrity, transparency, honesty, and simplicity.
The Senior Manager: Service Design is accountable for defining, integrating and governing the service design strategy, standards and enterprise-wide customer journey frameworks across digital and assisted channels. The role translates customer insight, operational data, commercial priorities and technology capability into scalable service solutions that improve customer satisfaction, enable omnichannel execution and support business performance.
In addition, the role is the line manager for the UX/UI design team and is accountable for the combined service design and UX/UI discipline. It sets design direction, governs design quality across all customer-facing touchpoints, and builds a single coherent design capability spanning end-to-end service journeys and the interfaces through which customers experience them.
The role provides senior functional leadership across customer journeys including onboarding, sales, support, retention, billing and digital self-service. It oversees the portfolio of service design and UX/UI initiatives, drives cross-functional alignment, manages design governance and mitigates customer, operational and delivery risks across the service ecosystem.
The role is transformational in nature and is expected to build service design and UX/UI capability, embed customer-centric ways of working and position design as a sustainable organisational competence within Cell C.


Key Requirements:
Functional Strategy, Service Design Leadership and Governance


Define and integrate the service design and UX/UI strategy, principles, standards and governance approach across digital and assisted customer channels
Shape the target-state service design roadmap and translate enterprise and functional priorities into service design plans, initiatives and measurable outcomes
Govern end-to-end customer journey architecture, service blueprints, experience frameworks and design quality standards across onboarding, sales, support, retention, billing and digital self-service
Lead the development of current-state and future-state journey maps, service blueprints, process flows and experience frameworks
Set service design direction for complex, cross-functional initiatives and ensure alignment between customer needs, commercial priorities, operational capability and technology platforms
Act as final design approval authority for service design and UX/UI outputs, ensuring consistency and quality across all digital and assisted touchpoints
Govern the design system, component library and central design repository, ensuring design outputs are documented, reusable and consistently applied
Sponsor and oversee the adoption of repeatable service design methodologies, artefacts, tools and governance forums across the organisation
Customer Insight, Enterprise Experience Optimisation and Commercial Impact
Lead the interpretation of customer behaviour, research findings, analytics, operational data and market trends to identify systemic experience gaps and improvement opportunities
Prioritise customer journey improvements based on strategic value, customer impact, commercial benefit, operational feasibility and risk exposure
Define and monitor experience outcomes including NPS, tNPS, customer effort, digital adoption, drop-off, conversion and resolution measures
Direct user research, usability testing and design validation across digital and assisted touchpoints to evidence design decisions
Integrate accessibility, simplicity and inclusive design principles into service experience and interface standards and decision-making
Provide strategic recommendations that improve customer satisfaction, self-service adoption, retention, conversion and operational efficiency


Portfolio Delivery, Operating Model Alignment and Performance Oversight


Oversee the service design and UX/UI portfolio and ensure delivery is prioritised, sequenced and aligned to transformation roadmaps, backlog initiatives and business performance priorities
Sponsor high-impact service design initiatives and orchestrate delivery across internal teams, external partners, technology, operations, marketing, product, retail and customer service stakeholders
Ensure service design and UX/UI outputs are implementation-ready and include journey maps, service blueprints, operating model impacts, process flows, wireframes, prototypes, storyboards and experience artefacts
Govern design intent through implementation to ensure customer outcomes, operational feasibility and measurable benefits are maintained
Ensure timeous execution of design deliverables across internal teams and external partners so that downstream business units can execute against customer experience strategy and market demand
Track initiative performance, manage escalations, resolve cross-functional blockers and report progress against agreed business outcomes


Enterprise Stakeholder Alignment, Risk and Decision Influence


Act as a senior advisor on service design, customer experience and omnichannel service excellence to executives, senior leaders and cross-functional decision forums
Influence enterprise decisions by providing customer journey insight, service design expertise, operational impact assessment and commercial implications
Collaborate with marketing, brand, commercial, product, technology, operations, retail, customer service and analytics teams to shape roadmaps based on customer and UX insight
Identify and mitigate systemic risks linked to customer friction, fragmented journeys, poor adoption, operational inefficiency, compliance considerations and inconsistent service experiences
Drive alignment across prepaid, postpaid, fibre, digital, retail and contact centre environments to ensure coherent customer journeys and consistent service standards
Stay informed on industry trends, emerging technologies, digital customer experience innovation and competitor benchmarks to shape continuous improvement


Lead Service Design & UX/UI Capability, People and Thought Leadership


Line manage the UX/UI design team in addition to service design resources, carrying accountability for performance management, goal setting, development planning, resourcing and retention across both disciplines, in line with the approved organisational structure.
Lead, coach and develop service design and UX/UI capability across designers, managers, specialists and cross-functional squads, in line with the approved organisational structure.
Build capability through mentoring, design critique, co-creation, design forums, knowledge-sharing and consistent application of service design and UX/UI standards.
Chair design forums and critique sessions, and ensure design decisions, rationale and artefacts are documented, reusable and centrally stored.
Facilitate strategic workshops, journey mapping sessions, blueprinting activities and stakeholder alignment forums to embed customer-centric ways of working.
Strengthen succession, capability development and knowledge management for the service design and UX/UI disciplines.
Provide thought leadership that advances service excellence, transformation, innovation and enterprise-wide customer impact.


Qualifications:

Minimum Bachelor's Degree or Diploma (NQF Level 7) in one of the following:


Service Design
Human-Centre Design or Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
UX / Interaction Design
Industrial / Organisational Psychology
Business
Marketing
Digital Transformation or a related field
NQF Level 8 Honours Degree is advantageous and aligned to the complexity of the role
Relevant certification in Service Design, Design Thinking, Customer Experience, Agile, Customer Journey Management, Research or Innovation methodologies is advantageous
A postgraduate qualification in Service Design, Customer Experience, Digital Transformation, Business Management or a related discipline will be an added advantage


Experience:


10-15 years of relevant experience in service design, customer experience, digital transformation, omnichannel journey design or a related environment
At least 5 years should ideally include management, senior functional leadership or demonstrated enterprise-level people and capability impact
Proven experience line managing or leading multidisciplinary design teams, including UX/UI designers
Proven experience leading or overseeing complex service design portfolios across digital and assisted channels in a complex, regulated or telecommunications environment
Strong portfolio demonstrating enterprise-level journey design, service blueprinting, UX/UI design direction, operating model alignment and measurable customer and business outcomes
Experience influencing executives and senior stakeholders, governing standards, shaping roadmaps and enabling cross-functional delivery
Proficiency in service design, UX/UI and research tooling such as Figma, FigJam, Miro, Mural, journey mapping and blueprinting tools. Exposure to workflow systems such as Jira, ClickUp or Monday.com is advantageous
Strong understanding of digital analytics, customer experience measurement, omnichannel ecosystems, agile delivery and operational process improvement
Experience in complex, regulated industries (telecommunications, banking and financial services) are preferred


Success Measures


Service design and UX/UI strategy, governane standards and artefacts adopted across priority customer journeys and cross-functional delivery teams.
Improvement in customer experience metrics including NPS, tNPS, customer effort score, digital adoption, conversion and resolution outcomes
Reduction in customer friction, drop-off, rework and journey fragmentation across digital and assisted channels
Improved speed, quality and consistency of service design and UX/UI outputs supporting new services, propositions and channel improvements
Operational efficiency gains from standardised service blueprints, process alignment and implementation-ready designs
Improved senior stakeholder alignment and decision quality through evidence-based customer journey insights and impact assessments
Strengthened service design and UX/UI capability, practice maturity, engagement and succession depth within the function