Technical Support Team Lead

As the Technical Support Team Lead in Johannesburg, you will be the first boots-on the ground for Vertice's Support team in the region, laying the foundations for our "follow-the-sun" support strategy. You won't just manage a team; you will build the bridge between our customers’ technical needs and our global engineering efforts.

Reporting to the Customer Support Manager based in the UK, you will lead a high-performing team of Technical Support Specialists. Your mission is to ensure "Round the Sun" coverage, providing seamless time-zone support for our global clients while working hand-in-hand with our global Account Management (AM) team to ensure renewals and customer satisfaction. You will hire and lead an AI-native team that leverages cutting-edge tools to automate the mundane and focus on high-impact problem-solving.

Responsibilities

• Lead & Mentor: Manage and grow the South African technical support team, fostering a culture of excellence, "Human First" support, and technical curiosity.
• Strategic "Follow-the-Sun" Coverage: Own the South African time zone operations, ensuring critical issues are resolved or handed over seamlessly between global offices.
• High-Stakes Client Facing: Step in as the senior technical point of contact for high-value clients and CFOs, de-escalating complex issues and providing expert clarity.
• Bridge the AM Gap: Work closely with Account Managers to identify technical friction points in key accounts, ensuring our most important partners are thriving.
• Operational Excellence: Optimize our "AI-native" support workflows. You’ll identify ways to use AI to improve triage, documentation, and response times.
• Triage Mastery: Oversee the quality of Jira tickets sent to Engineering. Ensure your team provides the high-fidelity logs, reproduction steps, and root-cause analysis needed for rapid fixes.
• Voice of the Customer: Use global support data to lobby Product and Engineering for permanent features that eliminate recurring headaches.
  
  

Requirements

• Leadership Experience: 3+ years in B2B SaaS Technical Support, with at least 1-2 years in a Lead or Senior role.
• The Technical Toolkit: Advanced proficiency in APIs, SQL, and SSO/SAML frameworks. You should be comfortable "getting under the hood" with your team.
• AI-Native Mindset: You are excited by AI and agentic workflows. You don't just use tools; you look for ways to integrate AI to make the team smarter and faster.
• Client-Facing Gravitas: Exceptional communication skills. You can explain a "401 Unauthorized" or a complex API handshake failure to a Procurement Head with confidence and empathy.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Proven ability to work with Account Management and Sales teams to drive customer health and retention.
• The Scale-up Spirit: You thrive in the fast-paced environment of a high-growth startup.