Unifi is a fast-growing finance and technology company operating in Zambia, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Unifi delivers personal lending products through online, mobile phone, and branch channels. The company is well supported by strong shareholders and a board of directors with vast experience in entrepreneurship and lending.

The SA business operates exclusively online and handles high volumes of loan applications and collections operations through a contact centre and supporting services operation in Tyger Valley, Bellville. The team works closely with a centralised group services office providing credit, data, systems and IT, HR, and finance shared services from Stellenbosch to client-facing operations in-country.

The Head of Department Origination will lead the end-to-end processing of new applications within our contact center environment. You will be responsible for a team of about 60 staff, ensuring that every application moves through the funnel with maximum efficiency and minimum friction. You aren't just a people leader, you are a process architect who uses data to diagnose and fix operational gaps.

Responsibilities:

• Lead, coach and develop Team Leaders and Origination Agents.
• Ensure staffing levels meet operational needs.
• Conduct performance reviews, set KPIs and manage performance improvement.
• Drive a culture of accountability and customer-centric behaviour.
• Oversee daily call centre operations, ensuring service levels, turnaround times are met
• Monitor applications and agent productivity.
• Manage operational risks related to origination.
• Write and run SQL queries to monitor application flows, identify technical challenges and extract real time data to drive decision making.
• Analyse call centre data to identify trends, root causes, and opportunities for improvement.
• Continuously audit the origination process to reduce turnaround times and increase conversion rates.
• Act as the bridge between Operations and IT/Product teams to troubleshoot systemic issues identified through your data pulls.
• Implement process enhancements to reduce repeat calls, and strengthen customer experience.
• Work with the Customer Service HOD to reach goals, build a positive team culture, and keep service quality high.
• Produce daily, weekly, and monthly performance reports, including SLA performance, customer satisfaction, QA scores, workforce metrics, and operational challenges.
• Track compliance breaches, complaints categories, and unresolved cases.
• Escalate system issues and drive resolution with technical teams.

Requirements:

• Grade 12 essential
• Diploma or degree in related field advantageous
• 5+ years in contact center management, specifically in high-volume origination or sales environments
• ​Technical Skills: Intermediate SQL is non-negotiable (Select, Join, Where clauses, basic data cleaning)
• Proficiency in Excel
• ​Proven track record of managing Team Leaders
• ​Process-driven, analytical, and comfortable in a fast-paced environment
• Experience in microfinance, banking, lending or financial services advantageous
• Experience in 24/7 operations advantageous
• Strong people management and coaching ability
• Analytical and detail oriented
• Strong communicator, written and verbal
• Organised, energetic, resilient
• If you are hands on, present, humble and adventurous - this is for you!