Team Manager, CSI (based in Chicago or Dallas)

Agoda•Chicago, IL

11d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Team Manager leads Agoda’s Customer Satisfaction & Incident (CSI) specialists, the final line of support within the Customer Experience Group. The team handles complex, high-risk customer issues and critical escalations involving regulatory matters, media and public relations, senior-leader requests, supplier and partner complaints, and technical failures. The manager works with customers, partners, senior executives, and Legal, Public Relations, Technology, Product, and other internal teams to achieve clear, controlled resolutions and protect customer trust. The role owns day-to-day team performance and supports wider Agoda and CSI goals. It combines people leadership, high-stakes escalation management, operational oversight, process improvement, stakeholder coordination, and data-informed decision-making. The position is based in Chicago or Dallas and is hybrid, with three office days per week. It primarily supports USA daylight hours (Central Time), including weekends; future schedules may move to rotational shifts to provide seven-day coverage, including public holidays.

Requirements

People-management experience leading a team of at least 8 in a contact-center or customer-support environment.
Excellent spoken and written English, including the ability to explain complex situations clearly to customers and senior executives and provide concise leadership updates.
Willingness to work 24/7 rotational shifts, including weekends and public holidays.
A track record of reviewing, improving, and operating processes that increase efficiency and team performance.
Ability to balance customer needs, resolution quality, business risk, and policy.
Experience influencing teams such as Legal, Public Relations, Product, or Supply without direct authority, managing senior leaders’ expectations, and pushing back when needed.
Ability to manage several projects and deadlines simultaneously.
Calm, professional, and respectful conduct under pressure, with strong prioritization in situations involving multiple high-stakes issues.
Comfort with ambiguity and rapid change, openness to feedback, and willingness to act on feedback.
Proven experience hiring, training, coaching, and managing people.
Working knowledge of AI tools, SQL, Tableau or similar data tools, and Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; ability to present data clearly for the audience.

Nice To Haves

Escalation or senior-specialist experience.
Additional language skills.
At least 2 years of people-management experience in a high-stakes setting such as complex escalations, incident management, dispute resolution, or a similar support function.
Experience managing remote teams.
Experience with complaints raised through government or consumer-protection bodies, social-media escalations, legal-threat cases, chargeback risk, or executive escalations.

Responsibilities

Coach, mentor, and manage a team of CSI specialists, establishing a culture of excellence, accountability, and continuous learning.
Set expectations, provide regular feedback, manage performance and development plans, and address performance or behavior gaps directly.
Develop team members’ critical-thinking and problem-solving capabilities for complex escalations.
Own assigned and self-initiated goals and projects from start to finish; translate challenges into actions, track progress, and report results.
Make decisions for the team during complex, high-stakes escalations; direct stakeholders and guide cases toward effective resolution.
Prioritize team capacity during concurrent high-stakes events and provide concise updates and next steps to senior leadership.
Identify root causes of recurring escalations, advocate for lasting fixes, participate in lessons-learned reviews, and share findings.
Build relationships with Legal, Public Relations, Product, Supply, and senior leadership; influence without direct authority and clear blockers.
Balance competing leadership requests against team capacity and push back on work or escalations that do not belong with the team.
Manage the escalation queue and backlog; monitor incoming volumes, routing patterns, and team performance, identify issues early, and help meet service levels.
Use raw data, dashboards, and performance reports to diagnose gaps, recommend improvements, and support proposed changes.
Own an assigned operational area, implement new and existing processes, and maintain accurate procedures and documentation.
Identify performance gaps, create and follow through on action plans, and maintain management tracking above par.
Oversee quality checks and related training, and uphold case-handling and customer-conduct standards.
Monitor team morale using engagement surveys, motivate and develop experienced specialists, delegate responsibility, develop future leaders, and run effective team meetings.
Participate in hiring, including candidate screening and interviews; help plan staffing and shift coverage.