Client Support Manager The Client Support Manager is responsible for leading the day-to-day performance and continued development of the Payroll Support organization, ensuring clients receive timely, accurate, consistent, and high-quality service throughout their ongoing relationship with REI/One Digital. This role is accountable for team performance, workforce and capacity management, service-level achievement, client experience, quality assurance, escalation management, talent development, and the continuous improvement of Support operations. The Client Support Manager provides leadership, coaching, and accountability to Team Leads, Payroll Support Specialists, Client Engagement Specialists, Distribution personnel, and other assigned Support resources. The Manager ensures team members have the knowledge, tools, processes, training, and support necessary to effectively serve clients while monitoring departmental KPIs, ticket volume and trends, workload distribution, service risks, and staffing needs. Working closely with the Director of Support and cross-functional operational leaders, the Client Support Manager identifies opportunities to improve service delivery, develop team capabilities, resolve recurring client or operational challenges, and build scalable Support processes capable of supporting company growth, increasingly complex clients, and evolving business needs.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
(include but are not limited to): Lead, manage, coach, and develop the Client Support team, establishing clear performance expectations, accountability, professional development plans, and cross-training opportunities while building the capabilities of Team Leads and emerging leaders. Own the day-to-day operational performance of the Client Support function, ensuring clients receive timely, accurate, consistent, and high-quality service across all areas supported by the department. Establish, monitor, and drive departmental performance against defined KPIs, service level agreements (SLAs), quality standards, client satisfaction measures, and operational objectives. Monitor ticket volume, backlog, aging, response and resolution times, escalation trends, workload distribution, and other service indicators to proactively identify performance concerns, capacity constraints, and opportunities for improvement. Manage team capacity and workload allocation across Client Support functions, ensuring resources are appropriately aligned based on client needs, service demand, complexity, employee skill sets, and business priorities. Partner with Team Leads to effectively manage daily ticket queues, workload balancing, service coverage, and escalation workflows while developing team capabilities that allow complex client issues to be resolved at the appropriate level without unnecessary dependence on management. Address employee performance concerns appropriately and consistently, including establishing performance expectations, providing coaching and corrective feedback, and partnering with leadership or Human Resources when additional action is required. Maintain management-level visibility into significant client escalations and complex service issues, ensuring clear ownership, appropriate communication, timely resolution, and coordination across internal teams when required. Analyze recurring ticket themes, client challenges, service failures, quality trends, and root causes to identify coaching, training, documentation, quality assurance, or process improvements that reduce preventable issues and improve the client experience. Partner with Client Engagement resources to identify service trends, recurring client concerns, training needs, and opportunities for proactive intervention with high-value, complex, or at-risk client relationships. Evaluate current and projected staffing needs, workforce utilization, team capacity, and skill coverage to ensure the Client Support organization can effectively support client growth, changing service demand, and increasing account complexity. Identify skill gaps, single points of failure, knowledge dependencies, and process inefficiencies and implement cross-training, documentation, standardized workflows, knowledge resources, and succession strategies that improve service consistency, scalability, team flexibility, and business continuity. Lead team meetings and communication efforts to ensure employees remain informed regarding operational priorities, system changes, process updates, payroll and HCM-related changes, service expectations, and relevant organizational initiatives. Collaborate cross-functionally with Product Deployment, Client Readiness and Training, Custom Reports & Integrations, Tax, Finance, and other operational teams to resolve client-impacting issues, establish clear ownership, improve handoffs, and address recurring service challenges. Partner with the Director of Support to establish quarterly and annual departmental objectives, evaluate performance trends, identify operational risks, and execute initiatives that support broader Support and company objectives. Support acquisition integrations, operational transitions, and company growth initiatives by aligning Support processes, service expectations, team responsibilities, performance standards, and workflows across newly integrated teams. Support the recruitment, selection, onboarding, training, and development of Client Support team members as staffing requirements evolve. Maintain working knowledge of UKG Ready functionality, payroll and HCM industry practices, client service trends, and relevant operational considerations necessary to effectively lead and develop the Client Support organization. Perform additional duties aligned with departmental objectives and organizational goals as assigned. Knowledge/Skills/Abilities Strong working knowledge of payroll, HCM technology, and client support operations, with the ability to understand complex service issues, recognize operational and client risks, and provide appropriate leadership and escalation support. Demonstrated people leadership skills with the ability to establish clear performance and service expectations, coach and develop employees, address performance concerns, build accountability, and create a collaborative, high-performing, and client-focused environment. Strong service operations and capacity management skills, including the ability to evaluate ticket volume, backlog, workload distribution, service demand, employee skill sets, client complexity, and coverage requirements to make effective staffing and resource decisions. Strong analytical and operational decision-making skills with the ability to interpret departmental KPIs, SLA performance, ticket trends, case aging, escalation activity, quality measures, client satisfaction indicators, and other operational data to identify risks, trends, and improvement opportunities. Strong understanding of client service quality, service recovery, escalation management, and operational risk, with the ability to establish effective escalation structures and determine when management intervention, cross-functional coordination, process changes, or additional resources are required. Exceptional verbal and written communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively with employees, clients, executive leadership, and cross-functional stakeholders using clear, concise, professional, and business-focused messaging. Strong relationship management, conflict resolution, and de-escalation skills, including the ability to navigate challenging client and employee situations, establish appropriate expectations, provide constructive feedback, and drive issues toward resolution. Strong problem-solving and process improvement capabilities with the ability to identify recurring service issues, knowledge gaps, single points of failure, resource constraints, and process inefficiencies and develop standardized workflows, quality controls, knowledge resources, and practical solutions that improve service quality, scalability, business continuity, and client experience. Ability to collaborate and influence across Product Deployment, Client Readiness and Training, Custom Reports & Integrations, Tax, Finance, and other operational teams to establish ownership, resolve dependencies, and address client-impacting issues. Ability to lead teams through organizational change, acquisition integration, operational transitions, and business growth while maintaining employee engagement, service quality, accountability, and focus on client needs. Strong organizational and prioritization skills with the ability to maintain management-level visibility across a high-volume client service environment involving competing priorities, escalations, deadlines, and operational demands. Ability to balance client needs, employee capacity, service quality, operational risk, and company growth objectives when making departmental decisions. Commitment to developing a scalable Client Support organization that consistently delivers high-quality service, develops employee capabilities, strengthens client relationships, and contributes to long-term client retention and company success.
Preferred Skills:
Advanced knowledge of UKG Ready or comparable payroll and HCM technology, including familiarity with Payroll, HR, Time & Labor Management, and other workforce management functionality. Experience managing ticket-based or case-based client service operations, including the use of service queues, SLAs, escalation workflows, quality measures, and client satisfaction metrics. Experience developing and using operational scorecards, dashboards, KPIs, and service trends to manage team performance, identify capacity needs, and support staffing decisions. Experience leading teams through acquisition integration, organizational change, process standardization, or the consolidation of multiple teams or service models. Proficiency with Zoho One and relevant Zoho applications, or comparable CRM, ticketing, workflow, reporting, and operational management platforms. Professional certifications related to payroll, HR, client service, or leadership, such as CPP, FPC, PHR/SPHR, SHRM-CP/SHRM-SCP, or comparable credentials, preferred but not required. Required Experience & Education 5+ years
