Manager I, Customer Service for Spares Services

Job Purpose:

As a Level 1 Customer Service Manager, you will serve as the primary interface between the company and our key semiconductor manufacturing customers in Japan.  You will bridge the gap between complex technical Field Service Engineering (maintenance, upgrades/retrofit, refurbish, parts logistics) and Account Sales.  Your goal is to eliminate customer tool down, maximize customer uptime, ensure high spares services fulfill rate, order fulfillment, new service sales opportunities (PM, retrofit, refurbish, spare parts) to reach revenue target and maintaining customer satisfaction.  

Key Responsibilities:

Customer Relationship & Escalation Management:

• Integrated Solutions: Active participation in account team in understanding customer needs and develop integrated customer support solution.
• Commercial & Spares Agreements: Collaborate with (BU) business development and AT team (FSE and Sales) on customers agreement for Spares service levels and execute processes accordingly.
• Customer Interactions: Lead, present, and drive customer interactions with effective, positive outcomes, specifically during difficult and high-pressure customers situation.
• Proactive Engagement & Escalation prevention: Lead discussions and proactively communicate with internal and external customers. Attend customer meetings as required and maintain operational foresight to provide lookahead prevention actions for issues and/or escalations.
• Commitment Delivery: Take full responsibility for meeting all Spares, logistics, and account commitments to maintain strong, trusted relationships with customers in Japan.

Operations, Spares Fulfillment & Supply Chain:

• Fulfillment Execution: Oversee end-to-end order management, Tool Down or urgent order expedites, contact and consignment replenishment and backlog tracking, ensuring alignment with customer SLA, reversal supply chain (RMA) processes, and 100% billing/invoice accuracy.
• Supply Chain & Planning: Foresee customer requirements to drive material and long- term delivery solution. Collaborate with Global Planners to adjust stocking levels as needed.
• Logistics & Excellence: Improve processes for Spares, refurbish and retrofit delivery, by partnering with Global Logistics team to drive KPI’s performance.
• Performance: Drive continuous operational improvement based on agreed KPI’s, providing regular reports such as On-Time Delivery (OTD) and Fulfillment Rate reports to the customers.

Leadership & People Management:

• People Management: leading a local CSR team of 3+1 members. Guide, Train and Coach them. Identifying Training needs for talent growth and executing all corporate HR policies.
• Strategic leadership: Develop and sustain customer service team closely interact with local Account Service team and global business strategies, managing complex trade-off decisions and configuring departmental budgets to control expenditures.

Experiences / Requirements:

• Industry Experiences: ~10 years of relevant experiences within a large international Semiconductor or IT company, or high-tech industrial company, with a background in Customer Service, Supply Chain Management, Procurement or Sales background.
• Operations & Process Knowledge: Proven track record in managing spares, customer fulfillment, and logistics operations, alongside a deep understanding of core Customer Services processes (including order management, inventory reconciliations, and invoicing.)
• Analytical & Problem-Solving Skills: Structured and collaborative problem-solving abilities leveraging analytics; capability to navigate business complexity and influences decisions or processes that directly impact KPI performance.
• Leadership & Strategic Thinking: A strategic thinker with strong people management, communication and decision-making skills, combined with a background in changing management and continuous improvement programs.
• Communication & Stakeholder Management: External customers and internal interpersonal communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Tools & Technical Proficiency: Practical familiarity with SAP (Sales & Distribution and Materials Master modules) and Advanced Microsoft Excel skills (eg. VLOOKUP, Pivot Tables, Marcos), Power BI…
• Work Ethic & Professional Attributes: Ability to prioritize, manage time effectively, and work autonomously with a strong “sense of urgency,” flexible mindset and proper “know-how” for escalating issues to stakeholders.

Education & Language:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in business administration, Supply Chain, or Industrial Engineering is preferred.
• Language: Fluency in both Japanese and English.