Margherita L.-Head of Customer Support & Operations Manager | AI & n8n Automation
Check rate
Experience
Head of Customer Support & Ecommerce Operations
Apex STO Limited
I led customer support and ecommerce operations for 17 ecommerce stores, with around 30 remote agents across different time zones, and owned the Freshdesk workspace. I was brought in to deal with a backlog of over 10,000 tickets, missed SLAs, a high dispute rate, and a helpdesk setup that was not efficient.
I set priorities, processes, and performance standards for the team, kept costs on track, and protected relationships with payment providers by reducing avoidable disputes.
- Cleared a backlog of over 10,000 tickets by redesigning shifts, ownership, and workflows and automating repetitive processes, without hiring additional agents.
- Rebuilt Freshdesk from the ground up (ticket structure, automations, routing, tagging, dashboards, reporting) while the queue stayed live.
- Wrote the full SOP library (refunds, returns, exchanges, cancellations, delivery failures, supplier escalations) and trained agents on every change, so new processes were adopted instead of worked around.
- Built the QA programme, wrote the rubric, and did the scoring myself; ran bi-weekly 1:1s and performance reviews, and built the onboarding and training programme for new agents.
- Built the reporting on SLA compliance, first response and resolution time, CSAT, refund rate, dispute and chargeback rate, ticket volume, and individual productivity, using the trends to decide which workflows to fix next.
- Kept costs on track with weekly and monthly reports on refunds, returns, exchanges, gift cards, and earnings against set thresholds; owned complex refunds, chargebacks, disputes, and fraud reviews.
- Built internal applications in Replit and automated Slack workflows for exchanges, refunds, and escalations, removing repetitive manual steps from the agents' day.
- Acted as the main link between Customer Support, dropshipping suppliers, and the rest of the company, handling supplier escalations and sharing trends with stakeholders.
Head of Operations
IWS AG – International Web Solutions
I oversaw day-to-day and strategic operations across multiple brands and markets, covering customer support, social media operations, automation, and new commercial initiatives. I worked closely with the CEO and CFO and was responsible for keeping operations efficient, sustainable, and scalable.
I defined priorities, operating models, and performance standards across teams, ensuring alignment between business goals, cost control, and delivery quality.
- Cut monthly Customer Support and Social Media costs by 40% (€25k → €15k) during a company-wide cost reduction phase, mainly through automation, AI tools, and clearer processes, without lowering service quality.
- Set up and managed AI-assisted support across brands, including AI replies, auto-tagging, and macros, and monitored the quality of AI answers.
- Led the launch of three new sales channels (social media, WhatsApp, and a sales layer inside Customer Support), acting as Project Manager from setup to testing.
- Generated -8,000 leads through social media for a pilot brand; launched two WhatsApp-based products, generating €1,000 in the first two months; delivered €500 in direct CS sales in the first three months of testing.
- Chose and implemented operational tools including Freshdesk, NapoleonCat, Notion, and Aprikot.
- Reported support trends and operational risks directly to product, finance, and leadership.
Head of Customer Service & Social Media
IWS AG – International Web Solutions
Brought in during a critical phase to fix severely mismanaged support and social operations: a multi-million ticket backlog, unclear responsibilities, and systems that were no longer usable.
- Rebuilt Zendesk from the ground up (macros, triggers, views, groups, routing, SLAs) and introduced automation, AI-based ticket classification, bots, and self-service, cutting a 4 million ticket backlog, built up across ~6 brands in each of 7 markets, to 100,000 in four months.
- Improved CSAT from below 50% to 75–80%, cut first response time from over a week to 24h for paying users and 48h for non-paying users, and expanded self-service to reduce dependency on manual support.
- Ran the configuration across IT, FR, EN, ES, BR, NL, and DE markets with around 6 brands in each, which meant keeping routing, views, groups, and SLAs coherent across roughly 40 brands and different language combinations.
- Worked with the in-house engineering team to connect the product backend to the ticketing system, putting customer value data in front of agents and driving routing and priority from it, which is what the differentiated SLAs for paying and non-paying users ran on.
- Redesigned the ticket workflow so a case got closed in 1–2 messages instead of ~4, and grew the team from 15 to 25 agents to match the new volumes.
- Reduced the chargeback rate from 3% to under 1%.
- Set the quality and people standards for the team: designed and scored the QA rubric, held bi-weekly 1:1s and performance reviews, and created the onboarding and training process for new hires.
- Wrote and maintained the internal knowledge base and the customer-facing help center.
CX & Operations consultant
Independent Operations Consultant
Own onboarding and operational delivery for a running portfolio of small and mid-sized business clients, covering operational audits, department setup, process and automation design, and turnaround of functions that are not working. 10+ clients to date, with sole ownership of each engagement from scoping through handover. Client names covered by NDA.
- Run structured operational audits: mapping workflows, interviewing teams, and analysing performance data to find the bottlenecks, then delivering prioritised, costed improvement plans.
- Set up operational departments from scratch: tooling, SOP libraries, escalation paths, and KPI frameworks.
- Build internal applications and automated workflows that connect the tools clients already run, working through the APIs and webhooks of Stripe, Gumroad, Shopify, Brevo, and Slack, plus AI-driven automation for repetitive marketing and operations work.
- Manage several client engagements in parallel alongside full-time roles, working inside client teams during turnarounds and handing over documented processes they can run without me.
Customer Support Manager and Community Manager
MobOwl GmbH
- Led customer support and community management as a remote role
- Managed a remote team of 10 support agents
- Owned the Freshdesk setup and support workflows
- Set the QA standards the team was measured against
- Wrote and maintained the knowledge bases used by agents and players
Player Support and Event Support Manager
Teleperformance Portugal (Supercell account)
- Worked on the Supercell account, covering player support for Supercell’s games
- Managed support for the hosts of Clash Nights, Supercell’s community events
- Acted as the support contact for event hosts
Industry experience
See where this freelancer has spent most of their professional time.
Experienced in Professional Services, Information Technology, and Retail.
Business area experience
See which departments and functions this freelancer has contributed to most.
Experienced in Customer Service, Operations, Project Management, Information Technology, Quality Assurance, and Marketing.
Summary
Expert operations manager and head of department with 10 years of experience building, scaling and optimising remote teams and workflows across different time zones. I build customer support and operations departments from zero, and I step in to rescue operations that are failing: out of control backlogs, missed SLAs, rising chargebacks, helpdesks the team has stopped trusting.
I work with ecommerce, gaming and B2C services companies as interim Head of Customer Support or Operations Manager, or on defined projects.
What I deliver:
- Interim Head of Customer Support: team structure, hiring, QA, training, SLAs and reporting
- Operations management and consulting: process audits, SOPs, cost control, refunds, returns, disputes and fraud
- Helpdesk rebuilds and migrations: Zendesk, Freshdesk, Gorgias
- AI and automation systems for clients: AI replies and triage, n8n, Make and Zapier workflows, custom internal apps
Results:
- Cut a 4 million ticket backlog to 100,000 in four months
- Raised CSAT from below 50% to 75 to 80%
- Cut support and social media costs by 40%
- Reduced chargebacks from 3% to under 1%
- Cleared 10,000+ tickets without hiring extra agents
Skills
- Leadership & Operations: Interim Head Of Customer Support · Operations Management · Building Support Departments From Zero · Turnaround Of Failing Operations · Hiring, Onboarding And Training · Qa Programmes · 1:1s And Performance Reviews · Remote Teams Across Time Zones · Process Optimisation · Cost Control
- Ecommerce Operations: Refunds, Returns And Exchanges · Chargeback And Dispute Management · Fraud Reviews · Marketplace Operations (Amazon, Walmart, Etsy, Ebay, Wayfair, Kohl'S) · Order And Fulfillment Exceptions · 3pl And Returns Coordination
- Support Platforms: Zendesk Administration: Triggers, Automations, Views, Groups, Routing, Macros, Slas · Freshdesk · Gorgias · Re:Amaze · Helpshift · Migration And Consolidation Across Platforms
- Automation & Ai: N8n · Make · Zapier · Ai Replies, Auto-Tagging And Triage · Ai-Driven Workflow Automation (Claude, Openai) · Platform-Native Automation · Bots And Self-Service Deflection · Judging When To Automate And When To Fix The Process Upstream
- Integrations & Builds: Apis And Webhooks · Custom Internal Apps (Replit, Claude Code) · Payments And Billing (Stripe, Gumroad, Shopify, Woocommerce) · Marketing Automation (Brevo) · Automated Slack Workflows
- Data & Measurement: Ticket Data Analysis To Prioritise Work · Operational Dashboards (Metabase, Elk) · Kpi And Sla Reporting · Sql (Basic) · Excel And Google Sheets Reporting
- Delivery & Documentation: Intake And Triage Of Platform Requests · Scoping Through Post-Launch Ownership · Validating Changes With The Teams Who Use Them · Sop Libraries And Knowledge Bases · Change Management: Testing Before Production, Communicating Impact
Support & Cx: Zendesk, Freshdesk, Gorgias, Re:Amaze, Helpshift
Data & Analytics: Metabase, Elk, Operational Dashboarding, Kpi And Sla Reporting, Sql (Basic), Excel, Google Sheets
Ecommerce & Payments: Shopify, Woocommerce, Amazon, Walmart, Etsy, Ebay, Wayfair, Kohl'S, Order Desk, Returnless, Stripe, Gumroad, Chargeback And Dispute Management Platforms
Automation & Build: N8n, Make, Zapier, Replit, Claude, Claude Code, Openai, Ollama, Slack Workflows, Aprikot
Project & Knowledge: Asana, Clickup, Notion, Confluence, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365
Social Operations: Sprinklr, Agorapulse, Napoleoncat
Languages
Education
Universitas Mercatorum
Bachelor's Degree in Psychology · Psychology · Roma, Italy
ISS Mazzini-Da Vinci
Diploma in Business Administration · Business Administration · Savona, Italy
Statistics
Experience
Global experience
Expertise
Qualifications
Frequently asked questions
Have questions? Find more information here.
Margherita is based in Lisbon, Portugal and prefers 100% remote projects.
Margherita speaks the following languages: Italian (Native), English (Advanced), Spanish (Intermediate), French (Intermediate), Portuguese (Intermediate), Gaelic (Elementary).
Margherita has at least 10 years of experience. During this time, Margherita has worked in at least 6 different roles and for 5 different companies. The average length of individual experience is 2 years and 7 months. Note that Margherita may not have shared all experience and actually has more experience.
Based on recent experience, Margherita would be well-suited for roles such as: Head of Customer Support & Ecommerce Operations, Head of Operations, Head of Customer Service & Social Media.
Margherita's most recent position is Head of Customer Support & Ecommerce Operations at Apex STO Limited.
In recent years, Margherita has worked for Apex STO Limited, IWS AG – International Web Solutions, and Independent Operations Consultant.
Margherita is most experienced in industries like Professional Services, Information Technology, and Retail.
Margherita is most experienced in business areas like Customer Service, Operations, and Project Management. Margherita also has some experience in Information Technology, Marketing, and Quality Assurance.
Margherita has recently worked in industries like Professional Services, Information Technology, and Retail.
Margherita has recently worked in business areas like Customer Service, Operations, and Project Management.
Margherita holds a Bachelor in Psychology from Universitas Mercatorum.
Margherita is immediately available full-time for suitable projects.
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Calculated based on our freelancers’ daily rates as of 22 Oct 2026. Actual rates may vary depending on seniority level, experience, skill specialization, project complexity, and engagement length.
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