Manager – Online Channels

Location: Mauritius
Employment Type: Long-Term Contract
Remuneration: Market-related
Relocation: Required – successful candidate must relocate to Mauritius
Work Permit: Company assistance provided for successful expatriate candidates
Home Travel: Periodic company-supported trips home during the contract
Department: Sales & Marketing
Industry: Lottery / Online Gaming / Sports Betting / Digital Gaming

About the Role

An exciting international opportunity is available for an experienced and commercially driven Manager – Online Channels to lead the establishment, launch and growth of a new online gaming channel in Mauritius.

The organisation is undertaking a significant strategic transformation, expanding beyond its traditional retail network into a fully integrated omnichannel gaming and entertainment business.

The successful candidate will take ownership of the online business across Lottery, Sports Betting, Fast Play/E-Instant and future digital gaming products, leading the development of the digital channel throughout its complete lifecycle – from pre-launch planning and business readiness through implementation and market launch to post-launch optimisation and commercial growth.

This is a senior business leadership position rather than a traditional digital marketing role.

The successful candidate will essentially act as the business owner of the online channel, with responsibility for digital strategy, product management, customer acquisition and retention, commercial performance, customer experience, technology partners, analytics, regulatory compliance and the successful integration of online gaming with the existing retail environment.

Candidates must therefore bring a strong combination of commercial acumen, digital product expertise, online customer-channel experience and stakeholder leadership.

International Appointment & Relocation

This position is based in Mauritius and requires relocation.

The successful candidate will be appointed on a long-term expatriate contract and must be willing to live and work in Mauritius for the duration of the assignment.

The company will assist the successful candidate with the necessary work-permit process.

The expatriate arrangement will also provide for periodic trips home during the contract. Full details of the expatriate and travel arrangements will be discussed with shortlisted candidates.

Candidates should only apply if they are genuinely willing to relocate to Mauritius for a long-term international assignment.

Job Purpose

To establish, launch, manage and continuously grow the organisation's online gaming business across:

• Lottery
• Sports Betting
• Fast Play / E-Instant
• Future digital gaming products and services

The Manager – Online Channels will lead the digital strategy, product management, customer experience and commercial performance of the online channel.

The position carries responsibility for delivering the online business from concept to scale, generating sustainable commercial growth while providing an exceptional customer experience and maintaining compliance with gaming, regulatory and responsible-gaming requirements.

Key Responsibilities

Digital Strategy & Commercial Performance

• Develop and execute the online-channel strategy in line with overall commercial objectives.
• Take ownership of the commercial performance of the online channel.
• Drive revenue growth, profitability and customer value.
• Develop annual business plans, budgets, forecasts and growth initiatives.
• Identify new digital business opportunities, products and potential revenue streams.
• Monitor market trends, competitor activity and emerging technologies.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen the organisation's competitive position within online gaming.
• Prepare commercial business cases supporting new digital initiatives and investment decisions.
• Continuously evaluate channel performance and identify opportunities for optimisation and growth.

Online Gaming Launch & Development

A major component of this appointment will be establishing and launching the online operation rather than simply inheriting an established digital channel.

The successful candidate will:

• Lead pre-launch planning for the online gaming business.
• Establish the appropriate digital operating model.
• Define business requirements.
• Coordinate business readiness across the organisation.
• Work closely with internal technology teams and external technology partners.
• Support platform implementation and digital product deployment.
• Coordinate market-launch readiness.
• Drive the successful launch of the online channel.
• Take ownership of post-launch optimisation and scaling.
• Ensure commercial, operational and customer objectives remain aligned as the digital business develops.

Digital Product Management

• Own the business roadmap for all online gaming products and digital services.
• Define, prioritise and manage business requirements for new digital products.
• Manage requirements for platform enhancements and customer-facing features.
• Lead continuous improvement across Lottery, Sports Betting, Fast Play and future digital products.
• Work closely with technology partners throughout the complete product lifecycle, from concept through implementation.
• Ensure products remain commercially competitive and customer-centric.
• Ensure digital products comply with applicable regulatory requirements.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and digital capabilities.
• Identify opportunities for product innovation and enhancement.

Customer Acquisition & Online Growth

• Develop strategies to grow the online player base.
• Drive customer acquisition across relevant digital channels.
• Improve customer conversion.
• Identify opportunities to increase player participation and value.
• Work closely with Marketing to optimise digital campaigns and promotional activity.
• Ensure marketing investment supports commercial objectives.
• Use customer and commercial data to continuously improve acquisition performance.

CRM, Retention & Player Engagement

• Lead CRM, loyalty and player-engagement initiatives.
• Develop customer segmentation strategies.
• Develop personalised customer engagement initiatives.
• Maximise customer lifetime value.
• Oversee the complete customer lifecycle, including:
  • Onboarding
  • Activation
  • Engagement
  • Retention
  • Reactivation
• Monitor customer behaviour and identify opportunities to improve retention.
• Drive improvements in player conversion, engagement and loyalty.

Customer Experience & Omnichannel Integration

The organisation is moving from a predominantly retail environment towards a more integrated omnichannel gaming model.

The Manager – Online Channels will be responsible for ensuring customers receive a seamless experience across mobile, web and retail channels.

Responsibilities include:

• Optimise customer journeys from initial registration through gameplay and ongoing account management.
• Optimise payment journeys.
• Optimise prize-claim processes.
• Improve customer-support journeys.
• Drive improvements in user experience (UX) and user interface (UI).
• Ensure consistency between retail and digital customer experiences.
• Monitor customer feedback.
• Translate customer insights into meaningful product and service improvements.
• Identify friction points within digital customer journeys and drive corrective action.

Digital Analytics & Performance Management

• Define and monitor KPIs for the online business.
• Analyse customer behaviour and player activity.
• Monitor commercial performance.
• Develop executive dashboards and regular management reporting.
• Use data-driven insights to optimise:
  • Digital products
  • Marketing campaigns
  • Customer journeys
  • Acquisition
  • Conversion
  • Retention
  • Churn
  • Customer lifetime value
• Translate performance data into practical commercial recommendations.

Technology & Vendor Management

• Act as the primary business owner for relationships with online platform providers and digital service partners.
• Work closely with Technology to translate business requirements into digital solutions.
• Manage relationships with third-party technology providers.
• Manage relationships with payment service providers and other digital partners.
• Participate in governance meetings.
• Monitor vendor performance.
• Ensure service providers perform against agreed service levels.
• Escalate and resolve material service or delivery issues.
• Maintain strong alignment between business requirements and technology delivery.

Cross-Functional Stakeholder Management

This position will work extensively across the organisation.

The successful candidate will collaborate with:

• Technology
• Marketing
• Customer Experience
• Retail Operations
• Finance
• Risk & Compliance
• Data & Analytics
• External technology providers
• Payment providers
• Other digital solution partners

The Manager – Online Channels will be responsible for bringing these stakeholders together to successfully deliver the organisation's digital business objectives.

Governance, Risk & Compliance

Operating within a regulated gaming environment is a fundamental component of this position.

Responsibilities include:

• Ensure online operations comply with applicable gaming regulations.
• Ensure compliance with Responsible Gaming requirements.
• Ensure compliance with data privacy requirements.
• Support implementation of appropriate KYC processes.
• Support AML requirements.
• Ensure effective player-protection measures.
• Ensure digital products and customer journeys comply with internal governance standards and applicable legislation.
• Identify and mitigate operational and digital-business risks.
• Ensure commercial growth does not compromise regulatory or responsible-gaming obligations.

Leadership & Continuous Improvement

• Lead, coach and develop the Online Channels team.
• Establish a high-performance digital culture.
• Promote innovation, collaboration and continuous improvement.
• Build digital capability across the organisation.
• Drive effective stakeholder engagement and knowledge sharing.
• Lead change initiatives supporting the organisation's digital-transformation programme.
• Promote a customer-centric and data-driven approach across the online business.
• Ensure teams remain commercially focused while maintaining high standards of customer experience and compliance.

Qualifications

The client requires:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Digital Commerce, Information Systems or a related discipline.

A postgraduate qualification in any of the following would be advantageous:

• Digital Business
• Marketing
• Business Administration
• Related commercial/digital discipline

Experience Required

Candidates must have a minimum of seven years' relevant experience in one or more of the following:

• Digital commerce
• Online gaming
• Sports betting
• Lottery
• Comparable regulated digital business

Candidates should also demonstrate:

• Proven experience launching, managing and growing digital products and/or online customer channels.
• Experience leading digital-transformation or platform-implementation projects.
• Strong commercial experience.
• Strong product-management experience.
• Experience managing third-party technology providers.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong cross-functional stakeholder-management capability.

Ideal Candidate Profile

This role would particularly suit candidates currently or previously operating in positions such as:

• Head of Online
• Head of Digital
• Online Channels Manager
• Digital Channels Manager
• Head of Digital Gaming
• Head of Online Gaming
• Head of Digital Products
• Senior Digital Product Manager
• Online Gaming Manager
• Digital Commerce Manager
• Digital Business Manager

Experience gained specifically within online gaming, lottery, sportsbook/sports betting or another regulated digital gaming environment would be particularly relevant.

The candidate needs to understand both the commercial and product sides of an online business. A candidate whose experience is predominantly social media, communications, advertising or digital marketing without ownership of an online commercial channel would not meet the core requirements of this appointment.

Key Competencies

The successful candidate should demonstrate:

• Digital business strategy
• Online gaming/channel management
• Commercial management
• Digital product management
• Customer acquisition
• CRM and player retention
• Customer lifecycle management
• Digital customer experience
• UX/UI understanding
• Omnichannel strategy
• Data and digital analytics
• Business-case development
• Budgeting and forecasting
• Technology/platform implementation
• Vendor and technology-partner management
• Cross-functional leadership
• Gaming governance and compliance
• KYC/AML awareness
• Responsible Gaming
• Digital transformation
• Team leadership

Personal Attributes

The successful candidate should be:

• Commercially driven
• Customer-centric
• Highly analytical
• Data-driven
• Strategic but capable of hands-on delivery
• Comfortable operating within a changing and developing digital environment
• Strong in stakeholder management
• Confident working with technology teams and external suppliers
• Innovative and improvement-focused
• Comfortable taking ownership and accountability
• Able to operate effectively within a regulated environment
• Adaptable to an international working environment

Remuneration

Market-related.

No fixed salary range has been provided for this appointment. The package will be considered according to the successful candidate's experience, seniority and overall suitability.

Important – Mauritius Relocation

This is not a South Africa-based or remote position.

The successful candidate will be required to relocate to Mauritius and work in-country under a long-term contract.

The company will assist with the required work permit, and the expatriate arrangement will include periodic home travel. Further details regarding the full expatriate package and travel arrangements will be discussed during the recruitment process.