Billy Mkandawire

Owned the full post-signature operational relationship for a FinCEN-MSB licensed digital asset exchange with 5M+ registered users — serving as the primary point of contact across institutional partners, directly mirroring the B2B CSM mandate at Alpaca. Built the end-to-end customer success infrastructure from zero: onboarding playbooks, escalation frameworks, QA protocols, and SLA monitoring — enabling structured, scalable partner management across 5 languages and multiple international jurisdictions. Managed ILO and product-launch partner coordination under 3.2× peak load conditions, maintaining ~99.2% SLA compliance — demonstrating the operational calm and precision Alpaca requires for supporting live brokerage API partners. Drove consistent partner health metrics: sustained ~94% CSAT and 78% FCR across a 12-person multilingual team, with proactive identification and mitigation of at-risk accounts before escalation. Authored 90+ bilingual compliance SOPs covering KYC tiers, custody workflows, tokenomics, and incident response — adopted as authoritative templates by Korea and Vietnam regional operations, reflecting the cross-functional documentation and enablement work central to CSM success. Reduced first-response time from 18 minutes to ~4 minutes through Zendesk Suite deployment and workflow redesign — demonstrating the data-driven, systematic approach to customer experience improvement Alpaca values. Served as the internal voice of the partner across product, compliance, and marketing — synthesising partner feedback into actionable insights that informed platform improvements and feature prioritisation.

Acted as the de facto customer success lead for Europe and Africa regions — owning partner relationships from onboarding through renewal, managing high-priority escalations, and coordinating resolution across Sales, Compliance, and Product teams. Proactively managed partner health across a portfolio of institutional and retail B2B accounts: maintaining regular touchpoints, monitoring progress toward shared goals, identifying commercial and relationship risks early, and deploying targeted retention measures. Reduced KYC rejection rates to near-zero in English-speaking markets while maintaining full regulatory compliance — demonstrating the balance of partner advocacy and regulatory integrity central to FinTech CSM roles. Designed and optimised futures-trading operational SOPs (liquidations, margin calls, leverage controls), achieving 15–45% efficiency improvements — contributing directly to partner platform performance and reducing friction in the customer lifecycle. Scaled a multilingual support and success team (EN/ES/PT/TR/VI/RU) ahead of projected 20–30% user growth — building the capacity for sustainable partner expansion. Managed ongoing community and partner communications across global Telegram communities and X, ensuring consistent messaging, proactive updates, and a trusted brand presence for international B2B clients.

Delivered enterprise-wide operational improvements for a global brokerage platform, optimising partner-facing processes across P2P, OTC, deposits/withdrawals, EDD, and the Gate.tr Turkey regional launch — equivalent in scope to supporting a multi-product API brokerage infrastructure. Analysed 10,000+ partner and customer interactions to identify systemic bottlenecks and compliance gaps, translating data insights into SOP iterations that improved service efficiency by 15%, reduced repeat escalations by 20%, and raised CSAT by 10%. Presented structured performance reports and strategic recommendations directly to global CS leadership — demonstrating the QBR-style reporting and executive communication expected in a senior CSM function. Collaborated across Marketing, Engineering, and Compliance to resolve partner complaints and translate user feedback into product development recommendations — reflecting the cross-functional partner advocacy role central to Alpaca's CSM position. Delivered internal training on compliance, blockchain fundamentals, and standardised partner communication protocols — enabling team-wide readiness for complex technical partner enquiries.

Founded and scaled the customer success department from scratch, reporting directly to the CEO — designing the full partner lifecycle framework including onboarding, activation, QA, escalation handling, and retention strategy. Led onboarding and integration for institutional clients, managing high-value B2B relationships with the discretion, proactivity, and strategic depth expected of a trusted advisor — the core identity of Alpaca's CSM role. Reduced average resolution time by 20%+ through systematic workflow engineering, automated escalation routing, and first-contact resolution optimisation. Implemented CRM-based client data management and lifecycle analytics, improving data accuracy by 10% and generating board-ready reporting on retention trends, churn risk, and expansion opportunities — directly applicable to Alpaca's account health and forecasting requirements. Introduced proactive churn detection and mitigation strategies, identifying high-risk accounts early and deploying targeted interventions — aligning with Alpaca's emphasis on relationship health and renewal management. Negotiated and executed key partner contracts, ensuring regulatory compliance and reinforcing institutional credibility — experience that translates directly to managing renewals and commercial relationships with Alpaca's enterprise partners. Partnered with R&D and Business Development to deliver competitive intelligence and product insights that directly informed platform updates — embodying the CSM role as the internal champion for partner needs.

Resolved 100+ complex partner and user issues — including account risk flags, KYC disputes, and technical trading queries — achieving 95% CSAT through root-cause analysis and precise, empathetic resolution. Guided 1,000+ users through platform policies, trading products, and compliance requirements — demonstrating the educational advisory approach central to Alpaca's trusted partner model. Optimised AI chatbot infrastructure to improve automated query handling, reducing response time by 30% and improving CSAT by 20% — contributing to platform scalability without sacrificing service quality.

Researched and analysed economic, financial, and political data on China-Africa trade relations, producing strategic reports for institutional decision-makers — demonstrating the analytical and communication rigour expected in senior B2B client-facing roles. Produced high-quality bilingual (EN/ZH) research and translations, grounding a strong foundation in international financial markets and cross-cultural communication relevant to Alpaca's global EMEA partner base.