Head of Sales E&I BU (New Business) - Full Time

Africa region

At Sulzer, you are in charge of your career and continued development. Take the opportunity to broaden your skills by seeking new roles that reflect your experience. Create your own impact by building solutions that help make lives safer, smarter and more sustainable.

Join our Energy & Infrastructure team within Flow Equipment division in South Africa as Head of sales to help us take our business development to the next level. 

As the ideal candidate you are able to combine your profound technical expertise with your excellent social skills to effectively manage a team of sales experts. You should have a technical degree, as well as several years of work experience in a sales position. Ideally, you have already gained first managerial experience. Experience in the Energy (O&G, Power, Renewables) and Engineered Water industry (Water Intake, pipelines and desalination) with experience in handling Capital equipment or similar product as pumps is a must.

Role Definition:

Manage and direct the Sales activities within the region to ensure consistent growth in orders and profit to grow sales into the Region and meet the objectives of the company's overall business plans and strategies. Responsible for the overall coordination, functional management, and leadership of all commercial activity. Work closely with the local team as well as the E&I BU team to ensure adequate support to the needs of customer to achieve the objectives of the company's overall business plans and strategies.
 

Your main tasks and responsibilities:

• Overall responsibility to ensure that tenders meet company commercial guidelines and have the necessary sign off in accordance with the delegation of authority guidelines.
• Responsible for developing and implementing growth plans in line with the regional strategy. 
• Maintain contact with key customers and stay ahead of impending projects.
• Ensure effective client relationship building and put in place management processes (including acting on feedback from Customer Satisfaction Surveys) to positively influence the client and create a pre-disposition to view Sulzer as the preferred source of supply.
• Develop and manage sales channels, sales planning, regional sales agents, segment training and promotional activities.
• Develop, manage and motivate a regional sales team (talent attracting, developing, and retaining the required skills, according to the strategy and growth plan).
• Work together with other teams to develop sales strategies for the region and produce accurate sales forecasts.
• Maintain knowledge of market and industry trends, competitors, and leading customer strategies
• Responsible for budget planning, forecasting and monthly reporting.
• Maintain relevant areas of CRM database, ensuring that Sulzer sales forecast and best prospect lists are provided to schedule.
• Attendance at monthly sales operations meetings and completion of fortnightly updates to relevant areas of the business to ensure overall visibility of sales pipeline and order status.

To succeed in this role, you will need:

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant engineering discipline or similar. 
• A post-graduate business qualification or can clearly demonstrate experience of running a successful business.

Experience:

• A minimum of 10 years Graduate / post-graduate working experience.
• Post-graduate training in a mechanical engineering OEM preferably (although not essential) and with a strong knowledge about centrifugal pump or rotating equipment industry.
• Solid background of sales management (min. 5 years) in an engineering services fast moving and growing environment.
• Strong people management experience, evidence of setting up a successful team and used to matrix organization.
• Experience in setting up new business opportunities.
• Regional experience > 10 years.
• Experience with international companies preferably with good exposure to African market as well as customers in the region.
• Experience with Salesforce or similar CRM tools. Reasonable knowledge of MS Office suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel & analytical tools).

Personal Characteristics:

• Strong developing & leadership skills.
• Willing to go the extra mile, every time. 
• Results oriented and with a clear ambition to grow the business.
• Oriented towards teamwork and building a successful team.
• Culturally sensitive and able to work within a culturally diverse environment
• Lateral thinker and can demonstrate creative problem-solving skills.
• Level-headed and able to remain calm in difficult and stressful situations.
• Able to collaborate with others at all levels in the organization.
• Able to develop and maintain cross-functional links with a view to maximizing cross-selling opportunities.
• English fluent, Arabic will be an added advantage.

Have a question about the role? Reach out to the talent acquisition team at the following email address: recruitmentsa@sulzer.com. We are looking forward to hearing from you!

Sulzer is an equal opportunity employer. We believe in the strength of a diverse workforce and are committed to offering an inclusive work environment. 
 

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