Head of Sales- East Africa at Krones LCS Center East Africa Limited

Job description

Overview of the Job function “Head of Sales East Africa”

The Krones companies in the Region is a 100% subsidiaries of KRONES AG in Germany. Our clients are active in the Liquid Food, Food, Body and Healthcare, Cosmetics & chemistry industry.

The annual turnover in the Region is in a 2 digit million EUR area. The local presence is intended to be further strengthened and developed within the next 3-5 years. On a yearly base, the budgeting and business plans will be discussed and agreed with the headquarter.

The Head of New Machine Sales East Africa will be part of the local executive management team together with the Managing Director and Head of IOS (International Operations and Services). The reporting line will be to Krones Kenia’s Managing Director in a solid line and functionally to Head of Sales Africa, located in Germany.

Leadership, strong communication, business and strategic understanding, including experience with growth and organisational development are cornerstones of this exciting task in a matrix organisation. As communication and cultural proximity are crucial, proficiency in at least English is a must and ideally one local country language is required.

Tasks & Responsibilities

• Create contacts with potential customers and develop close business relationships
• Win profitable orders in line with Krones sales policies
• Increase business effectiveness and relationships with customers and other stakeholders
• Create and regularly follow up on an effective customer data base with regards to contact persons, inquiries, offers
• Translate the Krones’ AG objectives into a competitive long-term sales strategy
• Identify measures for achieving the targets and counteracting in cases of deviation from plans
• Develop and maintain constructive relationship with various stakeholders
• Develop a strong network and build up partnership for the development of Krones
• Use and promote Krones CRM tools
• Observe and implement customer satisfaction measures as an integral part of all activities
• Promote the Krones brand and product and service portfolio to bring value to the Eastern African markets
• Benchmark Krones equipment and solutions in Eastern Africa in order to continuously improve competitiveness
• Define and implement a sales strategy for Eastern African markets
• Ensure for timely execution of sales plans and actions
• Contribute and maintain a sales budget for individual projects and the Eastern African sales region as a whole

Qualification and experiences

• University degree in Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Process Engineering or Business Administration with a solid technical understanding
• At least 5 years of experience in a management position
• Demonstrate maturity in dealing with complexities in a business environment
• Proven achievements in developing a division or medium-sized companies
• Experiences in matrix organisations and cross country Management in Africa
• Good knowledge in internal control systems

Skills and Personal competency

• Strong contractual negotiation skills
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Intercultural expertise
• Basic understanding of Bottling plants and our Krones product portfolio
• A results-driven mindset, an awareness of the key issues along with an ability to ensure their professional resolution
• Quickly adopting Krones’ values and implementing them as a standard
• Create a motivating environment for staff and executives (agile, modern, flexible, supporting and challenging)
• Willingness and commitment to assume responsibility and work independently as well as within a team
• Fluent English language skills. Knowledge of German language is an advantage

Management Ability

• Strong leadership of teams and executives of the company
• Entrepreneurial attitude, strong analytical and strategic thinking, negotiation skills, authentic and target-oriented
• Initiator and role model
• Highly motivated to analyse complex matters and provide possible solutions
• Being able to take on different, political challenges in the company and to solve them from an entrepreneurial and human point of view (high level of soft skills, particularly in handling different personalities and nationalities)
• Pragmatic “can-do” attitude and “hands-on” approach to achieve the targets

Other

• Willingness to travel extensively in the Region of Eastern Africa and Germany, 60% travel time

Starting date of employment

• As soon as possible

Remuneration package

• Market related. Fringe benefits such as a car & telephone.