Head of Sales Kenya & Business Development East Africa - Diagnostics at Roche Kenya

The Position

Roche Diagnostics is seeking a Head of Sales Kenya and Business Development Lead for East Africa, to be based in Nairobi. The successful incumbent will lead the strategic and operational delivery of the East Africa Roche Diagnostics business.

Key Responsibilities

Among other duties the role will entail:

Business Development and Operational Management

• Contribute to the organisational strategic plan by understanding the organisational vision, identifying, developing and drafting the key commercial strategic inputs and providing these inputs to the organisational strategic plan annually.
• Develop the Roche Diagnostics East Africa long term plan(country plans) in alignment with the Strategic Planning (e.g. ISPs), Business Plan and Pan-Africa strategy by undertaking research and drafting the country plans, aligning with the overall long-term organisational strategy and vision annually,
• Ensure business development alignment with the other Roche divisions present in the East Africa region to achieve the OneRoche goals.
• Prepare “what-if” scenarios for implementation in the country by reviewing the country policy and legislation, monitoring the country political and financial situation and stability and drafting the scenarios to address any possible outcome as required.
• Contribute to the integrated strategic plan by identifying key projects, activities and inputs, prioritising the projects, setting targets, managing the country inputs and reviewing the overall integrated brand plans annually.
• Develop the East Africa operational plans (e.g. country plans) by identifying key projects, activities and inputs, prioritising the projects, setting targets, managing the country inputs and compiling the operational plans annually.
• Define and develop new business models in support of the delivery of the strategic targets by undertaking research, developing the models, testing and implementing as required.
• Co-lead, along with senior management and local counter-parts (i.e. technical services, access, marketing, medical, regulatory & quality, legal & compliance, etc.) any transformation process by identifying transformation targets, communicating targets to the East Africa team, monitoring progress of implementation against transformation targets and addressing any areas of concern as required.
• Report on performance by tracking East Africa performance against targets, identifying progress and areas of concern, drafting reports and submitting monthly and as required.
• Manage operational performance by tracking performance against targets, identifying anomalies and implementing corrective action monthly and as required.
• Ensure full alignment of strategy and operations with the technical services peers and counterparts in the region.
• Lead the knowledge and communication sharing process for East Africa with other / international Roche product teams and other relevant stakeholders by developing inputs, preparing communications and participating in discussion forums as required.
• Lead the client engagement philosophy by managing the key opinion leaders and key decisions makers relationships, attending meetings and presenting at executive level as required.

Country Advocacy

• Lead the Regional Managers of the East Africa countries in scope in the business development efforts to achieve sustainable business growth.
• Lead the advocacy activities with prioritised country ministries to establish relationships to support the optimisation of commercial opportunities for Roche within the country as required.
• Manage the relationship with the prioritised country ministries by establishing contact with relevant stakeholders, engaging with them on their priorities, providing information and feedback as required.
• Develop the country advocacy strategic plan by reviewing the country policies and priorities, aligning with the Roche strategy, and drafting the supporting documentation and memorandum of understandings as required.
• Negotiate the commercial agreement with the country ministries by preparing the agreement, negotiating terms and conditions with the country, finalising the agreement and securing authorised signatures as required.
• Develop innovative pricing solutions in line with Global guidelines and optimal access and outcomes by reviewing the regulations, drafting and testing the pricing solutions, submitting for approval and implementing as required.

Contract Management

• Manage contracts with key clients, distributors and wholesalers by tracking performance in line with the contract, providing feedback on performance, identifying anomalies and implementing corrective action monthly and as required.
• Manage contracts with third party distributors and marketing agreements by tracking performance, providing feedback and reporting on progress, making recommendations for improvement, identifying risks and anomalies and implementing corrective action monthly and as required.

Stakeholder Engagement and Management

• Manage relationships with key clients and Business Partners and marketing agreements by engaging with key decision makers, monitoring the relationship and addressing any queries or concerns monthly and as required.
• Develop relationships and partnerships with new clients, distributors, wholesalers and stakeholders by scanning the market, identifying key parties, developing and structuring partnership agreements and arrangements and engaging with them monthly and as required.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders by providing input and supporting business activities, gathering inputs and integrating into business models and reporting on progress and impact monthly and as required.
• Represent Roche at customer functions by attending the function, participating in an appropriate manner, maintain and build the customer relationship and providing feedback to the business as required.
• Respond to customer specific requirements by receiving the brief, developing the required solution and presenting within the required timeframes and to quality standards as required.

Financial Management

• Develop the East Africa business development budget by identifying activities and costs, preparing the budget and submitting it annually and as when required.
• Manage the profitability of East Africa Roche Diagnostics by tracking profitability, identifying any issues and implementing corrective action monthly.
• Manage expenditure by tracking spend against budget allocations, approving expenditure, address any budget variances and provide feedback monthly and as required.

Governance

• Participate in executive meetings by preparing reports, presenting reports, answering queries and implementing decisions as required.
• Manage the development and implementation of policies and procedures by reviewing policies, identifying policy gaps, drafting policies and managing implementation of policies annually and as required.
• Monitor compliance with policies and procedures including the delegation of authority, identify areas of non-compliance, address non-compliance and track improvements as required.
• Monitor legislative and regulatory changes by reviewing the landscape, identifying changes, analysing and interpreting the impact of the changes, integrating the changes into the policies and procedures and communicating these changes as required.  

Staff Leadership & Management

• Define staff requirements, resourcing the team by retaining, recruiting, selecting and appointing staff as required, inducting new staff members, monitoring and managing performance and managing staff development.

You, as an ideal candidate, will have the following skills, experience and education:

• Required Qualification: Degree in a relevant discipline (Business Management, Marketing, Finance or a Healthcare qualification as examples).
• Required Experience: 7-10 years commercial experience in the Life Sciences / Biotechnology / Pharma industry.