Business Development Manager

Sharpshell Engineering; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Sharpshell Engineering is seeking a high-calibre Business Development Manager to drive significant revenue growth across mining, petrochemical, power and related sectors. You will open major accounts, access senior decision-makers, and shape multi-year opportunities from initial discovery through to PO and ongoing account expansion.

The role requires 5+ years in B2B industrial sales, a technical or engineering background, and a proven ability to manage multimillion-rand opportunities with

Qualifications

• 5+ years B2B business-development or industrial sales experience.
• Experience selling into mining, petrochemical, oil & gas, power, manufacturing or similar heavy-industry environments.
• Evidence of personally developing new accounts.
• Experience with technical or engineering services.
• Experience managing multimillion-rand opportunities.
• Strong tender and commercial-negotiation exposure.
• Established ability to engage senior decision-makers.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Strong CRM/pipeline-management discipline.
• Driver's licence and willingness to travel extensively.

Responsibilities

• Build a serious new-business pipeline by identifying and penetrating new accounts.
• Get access to real decision-makers beyond buyers and junior contacts.
• Move opportunities through Proposal → Decision → Award → Purchase Order.
• Win larger opportunities and manage multimillion-rand engagements.
• Build strategic accounts and develop long-term recurring revenue.
• Improve conversion of tenders and quotations while protecting margin.
• Turn customer intelligence into growth and collaborate with Engineering, Operations and Finance.
• Coordinate with Engineering, Estimating, Operations and Finance to deliver on promises.
• Escalate strategic opportunities requiring executive support.

Skills

Business development

Industrial sales

Key account management

Senior stakeholder engagement

Tender & negotiations

CRM / Pipeline management

Education

Engineering/Technical qualification

Tools

CRM software

Job description

SHARPSHELL ENGINEERING

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

Industrial Engineering | Mining | Power | Petrochemical | Oil & Gas

Location: Johannesburg / Gauteng

Travel: Extensive travel to client sites across South Africa; regional African travel may be required later

Reporting to: Engineering Director

Role Type: Senior Commercial / Business Development

WE ARE NOT LOOKING FOR AN ORDINARY SALESPERSON

Sharpshell Engineering is looking for an exceptional Business Development Manager capable of materially changing the growth trajectory of the business.

This role is for a proven industrial business developer who can enter major accounts, identify opportunities before they become public RFQs, gain access to technical and commercial decision-makers, develop complex engineering opportunities and convert them into profitable long-term contracts.

We are not looking for someone whose sales process ends when a quotation is submitted.

We are looking for someone who understands that:

A quotation is not a sale. A pipeline is not revenue. A verbal promise is not a purchase order.

The successful candidate must be able to take opportunities through the complete commercial journey:

Market Intelligence → Prospecting → Executive Access → Technical Discovery → Opportunity Qualification → Solution Development → Commercial Strategy → Proposal → Negotiation → Decision → Purchase Order → Account Expansion

This is a high-accountability growth role for someone who wants to build something significant.

THE MANDATE

The Business Development Manager will be expected to help Sharpshell Engineering achieve a step-change in revenue, market penetration and quality of customer relationships.

The mandate includes:

• winning major new industrial customers;
• increasing revenue from existing strategic accounts;
• converting large engineering opportunities into purchase orders;
• developing long-term maintenance and framework contracts;
• opening new sectors and geographical markets;
• improving Sharpshell's win rate on high-value opportunities;
• creating a disciplined and predictable sales pipeline;
• protecting gross margins while remaining commercially competitive; and
• building senior relationships that make Sharpshell difficult to displace.

The objective is not incremental growth.

The objective is to develop a business-development engine capable of producing sustained, profitable and repeatable growth.

TARGET MARKETS

The successful candidate should be capable of developing opportunities across sectors such as:

• Mining
• Gold, Platinum, Chrome and Coal operations
• Petrochemical
• Oil & Gas
• Power Generation
• Utilities
• Heavy Manufacturing
• Food & Beverage Manufacturing
• Pulp & Paper
• Industrial Processing
• Municipal and State-Owned Infrastructure
• Large industrial maintenance environments

The candidate should be comfortable dealing with organisations such as major mines, refineries, power stations, manufacturing plants and industrial asset owners.

SHARPSHELL'S SOLUTION ENVIRONMENT

The Business Development Manager will develop opportunities involving services such as:

Mechanical Engineering & Maintenance

Corrosion Protection

Industrial Cleaning

Civil & Structural Engineering

Consulting Engineering

The successful candidate does not need to personally design these solutions, but must have enough technical understanding to sell them credibly and bring the appropriate engineers into the sales process.

WHAT YOU WILL BE EXPECTED TO DO

1. Build a serious new-business pipeline

You will systematically identify and penetrate new accounts rather than wait for RFQs to arrive.

You will create opportunities before competitors know they exist.

2. Get access to the real decision-makers

This is not a role for someone comfortable dealing only with buyers and junior contacts.

You must build relationships with:

• Plant Managers;Engineering Managers;Maintenance Managers;Reliability Managers
• Asset Managers;Project Managers;Procurement Managers;Commercial Managers
• Technical Specialists;Mine Management;Operations Executives

You must understand the customer's decision architecture and know:

Who can say yes? Who can say no? Who influences the technical decision? Who controls the budget?

3. Move opportunities - don't just report them

The Business Development Manager must actively create movement from:

Proposal → Decision → Award → Purchase Order

4. Win larger opportunities

Sharpshell is specifically looking for someone capable of winning substantial industrial work.

The successful candidate must be comfortable pursuing opportunities ranging from routine maintenance orders to multimillion-rand engineering and maintenance contracts.

You must be capable of managing a sales process that lasts several months without losing momentum or control.

5. Build strategic accounts - not just individual quotations

Major customers must be managed as accounts.

We want someone who can turn one successful job into multiple divisions, multiple sites and long-term recurring revenue.

6. Improve conversion of tenders and quotations

You will not simply submit quotations and wait. Where permitted by the customer's procurement process, you will drive clarification, positioning and stakeholder engagement before and after submission.

7. Protect margin

Revenue without profit is not success.

Discounts must never be given simply because a customer asks.

Any price concession should produce something in return,

8. Turn customer intelligence into growth

The successful candidate must continuously gather commercial intelligence.

This information must be converted into sales strategy - not merely collected.

9. Work closely with Engineering, Operations and Finance

Business Development cannot operate in isolation.

You will coordinate with:

Engineering

To develop technically credible solutions.

Estimating

To produce commercially competitive quotations.

Operations

To ensure Sharpshell can actually deliver what is promised.

Finance

To protect margin, payment terms and cash conversion.

Management

To escalase strategic opportunities requiring executive support.

A successful sale is one that Sharpshell can win, execute profitably, invoice and collect.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

The Business Development Manager will ultimately be assessed on outcomes, including:

• profitable new orders;
• gross profit generated;
• new key accounts opened;
• strategic‑account revenue growth;
• pipeline value;
• qualified pipeline coverage;
• Proposal-to-Decision conversion;
• Decision-to-Won conversion;
• average deal size;
• tender win rate;
• new-customer revenue;
• customer diversification;
• sales-cycle speed;
• forecast accuracy; and
• cash quality of business won.

Activity matters.

Results matter more.

THE PERSON WE ARE LOOKING FOR

You are likely to succeed in this role if you are:

• commercially aggressive without being reckless;
• technically credible;
• comfortable speaking to engineers and executives;
• a strong prospector;
• an excellent relationship builder;
• highly disciplined in follow up;
• confident in negotiation;
• able to defend value and price;
• persistent without becoming desperate;
• analytical about lost opportunities;
• comfortable with targets;
• accountable for your commitments; and
• motivated by building a business rather than simply earning a salary.

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

Candidates should ideally have:

• 5+ years' B2B business-development or industrial sales experience, with strong evidence of winning complex work;
• experience selling into mining, petrochemical, oil & gas, power, manufacturing or similar heavy-industry environments;
• evidence of personally developing new accounts;
• experience with technical or engineering services;
• experience managing multimillion-rand opportunities;
• strong tender and commercial-negotiation exposure;
• established ability to engage senior decision-makers;
• excellent written and verbal communication;
• strong CRM/pipeline-management discipline;
• driver's licence and willingness to travel extensively.

An engineering, technical or commercial qualification will be advantageous.

WE ARE PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN CANDIDATES WHO CAN SHOW

At interview, expect to discuss actual examples of:

1. A major customer you personally opened from zero.
2. A multimillion-rand deal you personally helped win.
3. How you obtained access to a difficult decision‑maker.
4. A large opportunity you lost — and exactly why.
5. A price objection you successfully overcame without destroying margin.
6. An account you grew materially over several years.
7. How you build a pipeline rather than wait for inbound RFQs.
8. Your personal approach to moving a quotation from Proposal to PO.
9. Your largest annual sales result.
10. The value of the pipeline you currently manage.

We will be interested in evidence, numbers and specific examples, not generic statements about being "passionate about sales".

THIS ROLE WILL NOT SUIT YOU IF

You rely primarily on inbound enquiries.

You believe sending quotations is selling.

You avoid asking customers difficult commercial questions.

You are uncomfortable approaching senior executives.

You wait indefinitely for customers to "come back to you".

You automatically discount when challenged on price.

You cannot explain why deals were lost.

You need your manager to repeatedly tell you whom to call next.

You prefer maintaining existing accounts to building new ones.

You are looking for a comfortable sales‑management title rather than a serious growth mandate.

WHY JOIN SHARPSHELL ENGINEERING?

This is an opportunity to help build a substantial African industrial engineering business.

The opportunity for growth is significant.

The successful Business Development Manager will have the opportunity to shape markets, build strategic accounts and directly influence the future scale of the business.

This is not a maintenance role.

It is a growth role.