Business Development Manager

Saint-Gobain Africa; Midrand; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Job summary

Saint-Gobain Africa is seeking an ambitious Business Development Manager - Infrastructure to drive growth across major projects. You will build strong customer relationships, influence specifications and bring technical expertise to complex infrastructure, transport and energy developments, partnering with regional teams to exceed commercial targets.

The role involves developing commercial strategies, engaging specifiers, and delivering on a robust project pipeline with strong cross-functional

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree/National Diploma in Civil Engineering or Construction Management.
• Civil Engineering qualification with a focus on construction materials.
• Good working knowledge of current design packages (e.g., AutoCAD).
• At least 3 years proven technical expert within their field; building services/architectural background advantageous.
• Proven experience promoting engineered solutions and specifications.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement viable commercial strategies for the region.
• Drive new sales growth in large-scale infrastructure projects.
• Own delivery of specifications revenue and manage the regional project pipeline.
• Present to stakeholders on product offerings and capabilities.
• Coach regional sales teams and ensure CRM and marketing guidelines are followed.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Technical sales

Project specification

CRM

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering

Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management

Civil Engineering with construction materials focus

Tools

AutoCAD

Job description

Saint-Gobain is looking for an ambitious Business Development Manager - Infrastructure to shape the future of infrastructure and commercial development. In this high-impact role, you’ll drive growth across major projects, build powerful customer relationships and turn new opportunities into business wins. You’ll influence specifications, engage key industry stakeholders and bring technical expertise to complex projects — partnering with local teams to deliver innovative solutions and exceed ambitious commercial targets for the TMC business.

Key responsibilities:

• Take accountability as a key member of regional sales team to ensure the development of viable commercial strategies and the consistent implementation of these strategies.
• Drive new sales growth in large scale projects in the region by generating leads, building technical relationships, drafting specifications for new infrastructure, transport and energy development projects in the regions to ensure a pipeline of sales growth in large projects and initiatives for the region.
• Accountable for the delivery of annual specifications revenue for the region to ensure sustainable business growth, including but not limited to: Responsible for profitable development of the region’s large scale project pipeline, specifying the range of solutions and new products
• Ensuring regular stakeholder presentations on the business product offerings
• Work across the supply chain, internal and external, engaging specifiers and influencers to promote system solutions following a Project Sales Activity process to ensure spec to order closure.
• Driving appropriate volume/mix and desired service standards across the region.
• Fostering strong customer relationships and customer intimacy in the team.
• Taking personal accountability for key relationships in the industry i.e. Civil/Structural Engineers, Developers, Architects, etc. as required
• Driving opportunities for market share increase in key growth segments.
• Coaching and developing regional sales teams to enable them to provide appropriate project opportunities and deliver results within best practice project management approaches, marketing guidelines and customer relationship management (CRM) practices and other adopted company tools.
• Communicate/embed the entire value proposition to the customer.
• Articulate our value proposition, offering specification expertise and advice on the advantages of our comprehensive product range.
• Proactively identifying new opportunities for enhanced specifications, uncovering and understanding these through application of trained techniques, supply chain knowledge, commercial awareness and in-depth knowledge of customers’ businesses.
• Achievement of local demand forecast in line with regional KPI.
• Ensuring delivery of assigned CPD presentations to client base and where possible within associations to leverage brand, specification and technical expertise offering awareness from Saint-Gobain.
• Work closely with the regional team to provide onsite support activities and warranty offering as appropriate.
• Contribute to cross-functional working/relationships, pro-actively participating in and delivering on commitments within sectors to support and lead business goals
• Responsibility for safety aspects within area of responsibility and instilling awareness within one’s team members.
• Manage product performance issues in line with Company guidelines.
• Qualifications required to fulfil the role
• Bachelor’s degree/National Diploma in Civil Engineering
• Bachelor’s degree/National Diploma in Construction Management.
• Civil Engineering qualification with a focus on construction material
• Good working knowledge of current design packages e.g. AutoCAD
• At least 3 years proven technical expert within their field - experienced architectural technician, building services engineer would be advantageous
• Successful promotion of engineered solutions /specifications
• Engineering perspective with ability to identify innovative solutions
• Ability to interpret technical designs from two dimensional to three dimensional.
• Knowledge of construction process stages and ability to identify opportunities to improve efficiency within a customers’ construction programme.
• The ability to articulate a high degree of technical knowledge to key stakeholders (external and internal) to enable translation of opportunity into commercial benefit
• Supply chain awareness, understanding the process and identifying/targeting opportunities.

\"We value the importance of a diverse workforce as a cornerstone of our business success. Our primary focus in selecting the most suitable candidates for our roles is based on their skills, qualifications, and experience. We wholeheartedly embrace the principle of equal opportunity in our employment processes and are committed to eliminating any unlawful discrimination in our hiring practices\"