Commercial Lead Inputs

Nile Fresh (Pty) Ltd; Pretoria; On-site; ZAR 700,000 - 1,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Nile.ag in Pretoria is seeking a Commercial Lead to eventually take ownership of the day-to-day running of our Inputs commercial team. You will manage the Relationship Manager team, drive business development, and own key supplier relationships with a clear path to growth.

This broad, generalist role starts with people leadership and expands into commercial ownership, supplier negotiations, and cross-functional coordination as you prove credibility within the business.

Qualifications

• Experience: >5 years of people-management experience, ideally managing individuals with autonomy or specialist judgement.
• Commercial exposure: direct experience in a commercial, trading or sales environment with margin/pricing/relationships.
• Agri value chain understanding: agriculture or agri-inputs experience is an advantage.
• Leadership: proven track record of earning respect and trust of a team.
• Commercial instinct: able to lead a team and close deals while managing operations.
• Energy & drive: entrepreneurial, coachable, ambitious to grow into a head-of-function role.
• Adaptability: comfortable with a shifting scope as you grow.

Responsibilities

• Take over day-to-day management of the Relationship Manager team with regular 1:1s and performance follow-through.
• Identify and pursue new commercial opportunities and represent the Inputs team externally.
• Build and manage supplier relationships and coordinate with finance on pricing or credit terms.
• Keep day-to-day sales and margin activity on track and manage operating rhythms.
• Coordinate with finance and operations and with suppliers to move deals forward.
• Take on new commercial initiatives and grow into broader ownership of the Inputs function.

Skills

People leadership

Business development

Supplier relationships

Commercial operations

Stakeholder coordination

Team building

Job description

About Nile.ag

Nile's mission is to enhance the livelihoods of both farmers and consumers throughout Africa. By providing a digital ecosystem that streamlines trading and transactions, we help farmers improve their economic viability while ensuring food remains affordable for consumers. Our all-in-one application allows farmers to sell produce, access funds, and manage input procurement and financing.

We are a high-growth company backed by institutional investors, including Naspers and the Dutch Development Bank (FMO). Our founding team brings together experience from world-class organisations such as Amazon, J.P. Morgan, and Luno. Learn more about us at www.nile.ag/about

Our Team & Culture

We are committed to building a high-performing team that is passionate about fundamentally transforming Africa's food systems. Nile's work environment is fast-paced, modern, and fun, reflecting the nature of our high-growth business. We operate daily based on our core values, which form the foundation of all our decisions.

Our Inputs team is growing fast, and the person in this role will be central to how it scales. We need someone with real fire in the belly: comfortable with ambiguity, happy to run a team day-to-day while also getting hands-on with suppliers and new business, and driven by building something that gets bigger and more capable under their watch.

The Role

At Nile, we view roles as opportunities for personal development; as our business evolves, so will your role. We are seeking a Commercial Lead to eventually take direct ownership of the day-to-day running of our Inputs commercial team. This is a prominent, high-visibility role — you will manage our Relationship Manager team, drive business development, and own key supplier relationships, with a clear path to growth.

This is a deliberately broad, generalist role. Scope will be added deliberately and in sequence as you build credibility with the team and the business — starting with people leadership, then business development, then supplier relationships and broader commercial ownership.

The successful applicant will take ownership of the following:

• Team Leadership: Take over day-to-day management of the Relationship Manager team — regular 1:1s, coaching, goal-setting and performance follow-through — and own the operating rhythm that keeps the team on track between strategic check-ins.
• Business Development: Identify and pursue new commercial opportunities in agreed priority areas — new clients, geographies or product lines — and represent the Inputs team in external commercial conversations.
• Supplier Relationships: Build and manage key supplier relationships and terms, coordinating with the finance team where pricing or credit terms are involved.
• Commercial Operations: Keep the team's day-to-day sales and margin activity on track, catching the operational detail that is required in a fast-growing business.
• Stakeholder Coordination: Work closely with Nile's finance and operations teams internally, and with suppliers and commercial partners externally, to keep deals and relationships moving.
• Team & Business Building: Take on new commercial initiatives as they arise, growing into broader ownership of the Inputs commercial function over time.

• Experience: >5 years of people-management experience, ideally managing individuals with real autonomy or specialist judgment in their role — not purely junior or administrative staff.
• Commercial Exposure: Direct, firsthand experience in a commercial, trading or sales environment, with some exposure to margin, pricing or client-relationship dynamics.
• Agri Value Chain Understanding: Agriculture, agri-inputs or related trading sector experience is an advantage, but not a requirement — a fast willingness to learn the sector deeply matters more.
• Leadership: A genuine track record of earning the respect and trust of a team, including people more experienced or specialised than yourself.
• Commercial Instinct: Comfortable being both a people manager and a dealmaker — able to run a team, originate a relationship, and stay on top of the operational detail, all at once.
• Energy & Drive: Young-at-heart, energetic and entrepreneurial, with genuine ambition to grow into a head-of-function role — and the coachability to get there.
• Adaptability: Comfortable with a role whose scope will shift as you grow into it, and an open-minded approach to new ways of working.

Nile offers competitive remuneration, with opportunities to advance your career within a fast-growing company.

We offer a vibrant work environment where you get to collaborate with highly motivated team members.