Country Manager – Southern & English-Speaking Sub-Saharan Africa

Beckman Coulter Diagnostics; Gauteng; On-site; ZAR 2 037 000 - 2 717 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading global diagnostics firm is seeking a Country Manager for Southern & English-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa. This senior role involves defining commercial strategy, overseeing sales teams, and ensuring P&L accountability. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in Diagnostics and proven leadership abilities. Join and lead commercial operations that have a significant impact on healthcare across Africa. This position aims to develop future senior leaders within the company and offers a dynamic opportunity for market expansion.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in business management within Diagnostics, Medical Devices, or Life Sciences.
• 5–7 years in Sales leadership in the IVD industry.
• Proven track record in P&L ownership and commercial strategy execution.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead the commercial strategy across South Africa & English-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Lead high-performing sales teams through strong commercial stewardship.
• Collaborate across the MEA matrix to build integrated solutions.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Negotiation

Leadership presence

Financial acumen

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Management, Finance, Business, Life Sciences

MBA

Job description

Country Manager – Southern & English-Speaking Sub-Saharan Africa

Beckman Coulter Diagnostics is seeking an exceptional, forward-thinking Country Manager to lead and elevate our commercial operations across South Africa and all English-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa (covering the entire African continent except North Africa and French-speaking countries).

This is a mission-critical senior leadership role, carrying full P&L ownership, legal signatory authority, and end-to-end responsibility for direct and indirect commercial operations across one of the most strategic territories in MEA.

More importantly, this role is positioned as a succession pipeline for a future Senior Director / General Manager within the Danaher Diagnostics Platform.

We are intentionally seeking a leader who can grow with us — someone who demonstrates both operational mastery and the strategic depth to take on bigger leadership mandates in the near future.

About The Role

The Country Manager will serve as the face of Beckman Coulter Diagnostics across the region — leading commercial strategy, accelerating growth, building strong customer and government relationships, and strengthening our presence and brand equity across all English-speaking African markets.

This role is ideal for a hands-on, inspiring, and strategically minded leader who thrives in a matrix environment and is passionate about developing people, shaping markets, and building a future-ready commercial organization.

Key Responsibilities

Commercial Leadership : Define and lead the commercial strategy across South Africa & English-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa in full alignment with regional and global vision.

Lead high-performing direct and indirect sales teams through strong commercial stewardship and accountability.

Act as the senior representative of Beckman Coulter with customers, ministries of health, regulators, and industry bodies.

Embed the Voice of the Customer (VOC) in commercial decision-making.

Drive channel excellence with strong distributor scorecards, governance, and capability building.

Collaborate across the MEA matrix (Service, Applications, Marketing, Finance, HR, Supply Chain) to build integrated, competitive solutions.

Monitor market and competitive trends, ensuring proactive and innovative responses.

Ensure compliance to all legal, regulatory, and internal governance standards.

Business Development & Market Growth: Develop 3-year strategic business plans, annual operating plans, and growth priorities.

Identify new market segments, product opportunities, and customer clusters across the region.

Strengthen relationships with key opinion leaders, healthcare institutions, and national programmes.

Drive tender excellence, pricing strategy, and market access execution (including NHLS and regional tenders).

Optimize product portfolio performance to deliver sustainable market share expansion.

Financial & Legal Oversight: Full P&L responsibility, ensuring revenue, margin, and profitability targets are achieved.

Lead forecasting, budgeting, and financial analysis with accuracy and transparency.

Own accounts receivable performance, working with Finance to safeguard cash flow.

Ensure compliance with all corporate and local legal requirements.

Leadership & Talent Development: Build and inspire a high-performance, high-accountability culture across the region.

Develop talent pipelines and ensure strong succession planning for critical roles.

Coach and mentor teams using the Danaher Business System (DBS) to drive continuous improvement.

Assess organisational structure to ensure readiness for future scale and operational excellence.

Key Performance Indicators

Quarterly & annual revenue and margin growth

Market share expansion in South Africa & SSA

Customer satisfaction and VOC indicators

Distributor scorecard performance and governance

Forecast accuracy and operating rhythm discipline

Compliance to legal, financial, and ethical standards

Talent development and retention of top performers

Effective execution of new product launches and market-entry initiatives

Strength of cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder engagement

Implementation of DBS and continuous improvement initiatives

Qualifications & Experience

Bachelor's degree in Management, Finance, Business, Life Sciences, or equivalent

MBA preferred

10+ years in business management within Diagnostics, Medical Devices, or Life Sciences

5–7 years in Sales leadership in the IVD industry

3–5 years managing distributor networks in regulated markets

6+ years of people leadership

Proven track record in P&L ownership, tender management, and commercial strategy execution

Experience with NHLS and African healthcare systems is highly desirable

Preferred Skills

Strong strategic thinking with long-term vision

Advanced negotiation and stakeholder management

Excellent executive communication and leadership presence

Deep understanding of compliance, governance, and quality systems

High financial acumen

Ability to lead in a multicultural, matrixed environment

Strong operational discipline with DBS / Lean experience

Analytical mindset and problem-solving capability

Ability to build trust with customers, governments, and internal stakeholders

Why Join Beckman Coulter Diagnostics?

Be part of a global leader in clinical diagnostics, shaping healthcare outcomes across an entire continent.

Lead one of the most dynamic, high-potential regions with strong opportunities for market expansion and innovation.

Join a culture that rewards performance, integrity, and continuous development.

Build your path toward a bigger leadership role within the Danaher Diagnostics Platform – this role is deliberately positioned as a succession role for a future senior leader.

Make a real impact on laboratories, clinicians, and millions of patients across Africa.

Join our winning team today.

Together, we'll accelerate the real-life impact of tomorrow's science and technology.

We partner with customers across the globe to help them solve their most complex challenges, architecting solutions that bring the power of science to life.