National Technical Manager

Watershed Consulting; Sandton; On-site; ZAR 1 200 000 - 1 500 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading consulting firm in the automotive sector seeks a National Technical Manager in Sandton. The successful candidate will act as a key technical liaison with OEMs, manage warranties, and lead cross-departmental collaborations. The role requires a BEng degree and over 5 years in a technical role. The ideal applicant will demonstrate strong problem-solving and communication skills, with an emphasis on customer service and technical compliance. This position offers an impactful opportunity in a dynamic environment.

Benefits

Career development opportunities

Competitive salary and benefits

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in a technical or engineering role, with at least 2 years in an OEM-facing capacity.
• Strong understanding of product lifecycle management and engineering change processes.
• Excellent problem-solving, project management, and organizational skills.

Responsibilities

• Manage technical relationships with OEM partners.
• Oversee Technical Support Cases and response turnaround time.
• Provide technical training to dealers as required.

Skills

Customer Centricity

Decision-making ability based on fact analysis

Multilingual capabilities

Strong problem-solving skills

Excellent communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, electrical, or industrial engineering

10 years automotive technical experience

Tools

GWS

SSNW

Litmos

Job description

Position: National Technical Manager

Business Unit: Automotive - Global Vehicle Brand

Location: Sandton

Reporting to: Aftersales Director

Job purpose and deliverables

The OEM Technical Manager acts as the primary technical liaison between the company and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). This role is responsible for managing all technical aspects of OEM partnerships, ensuring seamless integration, support, and compliance with performance and quality standards. The ideal candidate has a strong engineering background, excellent communication skills, and proven experience in OEM collaboration.

Key deliverables and outputs

• Lead technical discussions and manage technical relationships with OEM partners.
• Oversee Technical Support Cases and the turnaround Time of response from the team
• Coordinate the technical support system, establish a rapid response procedure for complex faults, and reduce customer complaint rates
• Provide technical and non-technical training to dealers according to business requirements

Oversee Warranty Manager roles and cost control budget for the warranty basket

• Warranty policy benchmark and warranty cost calculation.
• Quickly approve warranty applications from dealers based on all materials submitted in the GWS system
• Goodwill policy released and management
• Conduct regular audits to ensure compliance in all aspects of warranty operations.
• Monitor warranty claims and ensure that they are handled in a way that doesn't lead to excessive financial loss

Technical Support and Training

• Oversee Technical Training content and student attendance and pathway
• Oversee Service Plan claiming process and validation and turn around time of approval and payment
• Coordinate and support the integration of OEM products into company systems and platforms.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including Parts, Product, Sales and Dealer Development
• Ensure compliance with all technical standards, certifications, and regulatory requirements.
• Oversee testing , validation, and troubleshooting of OEM vehicles
• Develop and maintain technical documentation, including specifications, manuals, and bulletins and campaigns
• Knowledge of the product and service process knowledge for GROUP VEHICLE BRAND products and services.
• Support field service teams and customers with GROUP VEHICLE BRAND -related technical issues.
• Monitor and report on performance metrics related to GROUP VEHICLE BRAND products.
• Monitor turnaround time and payment terms for GWS claims

Cross-Department Collaboration and Industry Insights

• Collaborate with sales, quality, and R&D departments to provide feedback for product improvement suggestions and reduce warranty costs.
• Track after-sales service trends in new energy vehicles (e.g., three-electric system repairs, OTA updates) and drive service model innovation.
• Internal partner cooperation for cross-functional business, sales team, finance team, purchasing team, product team, network development team, etc.
• External & Internal partner cooperation for cross-functional business, Regulatory Bodies and Government Agencies, distributors, dealers, suppliers, SMIL after-sales team, SMZA product team, R&D Center, SMPV quality team, etc.
• Adhere to relevant laws and regulations, particularly around warranties, safety, and product compliance.

Crisis & Quality Management

• Quick response to customers when an emergency occurs, customer first.
• Establish an emergency technical support procedure to handle emergency risks timely.
• Establish an emergency technical support procedure to handle fatality case in an event where the GROUP VEHICLE BRAND vehicle is written-off due to technical related topics and not client negligence
• Develop and manage Quality issues of the GROUP VEHICLE BRAND vehicles, release and manage recall campaigns to the dealer network

Employees

• Provide clear direction and decisive leadership to direct reports, ensuring all are aligned with the goals and have a clear purpose.
• Set clearly defined performance standards/targets for direct reports, holding them accountable to achieve these and providing support and guidance where needed.
• Create and maintain a constructive atmosphere within the team, engaging and motivating direct reports to always give their best, while respecting any areas of diversity (whether areas of expertise, cultural, gender, age, background, etc)
• Ensure direct reports adhere to set business policies and procedures, emphasising the importance of general discipline at work and objectively correcting and handling any deviations as they arise.
• Set the example to the team and deliver on the employee value proposition by leading the team and the business in line with the GROUP VEHICLE BRAND South Africa Leadership Behaviours.
• Support and encourage direct reports to drive their own individual development plans in order to further grow as professionals in their jobs.

Internal stakeholders

Senior Management and Executives across the business and other functions

External stakeholders

Customers, Suppliers, and dealerships

Essential individual competencies to be successful in the job

Academic qualifications

Essential

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, Electrical, or Industrial Engineering

Advantageous

• 10 Years Automotive Technical Experience

Work experience

Essential

• 5+ years of experience in a technical or engineering role, with at least 2 years in an OEM-facing capacity.
• Strong understanding of product lifecycle management and engineering change processes.
• Familiarity with manufacturing processes and quality assurance standards
• Excellent problem-solving, project management, and organizational skills.
• Ability to communicate complex technical information clearly to various stakeholders.
• Willingness to travel to OEM sites and customer locations as needed

Knowledge

Essential

• Familiarity with new energy vehicle after-sales services
• Familiarity with technical support issues and processes.
• Familiarity with warranty policy and claim process
• Familiarity with spare part operation business
• Familiarity with the accessories business
• Familiarity with the aftersales training business
• Basic knowledge of finance.
• Basic automobile knowledge and engineering knowledge
• Basic knowledge of GROUP VEHICLE BRAND products
• Understanding and knowledge of the Healthy and Safety Act.

Skills

Essential

• Experience in automotive, diagnostics, warranty, leadership,
• Knowledge of GWS, SSNW, SIPS, SSNW and Litmos
• Multilingual capabilities for global OEM interactions
• Rich knowledge of the automobile ecosystem, especially on aftersales service, includes car owners' service process, after-sales marketing, accessories, extended warranty, business management, etc.
• Familiarity with technical support issues and processes.
• Familiarity with warranty policy and claim process

Personal Attributes

Essential

• Focus on Customer Centricity
• Decision-making ability based on fact analysis
• Remain resilient with stress and pressure
• Commitment to behaving ethically and correctly
• High sense of service
• High emotional management skills
• Results orientation
• Sensitivity to details and systematic thinking
• Learning and adaptability
• Integrity and responsibility
• Innovation and breakthrough awareness

Advantageous

• Active service awareness
• Focus on analyzing and solving problems
• Focus on innovating differentiated service
• Appreciation for challenging others with respect
• Openness to accepting feedback
• Concern for valuing and appreciating others

. Skillset Required: Cco, Energy, Coo, Cro, Cto, Marketing, Quality Management, Government, Vat, Multilingual, Ned, Quality Assurance, Automotive, Manufacturing, Management Skill, Discipline, Oop, Insight, Compliance, R&D, Aris, Sales Service, Organizational Skills, Problem-solving, Leadership, Excel, Communication Skill, Adaptability, Organizational Skill, Aws, Documentation, Communication Skills, Strong Understanding, Trends, Project Management, Technical Support